By Aaron Johnson (@voz_aaron1) – Spear Reporter | SJSU head coach Ken Niumatalolo walking down the sideline during the rivalry game against Fresno State on Oct. 26. (photo by Nick Orozco – Co- Executive Editor of The Spear)
San Jose State football has a lot to figure out over its bye week.
SJSU (5-3, 3-2 MW) suffered its worst loss of the season against Fresno State (5-3, 3-1 MW).
The 33-10 loss was capped off by the Bulldogs taking control of the Valley Trophy.
“Disappointed, our worst game of the year came against our rivals,” SJSU head coach Ken Niumatalolo said. “We didn’t play very well and that starts with me.”
SJSU came out the gates strong on the first drive where junior quarterback Walker Eget hit senior wide receiver Justin Lockhart for a 40-yard gain on third down. The next play Eget found senior wide receiver Nick Nash for a 35-yard touchdown.
After this the Spartans would not score on their next 11 drives. Fresno State would score 33 unanswered points.
The Spartans defense struggled to get the Bulldogs offense off the field. SJSU allowed Fresno State to go 12-19 on third down. The Spartans finished 5-15 on third down. Bulldogs junior quarterback Mikey Keene was 30-41 in the game with 275 yards and three touchdowns.
Eget finished the game 14-31 passing with 202 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.
The Spartans had miscommunication on a lot of reads where the timing between the quarterback and receivers seemed to be off.
Offensive coordinator Craig Stutzman’s offense has a tough learning curve and the splitting of reps at the quarterback position may be causing a lack of chemistry.
Sophomore quarterback Emmett Brown entered the game with 6:58 in the third quarter. His drive would end with an interception.
Junior quarterback Xavier Ward entered the game with 14:35 left in the fourth quarter. His drive would also end in an interception.
“I think it’s tough for any offense to succeed with the quarterbacks switching,” Nash said. “I understand completely what coach Stutzmann is doing, it’s just tough.”
Niumatalolo realizes that it is important to get everyone back on the same page.
“We have to get (the quarterback situation rectified),” Niumatalolo said. “I don’t want to play musical chair quarterbacks.”
WHERE DO THE SPARTANS GO FROM HERE?
“We’re not in sync right now,” Niumatalolo said. “We are definitely not like we were at the beginning of the season.”
When Brown was the starting quarterback and finished the game as the starter the Spartans were 3-1 with the only loss being the 54-52 double-overtime shootout with Washington State (7-1).
. Through these first four weeks Brown led the Mountain West in passing yards.
You could point to the Spartans offense being so good because they played an FCS school in Sacramento State (3-5), a first year FBS team in Kennesaw State (1-6) and one of the worst teams in the Mountain West this year in Air Force (1-6, 0-4 MW).
However, this offense under Brown was able to put up 52 points, 7 touchdowns and 491 yards of total offense against a good Washington State football team.
Brown had some drives where he struggled against Nevada, then Eget came in to replace him and get SJSU to find the end zone.
This was the right decision for that game but keeping Brown on such a short leash for the Colorado State game might not have been.
SJSU swapped quarterbacks five times during the game against the Rams and as we can see it hurts the rhythm of the offense.
With how the game against Fresno State went on the offensive side of the ball, it may be time to revert back to what was working.
The defense for the Spartans started slow but Niumatalolo said the defense had a good second half only allowing 13 points and getting some key stops that they struggled with early on.
Losing senior defensive linemen Quincy Likio for the season was a huge blow for the Spartans as senior defensive linemen Soane Toia has been moved from nose tackle to end.
A point of emphasis for the Spartans has been setting the edge defensively and senior linebacker Jordan Cobbs thought they did an alright job.
“Still think we left a little bit out there,” Cobbs said. “It’s about starting fast, getting that momentum. When you’re iffy and back and forth it’s hard to get the ball rolling.”
The bye week comes at a good time for the Spartans as they have a chance to work out a lot of the issues that have shown up the past few weeks.
“There are a lot of adjustments in this offense and we have to do a better job of being on the same page,” Niumatalolo said.
The Spartans next game will be against Oregon State (4-4) on Nov. 9 at 12:30 p.m. at Reser Stadium.
