By Austin Turner — Staff Writer
Upsets and college football go together like peanut butter and jelly. From bowl-season cinderellas to week one FCS-over-FBS surprises, it seems like each fall brings new underdogs for football fans to remember for years to come.
This Saturday, San Jose State has a chance to become one of these teams as it visits the mighty Oregon Ducks, ranked 20th in the nation.
With a point-spread of 41.5, a Spartan victory would be the second-largest upset in the history of the sport, next to Howard’s win over UNLV last year as 45.5 point underdogs.
Besides making a lucky few of Las Vegas’s gamblers rich, what would happen if the Spartans pulled off the unthinkable?
Coach Brent Brennan definitely gets another season
The obvious beneficiary of a Spartan victory on Saturday would be SJSU head coach Brent Brennan, who has found himself on the hot-seat following a loss to FCS school UC Davis on opening night. The second-year coach, who is signed with SJSU through the 2021 season, would win himself at least one more season at the helm of the Spartans.
Though Brennan has struggled in his time coaching the Spartans (only two wins in 15 games), maybe a big upset over a Pac-12 powerhouse is what he needs to get his career jump-started. It worked for another young coach in the Bay Area in 2007, when Jim Harbaugh led the 40.5-point underdog Stanford Cardinal over No. 2 USC.
SJSU attendance problems are solved! For now…
San Jose State’s athletic programs have historically struggled to get fans in seats at home games, particularly students. To fix this on-going problem, the Spartans need to do one thing, and one thing only: win.
Winning cures everything, and a historic victory over Oregon would guarantee a packed-house for the September 29 home game against a surprising Hawaii team that has started off the season hot. The Spartans will almost surely be underdogs for that game as well, so maybe a rocking CEFCU Stadium is what they need to keep up their momentum and pull off two upsets in a row.
Speaking of momentum…
With a win over Oregon, the Spartans would prove that they have what it takes to be a good football team. SJSU would walk into conference play with confidence and momentum. The next two games after Oregon are at home against Hawaii and Colorado State, and they will host Army at Levi’s Stadium after that.
Those are three winnable games that would establish them as a team that can be in play for the West division title and a spot in the Mountain West Championship game. On paper, Oregon is the toughest game on the schedule, so a win in that game means the rest of the schedule should be winnable too.
Oregon Football presses the panic button
First-year head coach Mario Cristobal has had a nice start since his promotion from co-offensive coordinator at Oregon. The Ducks have started 2-0 after blowout victories over Bowling Green and Portland State, and their offense has averaged 60 points in those games. These results go along with the high expectations for the team this season, who is expected to compete for the Pac-12 title and has a potential Heisman candidate at quarterback in Justin Herbert.
However, a loss to SJSU would be a disaster for the Ducks. Coach Cristobal would have some serious explaining to do and some Oregon fans could be calling for him to lose his job. A loss could also result in the loss of some big-time recruits that may have offers to other title-contending programs. Oregon Football donors would demand more from the team that has appeared in two national-title games this decade. The Ducks would officially be at rock-bottom after trending downward since losing Chip Kelly to the NFL in 2013.
SJSU has a chance to not only etch its name into the college football history books on Saturday, but it also has a shot to alter the trajectories of two programs. While to Oregon this may be an easy cupcake game to tune up for Pac-12 play, to SJSU it’s the opposite. Everything to gain, and nothing to lose.
Follow Austin on Twitter @AustinTurnt