By Vicente Vera — Spartan Daily Contributor
San Jose State football’s offense was nowhere to be found as Washington State shutout it out 31-0 Saturday night.
The Spartans (0-2) combined for 109 total yards from scrimmage, while the Cougars (2-0) exploded for 544 yards.
The game started with a 15-yard passing touchdown from graduate student quarterback Gardner Minshew to sophomore wide receiver Davontavean Martin at 12:55 in the first quarter. It only took WSU six plays and 70 yards to take a 7-0 lead.
Martin had a six-touchdown record last season during his freshman year.
On fourth down and ten, Martin caught his second touchdown of the night after pulling in a 36-yard pass from Minshew, raising the core to 14-0.
From then, Washington State made completion after completion. At 4:55, Mishew’s pass was intercepted by SJSU junior linebacker Jesse Osuna right before the end of the quarter, though the Spartans remained at zero passing yards.
Going into the second quarter, San Jose State’s starting sophomore quarterback Montel Aaron continued to have trouble landing successful first-downs. At 9:28, while the Spartans had just one first down, Martin seemed to have made a third touchdown, but the play was reviewed and found to be incomplete.
Right after the incompletion, the next play turned into a second interception for Minshew, caught by SJSU’s sophomore cornerback Nehemiah Shelton.
While the scene was set for the Spartans to take back the game, they ran out of downs.
Washington State was right back on its drive and made it 17-0 with a field goal from redshirt freshman punter Blake Mazza.
Things got even worse for the Spartans when they got back possession of the ball.
On SJSU’s last drive of the half, Aaron was sacked back-to-back from redshirt senior defensive line Taylor Comfort and sophomore linebacker Dominick Silvels.
At the exact moment the clock hit 0:00, Minshew rushed in for one-yard touchdown and gave the Cougars a 24-0 lead at halftime.
“We have to believe we have to win, and we have to take the pressure off of our quarterback,” head coach Brent Brennan said to the players during half time to an on-field Pac-12 reporter
Not much happened throughout the third quarter as the score remained static.
In 4:39 of the fourth quarter, Cougars’ redshirt junior running back James Williams made his first touchdown of the game, and his third of the season so far. The score went up 31-0 WSU.
The Spartans substituted Aaron for graduate student quarterback Michael Carrillo to try and get in a touchdown before the end of the game, but with no luck.
The game ended with SJSU sophomore wide receiver JaQuan Blackwell’s pass being intercepted by WSU redshirt junior cornerback Deion Singleton at the one-yard line.
“I think up front we placed a decent first half, [but] we weren’t very tough the second half,” said Cougars’ head coach Mike Leach in the post-game conference.
SJSU will travel to Eugene, Oregon and take on the No. 23 Ducks next week.
Follow Vicente on Twitter @VicenteSJSU