After an hour-long meeting that could’ve been settled with two emails, you walk over to the water cooler for a little chit-chat with coworkers. Immediately, you find yourself waterboarded with drivel and personal tragedies. For some that’s fine, but not. You’re someone who just wants to talk about SJSU football.
I present to you: Water Cooler Talk. A column that supplies you with three (hopefully interesting) topics about SJSU’s 17-10 loss to Fresno State for the optimal shuck and jiving experience.
Red Zone Was The Dead Zone
Alright, Spartan fans, I know the sight of this hurts:
Both of the ‘almost touchdowns’ were nearly identical: slant routes into the endzone that Chevan Cordeiro slightly overthrew, both tipping off a wide receivers’ hands.
Elijah Cooks was targeted on the first and Justin Lockhart was the target on the second.
The difference was Cooks’ ball fell to the ground while Lockhart’s ricocheted backward and landed neatly into the hands of Fresno State’s Bralyn Lux.
Cordeiro’s pick ended his interception-less streak at 170 pass attempts and was the Spartans’ first offensive turnover of the year.
The missed field goal came by way of Taren Schive, who went wide right from 32 yards out at the start of the fourth quarter.
Here’s a real twist of the knife:
In three trips to the red zone, the Spartans came away with three points.
During their previous three-game win streak, they scored 84 points in the red zone on 15 trips.
It’s a double-edged sword if you’re a Spartans fan.
On one side, it has to feel good to know how close SJSU football was to winning. But at the same time, seeing how close it was could add to the misery.
It Was All Good Just A Week Ago
The Spartans running game was just like the title of Jay-Z’s collab with Too $hort:
“It Was All Good Just a Week Ago”
Seriously.
“Just a week ago” the Spartans went for an eye-popping 203 rushing yards against UNLV. A far cry from the 37 they tallied against Fresno State, a squad that allowed 316 the prior week against Boise State.
If I haven’t twisted the knife enough, San Jose State totaled -8 yards on the ground in the second half and converted 1 of 8 third downs (3 of 14 on the day).
Kairee Robinson didn’t register a single carry past the 6:54 mark in the third quarter, although he went for 44 in the first half.
Shamar Garret’s five-yard carry to start the fourth was the lone rush attempt from a Spartan running back in the final quarter.
Their lack of usage was surprising considering how strong the running game has been and how close the game was.
The Spartans were down 14-10 during all three possessions in the fourth quarter. This speaks volumes to how dominant SJSU was on the other side of the ball.
To play devil’s advocate, some of the playcalling was a result of offensive lineman Jaime Navarro exiting the game early. Nonetheless, one player’s absence shouldn’t completely derail an entire facet of the offense.
‘What Just Happened?!’
A series of unfortunate and startling events took place during the game:
Another angle:
The glass rained down upon a mother and her young daughter, causing cuts that were serious enough to require medical treatment, according to the Fresno Bee.
Fresno State’s AD Terry Tumey placed the coach that had an Andy Bernard-esque overreaction on administrative leave and said, “At this point, we’re trying to figure out what’s going on with all that transpired.”
Uh Mr. Tumey, if I may, I can tell you exactly what happened.
The Bulldogs were driving down the field from their own 40-yard line up 10-0, hoping to sneak another score in with 52 seconds left in the first half.
That script was completely flipped when Junior Fehoko stripped Logan Fife deep in the backfield and took off with the ball like he was Jerry Seinfeld running away with the Marble Rye from Schnitzels.
On the very next play, Elijah Cooks and his Ferrari 458 Spider motor, dropped the top on the Bulldogs’ secondary and went for a 32-yard touchdown. The premier highlight of his seven-catch, 140-yard day.
Fresno State’s coaches’ room was right next to the press box, so when I heard a shattering of glass, I thought two things:
First, ‘BAH GAWD THAT’S STONE COLD STEVEN AUSTIN!’
The second and just like everybody else in the press box, ‘What on God’s green earth just happened?!’
Shortly after, a coach poked his head out, his face whiter than a dove, patted his chest and mouthed ‘My bad.’
Wasn’t hard to connect those dots.
Can’t confirm, but after going through Fresno’s coaching staff, the culprit appears to be nickelbacks’ coach Jim Nelson. Fits the description appearance and occupation-wise.
Yes, SJSU football may have lost, but they took their lumping with pure class. Truly hope everyone affected is fine and well.
If you feel as if Matt Weiner has wasted your time, please send all complaints to his Twitter @Mattweiner20. We as a staff don’t condone his reckless bumbling about SJSU football and have empathy for anyone who took their time to read this.