The San Jose State football team’s herculean defensive effort combined with quarterback Nick Starkel led to the team’s 17-6 season-opening win over Air Force Saturday night at CEFCU Stadium.
SJSU’s victory ended Air Force’s NCAA-best nine-game winning streak. The Spartans (1-0, 1-0 MWC) also opened Mountain West Conference play with a win for the first time since joining the league in 2013.
The game was scoreless in the first half, but the Falcons (1-1, 0-1 MWC) came close to scoring. A fourth and goal defensive stand by the Spartans halted the Falcons inches from the endzone.
“I [was] just really excited about what our defense did tonight against that group from Air Force,” head coach Brent Brennan said in the post-game news conference over Zoom. “I mean, what a special effort across the board.”
Air Force came into the game as the favorite because the team has been practicing since August.
SJSU had far less time to prepare, as the football team recently returned from Humboldt State where they practiced for two weeks until Santa Clara County health department approved the team to play at CEFCU Stadium.
“So it’s just awesome to get the chance to play and then to play the way we did and get a win against a really, really good opponent,” Brennan said. “It was just really special.”
Brennan said that playing in a stadium with cardboard cutouts instead of fans was a different experience than what he’s used to.
“You know, just Spartan Stadium, with no one in it. It’s just surreal,” Brennan said.
The Spartans hit their offensive stride in the second half, where Starkel led the charge during his
SJSU debut.
Starkel completed 22 of 29 passes and threw a total of 226 yards with two touchdowns, both to tight end Derrick Deese Jr., who said he was just thinking about keeping his feet inbounds on both catches. One of the touchdowns was a spectacular athletic catch by Deese, who kept one foot inbound as an Air Force defender was draped all over him.
“It was great to put some more numbers on the board and get my name out there and prove I’m going to be a real threat for the Spartans,” Deese said during the post-game news conference.
Receiver Bailey Gaither also played an integral part in changing the momentum of the game for the SJSU offense in the second half. Starkel threw a 52-yard completion to him which led to the first score of the game by SJSU in the third quarter.
Starkel said after the game that he was adjusting during the game, but soon became comfortable with the Spartans’ offensive schemes after transferring from the University of Arkansas over the summer.
“I definitely feel like the speed of the game was a little fast at first, but as the game progressed I went back to my habits,” Starkel said. “I just went back to what we’ve been preparing and doing
in practice.”
But the real star of the game was the Spartan defensive line, which held the Falcons to six points after beating the Navy Midshipmen 40-7 in their last game.
“It’s difficult to defend, but stopping the fullback was our main focus,” linebacker
Kyle Harmon said. “I think we did a good job which led to success all four quarters.”
Harmon said the team kept playing hard and as points were put on the scoreboard the Spartans kept putting pressure on the Falcons offense, which led them to make mistakes.
Brennan said he felt proud of what his team accomplished and how special a win like this is for the team moving forward.
“It tells our team that we’re on the right path,” Brennan said. “It feels great to win a game against a really good team like that. Now we’re gonna sleep, wake up and get ready for New Mexico.”
Next up, SJSU hosts New Mexico at CEFCU Stadium after the game was moved from Albuquerque because of a high number of COVID-19 cases in Bernalillo County.
