Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Football Beat Reporter
Wide smiles and celebratory bear hugs welcomed SJSU football head coach Brent Brennan when he stepped off the podium following the Spartans’ (6-2, MW 4-1) bowl eligibility-granting win over Colorado State (2-7, 2-3).
It’s the second time he’s taken the Spartans bowling, but for Brennan the 2022 experience feels better than the 2020 one.
“The last time was during COVID and that felt nothing like this,” said Brennan, after the come-from-behind 28-16 win. “We had games with no fans, we had no parents after games, none of our families got to see our kids. This is a whole different world for us, it’s really exciting.”
That “different world” includes new faces on offense, too.
Hawaii transfer Chevan Cordeiro threw for 274 yards and two touchdowns, leading SJSU to a 28-16 win.
He’s now thrown for 600 more yards than any other quarterback in the conference (2,224) and leads the conference in passing touchdowns (11).
Nevada transfer Elijah Cooks led the Spartans with six catches, 80 receiving yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter against CSU.
“Those are the hardest and scariest ones. The ones that you’re wide open on because you relax, you could never relax when catching the ball,” said Cooks. “When I saw him there I just knew that I had to come down with it.”
Cooks’ grab to put SJSU football up 21-10 was sandwiched between two rushing touchdowns from senior back Kairee Robinson. The running back’s second score with 2:22 left in the game set the pins down for Brennan to roll a strike in the locker room after the win.
The win didn’t come easy even though the Spartans won by two possessions.
SJSU football was outgained by CSU 469-355 and allowed four plays of at least 25 yards on either 3rd or 4th down.
“I’m excited because we found a way to finish,” said Brennan. “But we also had way too many situations where third or fourth and forever and they got it.”
A 40-yard, three flags up-like touchdown from Jackson Stratton to Tory Horton on 4th and 24 to cut the lead to 21-16 with 4:21 left was most costly.
Horton finished with a season-high nine catches and a career-high 196 receiving yards.
“Tory Horton is a brilliant player, the guy’s awesome and we did everything we could and he still made plays,” said Brennan, “and I think those are moments where, I think sometimes it’s hard for fans to, but as a coach you just tip your cap and say ‘way to go.'”
It was Stratton’s first play of the night, and second career pass attempt, as the true freshman came in to relieve CSU starter Clay Millen, who left the game one player earlier after being pancaked by his own offensive lineman, Sammy Norris.
Millen threw for a career-high 262 yards before exiting.
Norris obliterating Millen spoke to how CSU was metaphorically and literally never able to get out of its own way.
The Rams racked up 13 penalties for 101 yards and came away with three points on four trips to the redzone.
Trailing 21-10 at the top of the fourth, the Rams marched down 74 yards to the Spartans’ 1-yard line, but were stuffed on four straight plays.
In the third quarter, cornerback Nehemiah Shelton leapt in front of CSU receiver Justice McCoy to snatch an interception in the end zone.
Not to mention the wild scenario to end the half where CSU was unable to get a final play off on the SJSU 8-yard line with a few seconds remaining due to a false start.
While opportunities were afforded, ultimately SJSU’s defensive front wreaked havoc all 60-minutes, amassing nine sacks and 14 tackles for loss. It was the most sacks tallied in a single game since 1981.
Senior linebacker Alii Matau led the way with three and senior defensive end Junior Fehoko had two. Fehoko is second in the conference in sacks (7) and has the most tackles for loss (15).
“Coach Odum [SJSU defensive coordinator] has great calls to help give me the opportunities,” said Matau who set a career-high in sacks, “and the big guys up front helped me make plays tonight.”
Matau called defensive ends Fehoko and senior defensive end Cade Hall “monsters” and later added, “It’s pretty easy to play off of them.”
SJSU’s defense got off to a rocky start after junior running back Avery Morrow, who finished with 124 rushing yards, went for a breezy 56-yard rushing touchdown a little more than a minute into the game.
Morrow dealt an unexpected blow given the Rams’ scoring offense of 12.1 points per game was third-worst nationwide entering Saturday.
“That early you keep playing,” said Brennan, who has a strong chance of being the first SJSU head coach since Claude Gilbert in 1986 and 1987 to take SJSU football to multiple bowl games.
The Spartans did exactly that — “keep playing.”
They got three-straight stops and Cordeiro found junior tight end Dominick Mazotti in the end zone on an unreal body-contorting throw to cap an 11-play 44 yard drive.
“It’s obviously hard to make a bowl game and we accomplished that,” said Cordeiro, “But it’s not our main goal, it’s one game at a time and we are focused on San Diego State now.”
The Spartans will head south to face the San Diego State Aztecs (5-4, MW 3-2) this Saturday at 7:30 p.m.