By Gio Gaxiola — Reporter
San Jose State football (0-0) will open up their season on Saturday at home against Air Force (1-0, 0-0 MW).
The Spartans will try and stop a potent Falcons run offense that gained 369 yards and scored four touchdowns in their 40-7 victory against Navy on Oct. 3. 317 of those yards came from the trio of Haaziq Daniels, Timothy Jackson and Brad Roberts, who SJSU’s front seven must find a way to bottle up.
Last season, Air Force trounced SJSU 42-24. Gashing the defense for 513 total yards. The one bright spot of the game was quarterback Nick Nash. He was subbed in at the 3rd quarter and went 5-7 with 82 passing yards, two touchdowns and a team high 62 rushing yards. Nash will look to duplicate that performance.
Here are some key players and storylines to watch out for during the game.
Two Quarterbacks Are Better Than One
When head coach Brent Brennan held a press conference through Zoom on Monday the big question in the call was who is going to start at quarterback on Saturday? Will it be Nash? Who has had some reps with the first team offense before. Or the graduate transfer from Arkansas Nick Starkel. Brennan had only one answer: “We will probably have both QBs play and alternate snaps.” With limited practice time and a shortened season, it will be smart for Brennan to play both players. Whoever gels with the offense first will likely win the job but it can definitely be a QB battle that can go well on into the year.
Get The Run Game Going Early And Often
Last season, the Spartans only averaged 89.8 rush yards per game. This is a stat the offense desperately needs to improve on. “There are three or four games we lost last year where if we ran the football better, those games could have easily been wins,” Brennan said. If the Spartans offense wants to do any damage this year, they will have to get the run game started. There will be a platoon of running backs in the backfield for the Spartans this year. The group is led by sophomore Kairee Robinson. He looks to help jump start a run offense that has been non-existent.
Defense Wins Championships
What made the Spartans a good football team last year was the defense. Specifically the secondary. Last season, the team had 16 interceptions. They will look to repeat that performance with a lot of young blood in the secondary this year. “We have a lot of young guys playing cornerback and safety.” Brennan said. “Luckily for us, our front seven can cause havoc. If they can hit the quarterback, it will take some of the pressure off our secondary.” Look for the defense to have a big part in this team’s success.
You can catch the game on FS1 at 7:30 PM from (the empty) CEFCU Stadium.