Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Football Beat Reporter
After an hour-long meeting, you walk over to the water cooler for a little chit-chat with coworkers. Immediately, you find yourself waterboarded with painful small talk. You don’t have any interest in it because you have more pressing matters on your mind like SJSU football.
I present to you: Water Cooler Talk. A column that supplies you with three (hopefully interesting) topics about SJSU’s (6-3, 4-2) 43-27 loss to San Diego State (6-4, 4-2) to steer your dull chit chat into a more ‘survivable’ direction.
The Spartans 38 unanswered point stretch from hell
SJSU football jetted out to a 14-0 lead about 10 minutes into the contest.
The last time it scored on their first two offensive possessions? Dec. 5, 2020, in a 35-24 win over Hawaii, who was quarterbacked by Chevan Cordeiro.
Two years later, it was Cordeiro who played a pivotal role in helping SJSU obtain a 14-0 lead.
He had a hand in both touchdowns, throwing one to sixth-year wide receiver Elijah Cooks and running in a second one.
It looked as if he and Cooks were going to have a game for the ages.
And it was the Aztecs who looked like they were trying to send 20,000 of their fans on a walk of shame by the fourth quarter.
SJSU freshman cornerback Michael Dansby undercut a pass from fourth-year quarterback Jalen “Moose” Mayden for an interception that set the Spartans up 31 yards away from the end zone.
Cordeiro and the Spartans’ offense capitalized on it with a touchdown, looking like a freight train from hell.
SDSU fifth-year running back Jordan Byrd returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards and the Spartans crumbled from there.
San Diego State scored 38 unanswered points when it was all said and done. Five touchdowns and one field goal occurred without disruption from the 4:44 mark in the first quarter until there was 30 seconds left in the third quarter.
Unanswered goes both ways. Both offense and defense (we will get to the Moose next) were equally responsible.
For now, chew on these numbers from the Spartans’ five offensive possessions during that stretch:
- 10 yards gained (2 yards averaged per drive)
- One first down
- Four three-and-outs
Cordeiro connected on two passing touchdowns, one to third-year tight end Skylar Loving-Black and another to fourth-year wide receiver Isaiah Hamilton if you need something to wash it down with.
The Moose got loose
Let me say it again. 38 unanswered points goes both ways. I touched on the offense’s struggles, now it’s time for the defense.
SJSU’s top 10 scoring defense nationwide allowed the Moose to get loose.
Mayden threw three touchdowns, finished with an incredible 77% completion percentage and was named Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week.
Something just clicked after Dansby picked him off to start the game.
He looked like a confident bartender serving up plays left and right. No matter what wild concoction SJSU football threw his way, he handled it with ease.
SJSU entered Saturday as the Mountain West leader in sacks (29) and had 17 combined in its prior two games – eight in a win over Nevada and nine in a win against Colorado State.
They ended the loss with two, one of them via fifth-year linebacker Kyle Harmon during the 38 unanswered points stretch to force a third-and-17 situation.
Good news right?
Not quite.
Mayden completed an 18 yard pass to Mekhi Shaw.
SJSU football couldn’t turn the heat up and the Moose ran over them like fresh grass in Newfoundland.
If you’re reading this it’s not too late
SJSU football is currently running through the 408 with the woes from a “sickening” loss as Cordeiro put it after the game.
But it’s important to not let the loss drain them of their energy.
(That’s enough Drizzy references)
What happened Saturday night was bad, but that’s not how 2022 should be remembered up until this point.
Head coach Brent Brennan and his staff have done an incredible job reaching bowl eligibility for the second time in the last three years. He’s only the second coach in program history to do that.
Don’t lose sight of how Brennnan has pulled this program together.
On the flip side, it’s fair to say that the Spartans are not on the precipice of becoming a perennial powerhouse like the Aztecs are.
Yes they’ve won six games, but their three losses are to their best opponents (Auburn, Fresno State, San Diego State).
No longer the punching bag of the Mountain West, but not exactly Iron Mike Tyson, either.
In other words, they are only Alexander the Conqueror against teams below their pedigree and as SDSU showed, its defense is impregnable.
This next three-game stretch – Utah State, Hawaii, and the bowl game – will show how SJSU reacts to taking a nose-crushing punch to the face.
Time’s up, now get back to work!