Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Football Beat Reporter
Matt Weiner’s “Get Smart” column is here to prepare you for SJSU football tailgates and watch parties with three tidbits, bound to make you sound smart, sophisticated and interesting. If you bring up any of these three topics and no one’s intrigued, find some new company to keep.
Tip Of The Cap To Nevada
SJSU will honor the late Camdan McWright by wearing CM6 decals on their helmets and specially-designed T-shirts under their jerseys. There will also be a remembrance video before the game kicks off.
But the Spartan’s won’t be the only team come Saturday night paying tribute.
The gesture was incredibly thoughtful and showed how some things truly are bigger than sports.
The One(s) That Got Away
When Wolf Pack wide receiver’s coach Eric Scott left Nevada to fulfill the same role at SJSU in 2021, he brought with him Nevada wide receiver Charles Ross. The following winter he got wide receiver’s Elijah Cooks and Justin Lockhart to transfer over.
It’s a move that made an immediate impact.
Cooks’ has a Mountain West-best 542 receiving yards and has three games with at least 100 receiving yards. No Wolf Pack receiver has done that once.
Lockhart and Ross rank second and third for the Spartans in receiving yards, combining for 31 catches for 502 yards and one touchdown.
Nevada could surely use any of three right now as its corps has one receiving touchdown against an FBS opponent.
One year ago, the Wolf Pack had the nation’s sixth-best passing (347 passing yards per game) and led the Mountain West in points per game (35.7).
Nate Cox, the tallest quarterback in college football history at 6-feet-9-inches, and Shane Illingworth haven’t filled the shoes of the recently departed Carson Strong.
Last week, in a 20-7 loss to San Diego State, Cox started, completing 2-of-8 passes for 11 yards and Illingworth relieved him, faring better, but the Wolf Pack were still shutout in the second half.
It makes you wonder how Cox and Illingworth would do if they were throwing to a guy who could do this:
Or maybe even a bit of this:
Here’s Another Hit, Barry Bonds
The Wolf Pack travels to San Jose riding a six-game losing streak, their longest since 2000, and are 24.5 point underdogs.
Their skid, plus Vegas’ reluctance to give them a chance is because of their already documented offensive woes and the Spartans’ defense.
The 14.5 points the Spartans have allowed per game places them fourth best in the country and at the peak of the Mountain West.
The veteran-replete defense should feast on a Nevada offense that’s ranked 112th among FBS schools in scoring offense, 117th in passing offense and 111th in rushing offense. All are the worst the Spartans have seen to date.
SJSU football fans should fully expect the Spartans to tee off on the Wolf Pack like Barry Bonds at his prime.
All numbers point to a win that could give SJSU sole possession of the Mountain West West division and one game away from a bowl birth.
Consider yourself armed with enough SJSU football artillery to be an intellectual menace at any tailgate or watch party you attend this Saturday.