By Benny Garcia — Editor/Reporter
After a historic 2020 season in which the San Jose State Football team went 7-1 and won the Mountain West Championship game to secure their first conference championship in 29 years, they face possibly their toughest task in the past 10 years.
The reigning MW conference champs (1-0) will be asked to prove themselves yet again, this time against USC (0-0).
This afternoon it will be the current 15th-ranked Trojans’ opening game at the Los Angeles Coliseum, where they have been undefeated to open a season in 13 years.
The two teams have faced off against one another only four times in their respective team histories.
In four matchups, USC has commanded the series by going 4-0 and they have outscored SJSU 156-44.
The last time the Spartans went into battle against the Trojans, USC took the game by a whopping score of 56-3.
In that game, USC’s head coach was Pete Carroll, while the late Dick Tomey was manning the ship for SJSU.
A lot has changed since Tomey was making play calls for the Spartans, as there have been four head coaching changes in the past 11 years. The most recent being the 2020 Mountain West Coach of the Year, Brent Brennan.
In his now four-year tenure, he finally turned what was a struggling Spartans football team into a championship team and one that is capable of defeating the Trojans.
Even after winning a conference championship last year, on opening night SJSU showed that they are no fluke by walloping Southern Utah University, 45-14.
Grad student quarterback Nick Starkel was throwing the pigskin with no remorse against the Thunderbirds, as he finished the game with 394 yards thrown with his longest toss of the game measuring out at 70 yards and threw for four touchdowns.
While SJSU’s star quarterback was controlling much of the game, the Spartans’ running game has been slightly overlooked.
More specifically, senior running-back Tyler Nevens rushed for 91 yards on just 12 attempts with one of those being converted for a touchdown for the Spartans.
If SJSU has a chance to upset the Trojans in their home opener, look for those two to be an intricate part of any offensive push against USC.
Kickoff will take place at 2:00 p.m. PST and it will be aired live on the Pac-12 Network.