By Nathan Canilao (@nathancanilao)- Spear reporter
BOISE, ID–The San Jose State football team was defeated by Eastern Michigan University 41-27 in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl on Tuesday afternoon at Albertsons Stadium in Boise, Idaho.
Junior quarterback Chevan Cordeiro went 26 of 44 for 366 yards and four total touchdowns.
Senior wide receiver Isaiah Hamilton caught five passes for 137 yards and one touchdown.
“The disappointment from the game is significant, but there’s more sadness and disappointment for the players that are leaving us,” said SJSU Head Coach Brent Brennan.
The Spartans started the game off fast. They ended a three play, 59-yard drive with a 27-yard rush from Cordeiro to put the Spartans up 7-0 a minute into the game.
Cordeiro continued his hot start as he connected with sophomore receiver Justin Lockhart on an eight-yard touchdown pass that gave the Spartans a 13-point lead.
On the ensuing point after try, Eastern Michigan blocked SJSU’s kick and returned it to score their first two points of the game.
Though the play only gave the Eagles two points, it shifted the momentum of the game to Eastern Michigan.
From that point, the Eagles went on to score 30 unanswered points.
“[The blocked extra point] definitely impacted the game,” Brennan said. “The frustrating part was that we didn’t respond for a whole quarter.”
EMU took the biggest lead of the first half after quarterback Taylor Powell threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Darius Lassitier to push the lead to 17.
The Eagles went into halftime with a 30-13 lead.
After EMU went up 33-13, the Spartans SJSU got back within 13, but couldn’t get the necessary stops to take home the win.
Despite the Spartans’ offense accumulating 498 total yards and getting in the endzone four times, SJSU shot themselves in the foot on numerous occasions throughout the game.
The Spartans lost the turnover battle 3-2 and committed six penalties.
“We just hurt ourselves, that’s about it,” Cordeiro said.
SJSU’s usually stingy defense also did not show up when it counted.
Though the Eagles didn’t move the ball as well as SJSU, they scored when it mattered and controlled the clock the entire game. EMU had the ball for over 33 minutes compared to SJSU’s 26.
“You gotta tip your hat to them, they’re a really good team and they’re well coached,” said graduating linebacker Kyle Harmon.
Despite the loss, SJSU finished the year with a 7-5 record with multiple players earning All-Mountain West team honors.
Cordeiro also confirmed that he will return to SJSU for the 2023 season. He passed for over 3,000 yards and 23 touchdowns this season after transferring from Hawaii in 2021.
Brennan said despite the loss, he’s looking to continue to build off of this season.
“Our goal is to build a sustainable, winning program at San Jose State,” Brennan said. “I know we can build that at San Jose State because we already have.”
