After a 62-21 Mountain West defeat on Saturday against 14th-ranked Utah State, the Spartans are wasting no time in turning their attention to this weekend’s final home game of the season hosting Nevada.
The game against Utah State saw the Spartans powering through the start of the first quarter with a 7-0 lead, but the Aggies turned every mistake from that point on into an opportunity to shift the game in their favor.
“Midway through the second quarter we’re playing hard, and we’re making some plays and it’s a fair fight and then we had an 8 or 9 minute stretch on both sides of the ball that just really hurt us and we couldn’t recover from,” head coach Brent Brennan said.
The Spartans will face off against another high-scoring team Saturday as the Wolf Pack heads into the game with a 6-4 overall record and a 4-2 record in conference play. Nevada is also coming into CEFCU Stadium on a three-game winning streak after defeating Colorado State 49-10 last week.
“We’re playing a very hot football team right now,” Brennan said. “Their quarterback is outstanding. They’ve got a real veteran group from both sides of the ball and they’re playing really well as seen last week when they played
Colorado State.”
The fight against the Aggies left the Spartans a little banged up, bringing slight changes in the practice process this week as they buckle down on the Wolf Pack’s offense.
“Our defense is going to be challenged in lots of ways so I think it’s important that we do a good job simulating the looks in practice this week,” Brennan said.
Taking into account the current records of Nevada and Fresno State, who the Spartans will be going head to head with when they hit the road for the Nov. 24 game, SJSU’s strength of schedule for the year is tied at 17th place for the most challenging based on opponent winning percentage at 0.613, according to the NCAA Statistics Service.
“I feel like everyone we play is high-scoring, week in and week out, I think it’s been an interesting season so far,” Brennan said.
The Spartans remain standing in a difficult position this season with a current overall record of 1-9 and 1-5 in the Mountain West Conference.
“The team, they’re happy, you know the record isn’t the greatest but if you came out here as a regular bystander you wouldn’t be able to tell what the record was because the guys are still running around practicing hard and having fun,” senior defensive tackle Boogie Roberts said after Wednesday’s practice.
When asked about how difficult it could be for the team to keep itself motivated, Brennan said the answer is simply a matter of having no other choice.
“I think we’re developing a lot of young players and a lot of seniors have been playing their best football since they’ve been here and so I feel good about that,” Brennan said. “But unlike everybody else, we need to win more football games and we need to play better, so we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us as a staff these next two weeks and then going into offseason.”
The upcoming final home game will also see 15 seniors being recognized in pregame ceremonies, a moment that Brennan explained will make this Saturday a special day for him and the rest of the team.
“What I’m most proud of about this group of guys is easy, it’s how they’ve continued to work and push the team even though we weren’t getting the results on Saturdays that we wanted,” Brennan said.
Emotions are set to run high this weekend as the team plays to improve their record and play their best for the seniors as well.
“It’s just crazy how fast time flew, it seems like just yesterday I was an 18-year-old kid coming to San Jose for the first time and now I’m leaving a 22-year-old man. I get to play this last game and walk out there with my family,” Roberts said.
For senior running back Malike Roberson, this Saturday’s game is not a goodbye but a thank you.
“Seeing where I’ve developed from and being able to tie that back into the younger guys and help them out, kind of like repaying the favor of the seniors here when I got here,” Roberson said. “Now I’m that old guy now so I’m just passing off the torch because you can only be a Spartan for so long but it lives on for you.”
The team has had a lot of ups and downs throughout the season, but Roberts said that at the end of the day, it has taught him life lessons and given him a strong brotherhood with his teammates that extends beyond the boundaries of the football field.
“I’m disappointed we haven’t got the results for them, that really hurts me,” Brennan said.
