By Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Spear Reporter // Photo via Aikman Fang
No. 6 USC quarterback Caleb Williams has an NIL value of $2.6 million. And in USC’s 56-28 victory over San Jose State on Saturday at the L.A. Coliseum, he showed why he’s the millon-dollar man.
At the 9:38 mark in the second quarter, with the score tied at 7, Williams mishandled the snap, calmly scooped it up and uncorked a dime to wide receiver Tahj Washington while evading several San Jose State linemen. Washington caught it and strode into the end zone for a 76-yard touchdown.
“You don’t win the Heisman by accident. Certainly not as a West Coast guy,” SJSU head coach Brent Brennan said.
Following the loss, Brennan was frustrated with the result, but was positive about SJSU’s performance.
“They got to know that I believe in them and I do. We’ll get to work. We’ll be honest about the film. We’ll be critical about the plays we didn’t make and then we’ll evaluate it and learn and improve,” Brennan said.
The biggest bright spot from SJSU was quarterback-turned-wide receiver Nick Nash finishing with three receiving touchdowns.
“All three of those touchdowns made me realize that I am where I should be,” said Nash, who finished with six catches for 89 yards.
Nash’s third touchdown came when the game was out-of-reach, but his first two kept SJSU within striking defense.
Nash’s first touchdown came in the waning seconds of the first half, when Cordeiro threw a laser beam to him up the right sideline for a 28-yard score. It gave SJSU a boost of momentum heading into the second half. Making it seem – maybe – there was a chance the Spartans could do the impossible.
“Nick Nash is a special kid, you know, and just to watch his transition and his development, his maturity, he’s always been a psychotic competitor,” Brennan said.
While SJSU trailed 35-14, with a few minutes left in the third quarter, Nash snared a 32-yard touchdown. The ball was tipped up initially, then Nash managed to snare it while heading to the ground. Then maintaining full possession.
But second after Nash’s touchdown, USC’s Zachariah Branch returned the ensuing kick off for a 96-yard touchdown. When Branch was done scampering, SJSU’s chances were completely diminished.
“We hit a flat kick in the middle of the field to the freshman [Branch] and good lord, he was fantastic,” Brennan said.
If SJSU was going to stun No. 6 USC for its biggest win in program history, they’d need to expose a heavily scrutinized USC defense. Back in January, the Trojans were up 45-30 over Tulane in the Cotton Bowl with four minutes to go. Then they allowed 16 unanswered points and suffered an embarrassing 46-45 loss.
Early on, there were signs Cordeiro and SJSU’s offense could expose USC’s suspect defense. Cordeiro, the 2023 Mountain West Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, finished with 198 passing yards, 52 rushing yards and three touchdowns.
In the waning seconds of the first quarter, facing 3rd and 22 from the USC 39-yard-line, Cordeiro saw nowhere to go and took off up the sideline for a 28 yard gain, later setting up Kairee Robinson for a one-yard touchdown. Later on, with Nash’s performance, it appeared SJSU could play spoiler.
But playing spoiler required stopping Williams. SJSU’s defense couldn’t accomplish it. He finished with 278 passing yards and four passing touchdowns.
There’s never a good time to face Williams. There’s a high chance he’ll shake NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s hand after becoming the NFL’s No. 1 overall pick this April. But especially in SJSU’s first game without several foundational members of its rebuild.
Tre Smith, who’s played in just 11 games, finished with 1.5 sacks and 2.5 of SJSU’s four tackles for a loss. Smith said Williams did an excellent job of “keeping plays extended … he runs every where and you just got to chase him.”
Smith said SJSU tried to treat him like any other quarterback, but Williams isn’t like any other quarterback. He’s indomitable and incomparable to any other signal caller SJSU will face.
“I would’ve much rather had Cade Hall, Junior Fehoko and Lando Gray helping us out today,” said a grinning Brennan. Between former bookends Hall and Fehoko there’s two Mountain West Defensive Player of the Years and five All-Mountain West First Team selections.
During his press conference, Brennan said he has “incredible faith” SJSU’s defensive line coach Joe Seumalo will rebuild the Spartan defensive front.
The 56 points and 501 yards allowed is a sore spot. But moving forward, the focus should be less on that and more on how SJSU’s defense manages life without pillars of the rebuild.
“A couple of times I looked out there we had a redshirt freshman, a true freshman playing on the d-line. I was like, wow, ‘welcome to college,'” Brennan said.
Luckily for SJSU, the game was played on the PAC-12 Network. A very limited set of eyes saw the game.
The same can’t be said for next week. SJSU will host No. 18 Oregon State next Sunday on CBS – not CBS Sports – the CBS. It’ll be SJSU’s first nationally televised regular-season game on the network since 1982. It’s a very favorable time slot. Football fans of any sort will tune in because well, it’s football on a Sunday afternoon.
If SJSU stuns the Beavers, it’ll be a tremendous help to boost the program’s national footprint and garner more local fan engagement. Brennan and offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven both coached together at OSU before arriving in San Jose in 2017.