It is not optimum time right now, but living where you do I do not suspect ice, snow, and freezing weather is much of a concern.

They will root just fine with what warm weather is left in your area up to late December. It will just be next season before it all fills in.

Time-wise, it shouldn't be a problem. I once put in a dozen plugs in October. They had no problems surviving and filled out just fine the next spring/summer.

But I'm not sure about your existing dead turf. If it's thin enough so that the stolons can reach the soil, I'm guessing it won't make a difference.

TW, in Zone 10 Los Angeles they don't have cold weather. They also don't have hot weather. I used to live in Hawthorne just south of the airport and had to carry a windbreaker or sweater every day of the year.

Now is perfect for starting St Aug. In your area you can probably have it green all year without ever going into dormancy. Water it once a week and mulch mow at 4 inches and you'll be good to go. When it does rain (Christmas week and all of February) you don't need to water.

DO NOT TILL in preparation for turf. All the books and magazines are wrong on that advice. Tilling might fluff the soil for the garden but for lawns it results in a bumpy surface three years later.

In your area, since you only have one season, you should plan to fertilize at about 1/2 the bag rate on the 31st of every month that has a 31st. If you want to try an organic program (hard to find the cheap stuff in SoCal), then fertilize at 10-20 pounds per 1,000 square feet on the 31st's.

Continuing to think about watering...if you live in the zone where they have "late night and early morning low clouds near the coast, burning off at 11," then you might not need to water once a week. You can probably go to once every 2 weeks. Let the grass tell you when to water. For establishing the new plugs, water 3x per day for 10 minutes each. After the grass gets up to 4 inches high, then start backing off on water until you are doing it every other week.

You can plug now, but don't expect much this winter. While LA is warm enough that SA shouldn't have a problem establishing itself in winter, it is still a warm season grass. The cooler it is, the slower it grows. It really isn't going to spread much until you get some warmer temps next spring.

TW, in Zone 10 Los Angeles they don't have cold weather. They also don't have hot weather. I used to live in Hawthorne just south of the airport and had to carry a windbreaker or sweater every day of the year.
Yes I know, bu the cooler weather coming will slow the spread to almost a halt by Xmas. Then in spring take off again.

Here is a temp pattern for the past year in zone 10, Calif.

Here is the pattern for San Antonio

The point is they are in a zone where the temperature scale is compressed. Their daily average air temps rarely get above 80 and rarely below 50. Anywhere else in the country and we call that "spring," except they have it all year long. Barring an exceptional cold front, I think the grass will spread all winter.

Believe it or not, people living there do complain about the weather. Typically they have moved from somewhere else and complain about not having 4 seasons. Homes there have no air conditioning and only small heaters.

The point is they are in a zone where the temperature scale is compressed. Their daily average air temps rarely get above 80 and rarely below 50. Anywhere else in the country and we call that "spring," except they have it all year long.

You I know, that is why I am moving to Prescott AZ. Similar weather, and no traffic, smog, or crazies. :>)

Sorry about those images crashing. I thought they were persistent. Anyway what they showed was that the average daily temp swing in San Antonio ranges from 30 to 80. In the OPs zone, the range is from 50 to 70. Sure he'll get a night with an hour of temps in the 30s, but not many. I think his lawn will thrive all year long if he waters it.