By Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Spear Reporter | Photo via Christian Vieyra of The Spear
From 1-5 to bowl eligible.
That was always the goal. But a goal that resembled a daunting New Year’s Resolution. But week-by-week, win-by-win, it became less of a pipe dream. Judging by a CEFCU Stadium scoreboard that read “SJSU: 24 SDSU: 13” before flashing a graphic that read “bowl eligible” the goal was completed.
And now Brent Brennan will likely become the first SJSU head coach to make three bowl games. Should SJSU defeat UNLV next – and get some help from Air Force – he can potentially stack two Mountain West Championships on top, too.
“I always thought the outlook looked great even though the outside world didn’t feel that way,” smiled Brennan, who just pioneered the greatest mid-season turnaround in program history.
And with bowl eligibility comes hearty paychecks. Despite losing both games, SJSU collected an $800,000 payout from the 2022 Famous Idaho Bowl and $350,000 from the 2020 Arizona Bowl.
For a program with a lacking donor presence, it’s a major boost. Though SJSU’s improved its financial state, there’s still a broken field goal post on the practice field, players still rely upon SJSU’s dining commons for lunch and dinner and not every player can use GPS tracking systems that tracks one’s top speed and total distance run.
Not to mention its soft NIL presence.
Considering the circumstances, maybe that’s why Brennan’s work is so remarkable. This is the first time SJSU will likely clinch three bowl games in the span of four years.
The first two of the five losses were understandable (USC and No. 12 Oregon State). But blowing three straight double digit leads against Toledo, Air Force and Boise State made reaching bowl eligibility feel Herculean.
“Coming back from 1-5 to 6-5, bowl eligible, you know, that’s big,” said safety Tre Jenkins who snared a game-sealing interception. “We knew in that room we could do that no matter what everyone was saying. No matter how much trouble we were having in the beginning.”
Then came the current five-game win streak where SJSU has outscored opponents 108-25 in the second half during that span.
Saturday night was celebratory, but not exactly pretty until the end. It was neck-and-neck for most of the way and with SJSU up 17-13, the momentum felt it could swing SDSU’s way when SJSU took the ball over on its own 6-yard line following a botched fair catch signal with eight minutes left. As bowl eligibility and a Mountain West Championship hung in the air, SJSU running back Quali Conley bulldozed his way for a 57-yard gain and a few plays later, Kairee Robinson (40 rushing yards) scampered for a five-yard touchdown to seal the game at 24-13.
“We never lost faith,” said Conley who rushed for 155 yards and a rushing touchdown.
Considering Brennan won three games in his first two seasons, maybe that’s why a turnaround – albeit mid-season – feels so familiar. Throughout Brennan’s entire tenure he’s always maintained a glass-half-full mentality. Heck, it’s become his brand. Illustrated by his X bio featuring the words, “Enthusiastic. Optimistic.”
“You’re 1-5. What choice do you have? Do you want to hate going to work everyday? Do you want to stop trying? What kind of lesson would that be?” Brennan asked rhetorically. “That doesn’t help them [players] in life.”
Back in 2021, SJSU quarterback Chevan Cordeiro considered retiring from football after a four-year stint at Hawaii. Then he sat on an Oahu park bench with Brennan and eventually committed to SJSU.
The result? Becoming the second SJSU quarterback to lead the Spartans to back-to-back bowl eligible campaigns.
“All you got to do is look to him [Brennan] and he’s gonna spread positive vibes,” said Cordeiro who completed 15 of his 20 passes for 174 passing yards and zipped a touchdown to tight end Dominick Mazotti.
But can SJSU’s defense, which forced two turnovers and allowed 300 total yards (117 passing and 183 rushing), stop UNLV wide receiver Ricky White next week? On Saturday, he became the first UNLV player ever to post four consecutive 100-yard receiving games in one season. Without it, UNLV (8-2, 6-1 MW) wouldn’t have rallied back from a 24-7 deficit and beat Air Force 31-27.
Should SJSU’s defense stop UNLV – the conference’s most potent offense – it’ll take one giant step toward a Mountain West Championship. Then it’ll need Boise State to lose to Air Force. But should BSU win it’ll create a three-team tie for first place and the top spot will be decided by computers.
Considering where things were, the predicament is reason to celebrate.
“It really proves how much heart you have as a team starting from 1-5,” said Cordeiro, who was one of 14 Spartans honored on Senior Day. “We control our own destiny. We can’t really worry about other team’s winning or losing. It’s all about us.”