Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Football Beat Reporter
If there was a millimeter of separation between San Jose State wide receiver Elijah Cooks and his defender, quarterback Chevan Cordeiro found him.
“When I’m on the sidelines I’m telling him, ‘This stuff’s working, that stuff’s working,’ and he trusts me,” said Cooks. “I’m so grateful for that.”
It was both unmistakable and easily identifiable on the field and in the box score during SJSU’s 33-16 win over Wyoming to open up conference play.
Cooks tallied eight catches on 177 receiving yards while Cordeiro went for 312 yards through the air and three touchdowns (one passing and two running).
“Chev is a baller,” said Cooks. “Having a quarterback who can do all the things he does, it makes the offense ten times better.
The contest was neck-and-neck out the gate, with the score looking like it belonged on a baseball diamond.
Wyoming struck first as John Hoyland nailed a 42-yard field goal.
San Jose State responded in the one fashion yet to be seen in 2022: a safety.
Defensive lineman Noah Wright torpedoed through the Cowboys’ O-line and wrapped up running back Titus Swen to force a safety. Most likely the first and last time a first quarter will end like this this season:
Wright would leave the game in an ambulance on a stretcher during the third quarter after sustaining a very serious injury. SJSU head coach Brent Brennan said he was going to fly back to San Jose with the team.
The play foreshadowed another stout defensive effort that saw them allow 253 yards of total offense to the Cowboys.
Following a career-long 40-yard field goal from Taren Schive and tight end Skylar Loving-Black reeling in his first career touchdown, the Spartans went up 12-3.
Andrew Peasley, who started out a lowly 2-10 for 27 yards, got the Spartans’ secondary to bite on a play-action and found Wyatt Wieland for a 38-yard touchdown.
Wieland’s snag cut the deficit 12-10, but it would be the closest the Cowboys came to grabbing a lead the rest of the night.
“If they get a big run or they get a big play,” said linebacker Kyle Harmon who finished with a team-high 11 tackles. “We are always talking to each other and communicating and the brotherhood is there. That’s always on full display.”
Cordeiro and the Spartans marched right back down the field on the ensuing drive, getting a boost from errors made by Wyoming.
SJSU wide receiver Charles Ross (six catches, 66 yards) snared a 16-yard reception to bring the Spartans to the Wyoming 24-yard line. Then an unsportsmanlike penalty on the Cowboys’ Wyett Ekeler advanced the ball to the 12-yard line.
Four plays later, Cordeiro would score on a one-yard quarterback keeper.
“His combination of his ability to run and move, but also throw accurately the way he has done the last couple of weeks is the reason we are excited he chose to come join us,” said SJSU head coach Brent Brennan.
It gave the Spartans a heap of momentum going into halftime, and they used it immediately to open up the second half.
Defensive lineman Cade Hall nabbed his first career interception after cornerback Kenyon Reed knocked the ball out of Wyoming’s Josh Cobbs.
On the next play, Cooks went down the sideline 26-yards to set up running back Kairee Robinson to take a direct snap into the endzone, putting the Spartans up 26-10.
Robinson’s touchdown set the tone that the Spartans were going to run the ball at will in the second half.
Although Wyoming responded later to Peasley’s second and final touchdown of the game, SJSU never let the score get closer than 10 points.
Primarily thanks to a vicious, domineering run attack that went for 84 rushing yards in the fourth quarter.
“I think part of that has to be your mentality,” said Brennan. “Late in the game when they know you’re going to run the ball and you know you’re going to run the ball. ‘Do you have the ability to run it?'”
That self-imposed question from Brennan was answered definitively with 108 of the season-high 142 rushing yards coming in the second half.
Robinson led the attack by going over the century mark for the first time in his career.
It also showed just how much the offensive line matured after coming into 2022 wet behind the ears.
Cordeiro doled out high praise for his o-line.
“I feel like the last drive, the o-line, Kairee and the running backs carried that drive. I finished it, but without them, we wouldn’t have gotten that touchdown.” (EN: shorten)
SJSU’s defense was equally strong in the fourth quarter allowing only two yards.
“It’s definitely something special we have here, it’s just our brotherhood, we just fly around really and play for each other,” said Harmon. “A lot of the time it’s just saying, ‘Stay poised. Stay locked in.’”
With a red-hot UNLV (4-1, 2-0) squad coming to town Friday, Oct. 7, the Spartans hope to keep ‘flying around’ and ‘staying locked in.’