What was supposed to be a strong finish to the regular season became a devastating weekend for San José State football fans.
Despite finishing the regular season on a six-game winning streak and defeating the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on the road, the Spartans were left out of the Mountain West Conference championship game. After three teams tied for first place, Mountain West computers determined Sunday that UNLV (9-3, 6-2 MWC) and Boise State (7-5, 6-2 MWC) ranked higher than SJSU (7-5, 6-2 MWC) and were given the conference title game nod.
“Everyone was surprised with the way it played out, especially because we had just beaten UNLV,” SJSU head coach Brent Brennan said Monday. “But it was out of our hands. I think the hard part was the players and really no one understood because we had the same record and we just beat them head to head, and now they get to host. That just didn't didn't make sense to them. It's really hard. Guys were devastated.”
Since UNLV and Boise State did not play each other in the regular season, head-to-head play could not be in consideration to break the tie. The next tiebreaker metric used was to go to the computer rankings to determine which team ranked higher.
Anderson & Hester, Colley Matrix, Massey and Wolfe ranking systems were used to break the tie. Only the Wolfe ranking system had SJSU ranked higher than Boise State.
The Mountain West is one of only three conferences in the Football Bowl Subdivision to use computer rankings as a way to break ties. In seven of the 10 FBS conferences, Boise State and San José State would be the conference title game with Boise State as host.
“I’m subjectively disappointed,” SJSU athletic director Jeff Konya said in a phone interview with Bay Area News Group. “I subjectively think we’re one of the best two teams in the league. There’s no easy way to break a three-way tie and unfortunately for us we were the odd person out.”
SJSU players and coaches also voiced their displeasure with the Mountain West’s decision over social media.
“Computer rankings can’t be the first thing looked at behind head to head,” kicker Taren Schive said on X. “We beat (Fresno State), who beat both of those schools, 42-18, not to mention we also beat one of the teams in the championship yesterday in their own stadium.”
Brennan also retweeted and liked a tweet on X from SJSU alumni and ESPN reporter Marc Spears that read, “Big asterisk on this so-called title game. @SanJoseStateFB beat UNLV, but the HOST team is rewarded. Guess they need ticket sales.”
To add onto Sunday’s disappointment, rumors began to circulate about Brennan’s future at SJSU.
On Saturday, Oregon State University head coach Jonathan Smith took a job to become Michigan State University’s head coach. This led many to speculate about Brennan possibly taking the job at OSU given his history as the Beavers’ wide receivers coach from 2011-2016.
The Oregonian reported Sunday Brennan is indeed on Oregon State’s list of possible head coaching candidates, but also said the school prefers other candidates ahead of him.
Brennan did not confirm or deny interest in the Oregon State job, but said being in consideration is a compliment to SJSU’s recent success.
“Oregon State was a really special place to be for my family,” Brennan said. “I think people reaching out to us about stuff like that means we’re doing something right here.”
The Spartans will have to wait until Sunday to see what bowl game they will be attending.
