By Jacob Lee — Reporter
San Jose State football is headed into Week 2 and will face New Mexico coming off of a huge 17-6 win over Air Force.
After defeating Air Force, who SJSU lost to in 2019, 41-24, the Spartans look like they are in good shape to beat New Mexico like they did last year.
This SJSU team looks a lot better than they have the past couple of seasons, one of the contributing factors seems to be the Spartan defense.
Air Force dominated Navy 40-7 in their season opener, but were only able to put up six points against the Spartans this past Saturday.
This is definitely a positive sign for SJSU moving forward.
In five out of the Spartans six conference losses last year, the opposing team scored more than 38 points.
Although a lot of the games last season were close, the Spartans just kept getting outscored.
With the Arkansas transfer Nick Starkel leading the offense this year, I do not think SJSU will have trouble scoring points.
Before the season opener I said that SJSU would finish 4-4 this year. And I thought I was being too generous.
After watching last week’s game, I am changing my season prediction. I believe the Spartans have a very good chance of having their first positive record since 2012.
But, there are some things that need to happen for this to become a reality.
The team needs to run the ball better. It’s as simple as that. They need to be a team that is just as threatening on the ground as in the air.
SJSU also needs to win the turnover battle. One of the things that separates the Mountain West from Power 5 schools is that there are so many more turnovers and errors.
These errors need to be eliminated if the Spartans are going to be a dominant force in the Mountain West.
I think it is possible. With so many returning players this season, and an enthusiastic coach like Brent Brennan, SJSU players and fans should feel optimistic about this season.
Follow Jacob on Twitter @jacobwlee3