By: Javen Takhar (@javentakhar) – Spear Reporter | The Spartans ready to take on the Cardinals. (Photo by Alex Stoev – Spear Photographer)
With a lackluster 1-3 start to the season, the San Jose State Spartans look to climb the Mountain West Conference, taking on the New Mexico Lobos (3-1).
After the 30-29 loss against Stanford, head coach Ken Niumatalolo looked forward to a fresh start for the team.
“The new morning, the dawn of the new conference play is giving us hope, and like, you know what we’re 0-0,” coach Niumatalolo said.
Two of the three losses were by a total of three points, SJSU just within striking distance.
“Our record isn’t indicative of what we could be,” coach Niumatalolo said.
A big change coming ahead of conference play, sophomore kicker Mathias Brown will take over field goal duties.
“We’ve had too many misses,” Niumatalolo said.
Redshirt senior Denis Lynch is 4/10 on field goals this season, missing two kicks in all but one game – his game-winning kick against Idaho.
Offensively, redshirt senior quarterback Walker Eget has thrown for 1,187 yards with a 6-3 touchdown-to-interception ratio.
Redshirt sophomore wide receiver Danny Scudero accounts for nearly half of Eget’s yards with 514 on the season.
Eget found his rhythm throwing for 473 yards and three touchdowns against Stanford, having three receivers go over 100 yards, but he gives all credit to his guys.
“There was a lot of yards after catch, that’s something that we emphasized this year and they’ve been doing an excellent job,” Get said.
With no turnovers for the first time this season, coach Niumatalolo and offensive coordinator Craig Stutzmann stressed the importance of taking care of the football.
“We don’t turn the ball over, we move down the field pretty easily,” coach Stutzmann said.
SJSU saw the run game take off against Idaho rushing for 207 yards and three touchdowns, but that productivity wasn’t replicated against Stanford.
With just 455 yards on the ground, the Spartans will look to find a proper run-pass balance.
The defense has been impressive on third-downs, allowing only 16 conversions on 56 attempts.
However, when opponents go for it on fourth down, SJSU has two stops on 12 attempts.
Defensive coordinator Derrick Odum believes the team needs to cut down on the large chunk plays given up.
“Breakdown here, breakdown there, and the ball seemed to find that breakdown,” Odum said.
Odum also elaborated that there are a lot of new guys in the defensive back room, and he hopes that the reps from the past four games will help build and learn from.
“It’s a new season now, starting conference, and so hopefully we’ve continued to practice, work on those errors we’ve had in the game, and keep growing,” Odum said.
The defensive line has garnered six sacks on the season, four of which came against Stanford.
The turnover battle hasn’t gone the Spartans way, only picking off one interception on the year but three forced fumbles recovered.
Coach Odum isn’t concerned though, believing that interceptions will come, “as long as we keep playing hard, and get our hands on the ball, and those things will happen,” he said.
Losing the time of possession battle in all but one game makes it a point of emphasis for the defense to get off the field.
With a favorable conference schedule, SJSU avoids playing Boise State or the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, both teams appearing in the 2024 Mountain West Championship.
The Spartans hope to improve on their 3-4 conference record last year and make the championship for the first time since 2020.
