By Matthew Meyer (@mattmeyersjsu) – Spear Reporter | SJSU freshman running back Steve Chavez-Soto is surrounded and brought down by multiple Air Force defenders (Photo by Denim Bragg – Spear Photographer)
The San Jose State Spartans’ 26-16 loss to the Air Force Academy Falcons Saturday etched another loss to put them at 3-6 overall and 2-3 in the Mountain West Conference.
While SJSU carries offensive weapons like redshirt senior quarterback Walker Eget, redshirt sophomore Danny Scudero and redshirt junior Kyri Shoels, the team continues to commit errors that could hold them back from their season goals.
Two Interceptions and a Fumble stagnate offense
All three turnovers from last night’s game came from the SJSU quarterback position, with Eget throwing two interceptions and a rushing fumble from redshirt senior quarterback Xavier Ward, who came in for three plays after Eget left the field with an apparent injury in the first quarter.
“It’s hard to win games when you lose the turnover battle 3-0,” SJSU head coach Ken Niumatalolo said.
Eget had not thrown an interception in a game since the Spartans’ second game of the season at Texas. One of his interceptions came when he targeted a triple-covered Scudero.
“I got to see what they’re giving us and not try to force things,” Eget said.
The Spartans have only had two out of nine games this season where they did not allow a single turnover.
SJSU is now 0-4 in games where they have more turnovers than their opponent.
Misplay results in Safety
After the Spartans defense forced Air Force senior punter Luke Freer to take the field, he delivered a 52-yard punt that gave SJSU the ball at their own six yard line.
The very next play chaos ensued with full pressure hitting the SJSU offensive line, leading Eget to try to get the ball out of the scuffle.
The ball was deflected into the air and recovered by sophomore running back Lamar Radcliffe, who came down in the endzone for a safety.
“It was a bad play,” Niumatalolo said. “You’re in the endzone, you definitely don’t want to catch the ball, you want to knock that thing down.”
The safety was the first SJSU had given up since the 2019 season.
Failure to capitalize in the Red Zone
Eget currently leads the Mountain West in passing touchdowns with 17 so far this season. When the Spartans entered the redzone, Eget was just 3/7 on pass attempts and was unable to connect with both Scudero and Shoels.
“I think there were just a couple plays that I need to do better on,” Eget said.
The incompletions combined with insufficient red zone rushing forced Niumatalolo to bring out his kicking team to salvage three drives.
While the field goals showed good signs for the kicking tandem of redshirt senior Denis Lynch and sophmore Mathias Brown, it proved a bad omen for an offense strong enough to get the ball down the field but unable to drive it into the endzone.
“I’m grateful we made field goals, but I’m not grateful because we settled for too many field goals,” Niumatalolo said. “We got to score touchdowns against those guys.”
The only touchdown SJSU scored was an 8-yard rushing touchdown from freshman running back Steve Chavez-Soto.
The loss against Air Force was only the second time this season Eget went without a passing touchdown in a game.
Looking forward
The Spartans mentality going forward is clear. With only three games remaining on their regular season schedule, they just have to take it one game at a time.
“We got to find a way to come back and get ready for Nevada,” Niumatalolo said. “We can’t think about the next three games and trying to get all of them, we just got to try to get this next game.”
The Spartans seem to have the drive and they’ve proven they have the weapons, but they have yet to show that they can maintain consistent execution.
SJSU’s next matchup is at 12:30, Nov. 15 at Nevada where they’ll face off against the last place Wolfpack (1-8, 0-4 MWC).
