By: Jarra Gojolo — Staff Writer
The weather was San Jose at its worst as the San Jose State football team was parading the Valley Trophy around a wet CEFCU Stadium — some for the first time, some for the last.
But senior Quarterback Josh Love was holding an important item of his own — the game ball from his final win as a Spartan.
“I’m keeping this bitch forever,” he said as the chaos ensued around him.
The Spartans (5-7, 2-6 MW) defeated Fresno State (4-8, 2-6 MW) 17-16, in a game that solidified SJSU’s best season in 4 years, and Brent Brennan’s best season at the helm.
Senior Sign-Off
All this rain, and the seniors still found a way to ride into the sunset.
Senior running back DeJon Packer was key on the Spartans’ final drive. Packer, who graduated from nearby Gunderson High School, rumbled for 28 yards to bring SJSU into the red zone, then punched in the score from 10 yards out.
“Knowing what we went through, I knew I didn’t want to go down,” Packer said after the game. “We needed to finish off the right way, we went through too much, we worked too hard. That was the way it was supposed to end.
Packer’s go-ahead touchdowns on Saturday and against Arkansas in September were season-defining plays for a team that spent the entire season at the bottom of the Mountain West in rushing yards.
“We knew the potential we could reach,” Packer said. ”We just couldn’t get it to gel the way we wanted to, at times we did, especially tonight.”
After Packer’s score, the Bulldogs had a little over two minutes to put together a possible game-winning drive of their own. But the drive stalled out thanks in part to a tackle for loss by senior cornerback Zamore Zigler on third down.
“Zig was beating himself up because he gave up the deep ball at the end to UNLV,” Coach Brennan said. “He was feeling it all week.”
On the very next play, linebacker Ethan Aguayo broke up Fresno State quarterback Ben Wooldridge’s final pass to turn the ball over on downs and clinch victory.
“I did my normal drop, like I do every single day, and just made the play,” Aguayo said.
Tre Day
Dr. Tre and Snoop Lovey Love: The best duo in the Mountain West Coast.
Spartans receiver Tre Walker had another 100-yard game Saturday, his sixth game of the season and fourth straight game with triple digit yards. Despite missing two games with an injury, the junior led the Mountain West with 1,161 receiving yards, the sixth highest single-season total in San Jose State football history.
So, what’s Josh Love going to miss the most about him?
“Just the chemistry we have, and the work he put in the offseason,” Love said about Walker, who caught nearly 80 of his passes this season.
Arguably the most important catch of the season came on the Spartans’ final drive of the game, a 29 yard connection on 3rd and 9 to keep the drive afloat, and set up senior running back DeJon Packer’s game-clinching runs.
“There is a certain amount of chemistry between your guy throwing it, and the group of guys catching it,” said Coach Brennan, who was previously a WR coach at SJSU.
Chemistry that he says begins in the summer, when the quarterbacks and receivers throw by themselves with the hopes of building the kind of chemistry that Love and Walker have demonstrated throughout this season.
“How many times have you seen Tre make that play this year?” Brennan said. “10? Right? Those are hard plays to make, but he can accelerate to the ball, he can play the ball off his feet, play the ball with somebody in tight coverage.
Late Bloomers
The Spartans’ defense has bent, and broken, many times this season. But at a crucial point in a rivalry game like this, they stepped up.
Fresno State out-gained the Spartans 263-187 in the first half, and jumped out to a 16-3 lead at the break. Bulldog running back Ronnie Rivers gained nearly 150 scrimmage yards in the first half, a common sight for a SJSU team that was at the bottom of the Mountain West in defending the run.
But the Spartans flipped the script in the second half, stonewalling the Bulldogs to the tune of 89 total yards. Fresno State only managed 16 of those yards through the air, with starting quarterback Jorge Reyna exiting the game twice with injury.
“Halftime we just talked about them believing in each other, and fighting for each other,” Brennan said after the game. “I felt like we tackled way better in the second half, midway through the second quarter that started to turn.”
Third downs were a key to shutting down Fresno State’s offense. The Bulldogs were sent away on their last eleven third down attempts, and only converted one third down the entire night.
“We knew in the first quarter, we weren’t playing the way we know we can,” said linebacker Ethan Aguayo. “So we all came together, we knew how we can play, and we started to tighten up a little bit, stick to our gaps. We knew Ronnie is a good back, he’s gonna be patient and wait for us to pop out of our gap. We stuck to our plan.”
Follow Jarra on Twitter @JarraGojolo