The San Jose State football team clinched a berth to the Mountain West football championship game by defeating the University of Nevada, Reno 30-20 Friday night at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas.
Undefeated SJSU (6-0, 6-0 MWC) qualified for the program’s first ever conference title game appearance after overcoming the team’s biggest deficit of the season.
The Spartans trailed the Wolf Pack (6-2, 6-2 MWC) by 13 points at halftime as the team faced its first loss of the season. However, SJSU held Nevada scoreless in the second half and scored 23 points to rally and win.
“The game in the first half didn’t look good,” head football coach Brent Brennan said in the Zoom post-game conference. “[But] we got in there at halftime and regrouped and just talked about playing for each other and the rest I guess is history.”
The first half was filled with a myriad of mistakes from the Spartans.
Whether it be kicker Matt Mercurio missing a 34-yard field goal to start the game, the SJSU offense turning the ball over on a fourth-and-one or quarterback Nick Starkel throwing an interception, SJSU couldn’t do anything right.
Meanwhile, the Wolf Pack scored on all of its possessions in the first half except for one. Nevada kicker Brandon Talton missed a 25-yard field goal at the end of the half and Brennan said that was a boost for the Spartans.
“Them missing the field goal right before half was a big play,” Brennan said. “[Our] defence got a stop and then they missed the field goal. I think that was really significant for us.”
SJSU trailed 20-7 at halftime and Brennan said he had two messages for the team.
“We broke it down real simple at halftime,” Brennan said. “We need to fix two things. We need to fix our physicality and we need to play for each other.”
The Spartans took Brennan’s words and ran with it, literally.
Running back Shamar Garrett opened the second half with a 98-yard kickoff return touchdown to cut Nevada’s lead to 20-14.
SJSU carried the momentum from Garrett’s electric touchdown and kept running the ball in the second half. The Spartans ground game improved from 4 yards in the first half to 200 yards by the end of the game.
Running back Tyler Nevens headlined the SJSU rushing attack as he tortured the Nevada defence by finishing with 184 yards and 1 touchdown on 12 carries. His explosive 69-yard touchdown run gave the Spartans a 27-20 lead in the third quarter.
“The reason our run game is working so well is because [our] running back and [offensive] linemen have a tighter and closer bond than we had for the past few years,” Nevens said in the Zoom post-game conference.
When asked about Neven’s performance, Starkel said even the referee was in awe.
“Tyler had just ran over a guy and the [referee] was like, ‘Geez that was a good run.’ ” Starkel said in the Zoom post-game conference. “Usually you don’t hear [referees] say stuff like that, but I think he just couldn’t help himself.”
The SJSU passing game also clicked as a result of the ground game finding life as Starkel threw for 306 yards and 2 touchdown passes in the game.
Starkel led the Spartans on a 99-yard drive in the third quarter to retake the lead. The drive ended with a touchdown to tight end Derrick Deese Jr. to make the score 21-20.
“I bet if you ask Nevada what was the dagger in the game was, they’d probably say that 99-yard drive,” Starkel said. “That hurts when a team goes all the way down the field and scores.”
As the SJSU offense took care of business, the defense laid the foundation for the rally. The Spartans forced two fumbles in the second half and held the Wolf Pack scoreless.
Defensive lineman Cade Hall came up clutch as he sacked quarterback Carson Strong twice on back to back plays on Nevada’s final possession of the game.
SJSU will face Boise State in the program’s first ever Mountain West football championship game appearance Dec. 19 at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, SJSU’s temporary home field because of Santa Clara County coronavirus restrictions.
“You don’t get to that game and [just] be happy to get there. You want to go to that game and play well and win,” Brennan said. “It’s so awesome to say, ‘Hey guess what we’re doing Saturday night? We’re playing for the conference championship.’ ”
