By Ernie Gonzalez (@superego1012):
San Jose State (1-4, 0-1 MW) was put to shame again this week, falling to Utah State (2-2, 1-0 MW), 61-10.
It’s the third week in a row the Spartans have given up at least 50 points. The difference this week — it was a conference game, and it was at home, which hurts.
Everything that could have gone wrong did, as the Spartans looked asleep in all three phases of the game. Head coach Brent Brennan expressed both confusion and frustration after the game, as he was expecting better.
“I don’t have a lot of answers for what happened tonight,” Brennan said. “Tonight was like nothing I’ve ever seen.”
Quarterback Josh Love was given another shot at redemption, but didn’t make the most of it completing only 40 percent of his passes for just 54 yards and an interception.
“From the start, we just need to come out fast … and we didn’t do that,” Love said postgame.
The Spartans did start fast, just not on offense. During Utah State’s first possession, cornerback Andre Chachere came up big with an interception, his first of the season.
Three plays later, Spartan running back Zamore Zigler coughed the ball up, giving it right back to Utah State. The Aggies capitalized with 29-yard TD making it 7-0, never looking back.
The Spartans shot themselves in the foot, turning the ball over five times for the second straight week.
It was an offense that was allergic to moving the football downfield, converting just 2/13 on third down, a stat that surprisingly increased from last week’s 1/13 showing in Utah.
Combine the third-down troubles with a muffed punt and two kickoff slip-ups recovered by the Aggies, and the Spartans were bullied bad on their home turf.
USU quarterback Kent Myers was sensational, completing 18/24 for 181 yards and two touchdowns. He added 15 carries for 84 yards, including a 68-yard TD run in the third quarter.
One player who shined on defense tonight for SJSU was defensive back Jermaine Kelly, who scored the Spartan’s only touchdown on a pick-six and recovered a fumble, both late in the third quarter.
“It felt great. Tre Webb actually tipped it,” Kelly said about his interception return. “I just happened to be in the right place at the right time … just saw green grass.”
Brennan and crew will return to the drawing board as they get set for the second conference game of the season against UNLV next week.
“We got to get to work as a coaching staff trying to get fixed what was broken tonight,” Brennan said. “Which was everything.”