By Lucas Quick (@quick_lucas12) – Senior Staff Writer | SJSU football coach Ken Niumatalolo eyes to have more success in his second season. (Photo by Nick Orozco – Spear Photographer)
There are many questions and uncertainties surrounding the San Jose State football’s future, losing a lot of pieces like Nick Nash and Justin Lockhart. Regardless of all the questions, one thing seems clear and it’s how much easier of a path SJSU has to make a Mountain West championship bid.
Despite the uncertainty regarding the team alone being able to make it to four consecutive seasons with a winning record, the schedule provides a positive message toward continued success.
The biggest eye-catcher is certainly avoiding both Boise State and UNLV next season, who both made the Mountain West championship last season. Even though Ashton Jeanty will now move towards his NFL career, the Broncos still remain a threat with their recent success.
Colorado State is also out of the picture for the Spartans’ schedule next season, which was one of their worst losses of last season.
The top three teams in the conference from last season will be avoided. Instead, they’ll face San Diego State, Utah State and New Mexico State. All three programs had losing records last season.
That’s the biggest takeaway, but the road trip also pans out very well for the Spartans next season.
A week two road game against the Texas Longhorns, a semi-finalist in last year’s CFP, isn’t an ideal way to begin their season. On a more positive note, they get it out of the way and get some experience under their belt against a rock-solid team and can use that for conference play. It’s also a great test for the defense against Arch Manning, arguably the most hyped-up quarterback in college football right now.
Austin, Texas is also the furthest the team has to travel all season long. Two games stay in state and Wyoming would be the furthest road trip afterward.
I also can’t overlook how important it is that Hawaii has to travel to the Bay Area and not the other way around. Although it counts partially as a vacation, you avoid a 2400-mile-long road game. Besides, Hawaii hasn’t treated the Spartans so well in the last two years.
Lastly, you get the Battle for the Valley game to be hosted at your place. It’s not always logical to make the case that home-field advantage benefits you for these types of matchups. But with the previous two matchups between these programs, I think it’s a very reasonable statement to make.
The last time the Bulldogs entered CEFCU Stadium, they would take a beating from the Spartans in a 42-18 loss. Keep in mind that they were 8-1 heading into that game. Similar result, but a different outcome last year, as this time the Spartans would get blown out in a 33-10 loss at Valley Children’s Stadium.
It’s hard to envision the outlook of the upcoming season, yet this was also a similar case last season. You now have Eget with a year of experience under offensive coordinator Craig Stutzmann, known for having a difficult system to learn from. And Ken Niumatalolo now has a year under his belt with the team.
There is a solid chance that folks will write out San Jose State, but we haven’t written back though. If all the right strings are pulled, this can be an extremely successful year for the Spartans.
