San José State’s second-half offense has been the team’s Achilles’ heel this whole season.
In the past three games, the Spartans have scored just 7 second-half points. The last time SJSU scored in the second half was three weeks ago against Toledo.
Saturday’s 35-27 loss to Boise State was just another example of the Spartans’ second-half collapses.
“It’s a four quarter game,” said SJSU running back Kairee Robinson after Saturday’s loss. “I guess we got complacent. We came out doing our thing in the first half, but in the second half we weren’t striking on all cylinders.”
SJSU held a 27-7 lead in the second quarter and went into halftime up 27-14. One more scoring drive could have put the game away for SJSU, but the offense faltered.
In the first half, SJSU garnered 313 yards of total offense and 13 first downs which led to 27 points. But the second half was a different story, the Spartan offense totaled just 100 yards, 6 first downs and no points.
A big reason for the lack of production has been quarterback Chevan Cordeiro’s second-half woes. In the last three second halves, Cordeiro has thrown 3 interceptions and has just a single touchdown.
Against Boise, Cordeiro completed 12 of 22 passes for 70 yards and an interception. The Spartans have had opportunities late in the last three games to pull out a win with Cordeiro at the helm, but he hasn’t been able to lead SJSU to a win.
“There's a lot of things I still need to work on myself like focusing on the little details,” Cordeiro said in a post practice interview on Monday. “Those details really matter in the fourth quarter.”
But the offensive second half struggles are not all on Cordeiro. Conservative play calling, especially in the third quarter, has led to the Spartans not being able to produce consistently in the second half.
In SJSU’s two drives of the third quarter against Boise State, the Spartans mostly threw the ball over the middle for short gains or tried to set up bubble screens on the outside which gained little yardage.
Over the last three games, SJSU has the second-worst second half offense in the nation with an average of 2.3 points scored. It’s a night and day difference from last season when SJSU averaged over 14 points per game in the second half.
“We just have to be on the same page and focus on the little details,” Cordeiro said in the same post practice interview. “We were driving and got into field goal range. We just have to fix those things and focus on New Mexico Saturday.”
