By Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Spear Reporter // Photo via Titus Wilkinson
In most cases a 1-3 start to a college football season warrants alarm.
SJSU football’s 1-3 start isn’t most cases. The Spartans’ record reflects facing the potential PAC-12 Championship matchup – No. 5 USC and No. 14 Oregon State – and facing reigning MAC Champion Toledo on the road. The gauntlet, however, isn’t over.
This Friday night, SJSU starts conference play with the heavy task of stopping Air Force’s complex and dominant triple-option offense on short rest. If SJSU rises to the occasion, it can swing momentum and spark a mid-season turnaround.
“We still got confidence that we can come and take the league,” SJSU linebacker Jordan Cobbs said.
Uphill climb
Tonight’s matchup against Air Force could be SJSU’s most daunting test in all of conference play.
For starters, a Friday game puts the Spartans at a disadvantage because they have one less day to prepare for the Falcons’ patented triple-option offense; a complex offensive scheme that presents a multitude of possibilities all from the same formation.
Falcons head coach Troy Calhoun has used it to propel the program to three double-digit win campaigns in the last four seasons. Such success is partially a byproduct of how well run, rare and difficult it is to prepare for.
“We see this scheme once and that’s it,” SJSU football head Coach Brent Brennan said. “That’s the real challenge of it.”
In contrast to Air Force, which cruised to a 39-21 home victory last Friday night, SJSU arrived in San Jose in the wee hours of Sunday morning following its 21-17 loss at Toledo. On top of losing a day in preparation and recovery, SJSU’s inexperienced front seven doesn’t match up well against Air Force’s rush-heavy offense.
The Falcons are the only offense nationwide to average at least 300 rushing yards per game. And this tour de force has only benefited from the NCAA’s new rule change that lets the clock run after first downs.
Last Saturday, the Spartans’ surrendered a 10-point second half lead and struggled to claw back because it couldn’t mitigate Toledo’s rush attack. In the fourth quarter, SJSU allowed 83 total rushing yards and couldn’t get a final stop to stage a late-game comeback.
“We had that game in our hands,” SJSU safety Tre Jenkins said. “So in practice … the last two, three periods, we’re not messing around and that’s when we’re at the utmost focus.”
Life without Justin Lockhart
Stacked odds don’t stop at defense.
Earlier this week, Brennan announced SJSU will be without wide receiver Justin Lockhart, a 2023 Preseason All-Mountain West selection, for the rest of the season. A brutal break for SJSU quarterback Chevan Cordeiro, who was selected as the Mountain West’s Preseason Offensive Player of the Year.
Lockhart’s absence comes at a time when SJSU’s wide receiver depth was already in question. Redshirt junior Charles Ross entered 2023 as the only wide receiver with at least 35 career catches. Following a stellar spring and fall training camp, recent quarterback-turned-wide receiver Nick Nash was pegged to be Cordeiro’s top target. And through four games, Nash is the only wide receiver averaging at least 32 receiving yards per game.
As a result, the Spartans’ passing game went from standing atop the Mountain West in 2022 to currently sitting at seventh.
There’s no option but for Ross, redshirt junior Malikhi Miller and redshirt freshman Matthew Coleman to step up. Taking down Air Force and shifting the course of the season may hinge upon it.
Mid-season turnaround ain’t far fetched
Jenkins is one member of the Spartans’ leadership council; a group of veterans that meet at least once a week in the Spartans team meeting room.
Jenkins’ contributions this week centered around seeing “the bigger picture.”
“The point I want to bring in was not to get too overwhelmed,” Jenkins said of SJSU’s 1-3 record. “We can win the conference still with this record. It’s not like, ‘Oh, we’re out of it. We’re out of the race.’” This isn’t wishful thinking considering the Mountain West competition isn’t as stiff as it’s been in previous years.
Fresno State (No. 40) is SJSU’s highest-ranked Mountain West foe according to CBS Sports. Should SJSU overcome obstacles and beat either Air Force (No. 43) or Boise State (No. 76) after its upcoming bye week – a mid-season turnaround isn’t far-fetched.
Following its bout with the Broncos, SJSU faces teams (New Mexico, Hawaii and Utah State) in the bottom 100 of CBS Sports’ list. After SJSU hosts rival Fresno State on Saturday Nov. 11, it finishes 2023 against San Diego State (No. 83) and UNLV (No. 93).
“These next three that we play in, I think this is going to be the main focus. It’s going to be [a] huge redemption,” Cobbs said.
Is SJSU’s fight to go from 1-3 to reaching its third bowl game in the span of four years for the first time ever tumultuous? Absolutely.
Impossible? Far from it.
“If we spend time looking back, we’re going to miss what’s right in front of us and what is ahead, and that’s what’s most important,” Brennan said.