By Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Spear Reporter | Photo via Christian Vieyra of The Spear
The quest from 1-5 to bowl-eligible has to start somewhere.
And for SJSU football it started in Albuquerque, N.M. with a 52-24 win over New Mexico. Better yet, the win featured SJSU outscoring UNM 38-7 in the second half. Such a strong closing effort is encouraging as SJSU entered Saturday on a three-game losing streak while getting outscored 56-7 in the second half during that span.
“Hopefully this gives us a little bit [of] momentum heading into the second half of the season,” SJSU running back Kairee Robinson said.
Second half woes are largely to blame for why SJSU needs to win four of its next five games to reach a bowl game. Against UNM, however, SJSU was far better. That started from the jump thanks to Robinson, who finished with over 189 total yards (126 rushing and 63 passing) and a career-high four total touchdowns (three rushing and one receiving).
On the first play of the second half, Robinson took a screen pass from SJSU quarterback Chevan Cordeiro and went 55 yards to the end zone. It was SJSU’s first second half touchdown since Robinson scampered for a 15-yard touchdown in the third quarter against Toledo on Sep. 16.
“He’s just such a tough runner and great kid and a really good leader for our team. It’s really cool,” Brennan said.
But it wasn’t just Robinson. Fellow running back Quali Conley went for 123 rushing yards and 61 receiving yards and punched in a late touchdown to make it 52-17. The Spartans finished with a total of 259 rushing yards.
Robinson and Conley’s performances could suggest SJSU’s bowl hopes might be best pursued with a run-first offense. Cordeiro, the 2023 Mountain West Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, might benefit from it, too.
On Saturday, Cordeiro completed eight of his 17 passes for 272 yards and two touchdowns. One of which was a 54-yard play action deep bomb to wide receiver Nick Nash.
“With the run game going, it sucks in the defense, the safeties come in … and on the touchdown to Nash that’s pretty much what happened,” Cordeiro said.
Nash’s touchdown reception was his lone catch of the day and tight end Dominick Mazotti led all SJSU pass-catchers with 70 receiving yards.
The second half dominance overshadowed SJSU’s initial first half struggles.
The Spartans trudged into the locker room down 17-14 at the half and on pace to allow 500-plus yards of offense. There were fears that SJSU’s defense got a head start on becoming porous.
But those fears were mitigated as SJSU allowed just 130 total yards in the second half. The lone touchdown came in the waning minutes of the game after the Lobos swapped out starting quarterback Dylan Hopkins (13-24, 187 yards and one interception).
“The locker room at the half wasn’t great. It seemed like a lot of us were down,” said defensive back Jay’Vion Cole, who snagged an interception, “but coming out of the locker room, the intensity was crazy.”
Some of the second half improvement can be accredited to defensive lineman Tre Smith, who missed the first half to serve a suspension for a targeting ejection he picked up last week against Boise State.
The Spartans, who entered with the conference’s worst run defense, allowed just 37 second half rushing yards after giving up 92 in the first half. “There’s a lot of really good stuff. And I think that was exciting to see. I think the players are excited. The coaches are excited about that,” Brennan said.
To take a step back, UNM is a fringe bowl team at best. It’s an opponent SJSU was expected to beat. Although it was encouraging how much it beat them by the Lobos remain a starting point for the odyssey that lies ahead.
Because SJSU’s next three games come against three of the Mountain West’s top-five passers; Utah State’s Cooper Legas, Hawaii’s Brayden Schager and presumably Fresno State’s Mikey Keene, who should return from his current injury by then.
“Every team can beat everybody they play and that’s kind of showing up week in and week out every week in this conference,” Brennan said.