Just over a month ago, I wrote a column handing out grades for the San José State football team. At that point, SJSU was 1-5, coming off an embarrassing road loss to Boise State University in which the Spartans were up by 20 points in the second quarter.
In said column, I gave the SJSU coaching staff a “D.” Partially because the Spartans had just dropped three games in a row where they held a double-digit lead at some point in those games.
But since then, head coach Brent Brennan and the coaching staff has turned the ship around.
SJSU is on a four-game winning streak, and not only has a shot to go to its third bowl game in four years, but also has a shot at making it to the Mountain West Conference title game for the first time since 2020.
Even after a tough schedule to start the season, injuries to key players and bad losses on the road, the Spartans still remain in the hunt to win the conference. If this team, after all they went through to start the season, makes it to the Mountain West title game, it will be Brennan’s most impressive season to date.
Yes, even more impressive than winning the Mountain West championship three seasons ago.
The bounce back has been fascinating to watch up to this point.
The Spartans started the season losing to then-No. 6 University of Southern California , along with losses to a previously 10th-ranked Oregon State University and a currently 10-1 University of Toledo team.
On top of all that, they lost all-conference receiver Justin Lockhart to start the season because of an undisclosed injury.
In the first six games of the year, SJSU was outscored 202-168. During the winning streak, SJSU has outscored its opponents 171-63.
A lot of that has to do with the Spartans switching their offense from a spread it out, pass the ball offense to a run-heavy, slow paced attack.
Senior running back Kairee Robinson has been SJSU’s best player during the win streak. He won Mountain West Player of the Week for the second time this season after rushing for 200 yards and two touchdowns against Fresno State Saturday.
Defensively, SJSU has grown into one of the better defenses in the conference. Fresno State was thoroughly shut down on Saturday in part because of key plays made in the secondary.
But just as Brennan got the brunt of the blame for the team’s slow start, he should get the bulk of the credit for the team’s turnaround.
After starting 1-5, he could have easily lost the locker room, and he could have easily thrown this season away.
But he didn’t.
Instead, the Spartans are in the best position they could be in after the slump and could be on their way to postseason glory.
“It's a tremendous credit to the players,” Brennan said during a Tuesday news conference. “They have to make that choice to work their tails off every day in practice, they have to make that choice to get in the training room. I think we’re playing better football right now. It is a collective effort and everybody is all in on it.”
A season turnaround like this is the type of turnaround that gets players and coaches paid.
With Brennan’s contract ending at the end of next season, a trip to a bowl game and possibly a conference championship game berth is what could keep Brennan here … or what could make him leave.
But that’s a conversation for another day.
