Editor’s note: The Union-Tribune this season invites readers to submit questions for San Diego State coach Sean Lewis. Today, the coach answers questions after SDSU’s loss at Hawaii and heading into Saturday’s home game against Boise State.

Why didn’t you play Bert Emanuel Jr. at quarterback earlier in the second half of the Hawaii game considering the deficit, Jayden Denegal’s struggles and his health? It’s obvious from watching that Denegal is doing his best but is not close to 100%, so that seemed like a good time to see if maybe Emanuel can provide a spark and see what he can do. — Paul Nguyen, Carmel Mountain Ranch

A: Denegal just played his ninth college game as a starter. You get good by doing, and part of building character is to be able to persevere through hard times. If every single time things get hard, we pull the kids out of hard situations, how are they ever going to become hardened? So when games get tough and things get hard, we expect them to be hard.

It’s kind of like parenting. If you purposefully don’t put your kids in hard situations or you don’t challenge them appropriately and you just pave the way and then adversity hits and you’re surprised when your kids don’t know how to handle it, you snap because you didn’t put them in any adverse situations.

So that was an adverse situation. I know that our fans, from these questions and from comments with them and conversations — because they’re educated — they want a tough, emotionally, mentally and physically tough football team. So we have to put our kids in tough situations so that they can find their ways through it. They can build their perseverance, they can build their character, which ultimately determines the character of our club, the toughness of our club. So when you go down the stretch and we’re in tough situations, they know how to handle those situations.

On the field goal attempt at the end of the first half (a 50-yarder missed by Gabriel Plascencia) on a wet field, why did you rush the field goal team on the field to beat the clock when you still had two timeouts in your pocket? — Mel Koren, San Diego

A: We should have taken a timeout, should have been more aware of the situation that we didn’t have to be rushed. Absolutely. … We’ve got to put (Plascencia) in a better position so he doesn’t feel rushed.

Since running back Bryon Cardwell Jr. is very dynamic catching the football, why don’t you put him in as a slot receiver? — Paul-huy Pham, Dallas-Forth Worth

A: We typically only use one slot receiver. That slot receiver is (leading receiver) Jordan Napier, so if we did that, we’d have to move Jordan off the field. So does our fan want to do that? I like having Jordan on the field.

Do you believe the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty (called on cornerback Bryce Phillips) on third-and-17 in the first quarter against Hawaii shifted the momentum in favor of the opposing team and ultimately set the tone for the rest of the game? — @Lelfho

A: There was a pivotal moment, was something that we can control, that we continue to a better job of, but, obviously, when you have an opportunity to get off the field and you don’t, and that leads to points, any time that that happens at any moment in the game, that’s a big deal.

(How you deal with it) depends on the player, depends on his maturity, in that case with Bryce, he’s a mature kid who had a foolish moment that he can control immediately. He took ownership of it, and so you tell him, ‘Don’t do it again,’ and you move on.

You’ve said twice “we’re a good team that had a bad game.” That’s two times so far in a 12-game season this was said. How do you reduce the risk of having a bad game? It is one thing to lose a close game, but different when both were not close. — @fan_cfb

A: Continue to help our team mature in all ways to understand and appreciate every step of the process, continue to lead them the right way and continue to understand that great things of high value don’t come easy and you’ve got to stay in the fight and compete to the very, very end.

Readers are invited to submit questions after each weekend’s game through Tuesday to kirk.kenney@sduniontribune.com or on X to @sdutkirKDKenney.

Boise State (6-3, 4-1) at San Diego State (7-1, 4-0)

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Snapdragon Stadium

TV: CBS Sports Network

Radio: 760-AM