Though it’s early in the season, San José State’s game against the University of Toledo on Saturday is going to be an important flash point for a Spartan team who is at a season crossroad.
SJSU (1-2) opened its season with consecutive losses to No. 6 USC and No. 16 Oregon State, and is facing a Toledo team that is the reigning Mid-American Conference champions. More recently, the Rockets beat the brakes off Texas Southern University last Saturday in a 71-3 blowout win.
“The whirlwind of the season has come, and we’re well in the middle of it here,” said SJSU head coach Brent Brennan in a Tuesday press conference.
The Spartans are coming off a 59-3 blowout win against Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo going into Saturday’s matchup with Toledo. But let’s be honest, the Spartans were supposed to beat the Mustangs.
Cal Poly, an FCS program, just didn’t have the athletes or the coaching experience that SJSU has. Had the Mustangs beaten the Spartans, we would be having a much different conversation about where SJSU is at this point of the season and where we expect the team to be.
Saturday’s game against Toledo is consequential.
If the Spartans beat the Rockets on their home field the whole dynamic of this season changed.
SJSU would be 2-2 with a gigantic win under its belt against a team that has had the type of success that is desired at mid-major schools.
Quarterback Chevan Cordeiro would undoubtedly get his biggest road win as SJSU’s quarterback. A win against Toledo would show that a Brennan-led team can win a big game against a quality team on the road and would give the Spartans some extra juice going into conference play.
But if the Spartans lose, the whole direction of the season can go an entirely different direction.
A loss would mean the Spartans drop to 1-3 heading into their Mountain West opener against Air Force on Sept. 22 at home. A defeat at the hands of Toledo could be a blow to the confidence of the team coming off a much-needed victory against Cal Poly.
Losing for prolonged periods of time at this level can snowball, making it hard for teams to recover. The last thing the Spartans need is to not have confidence going into conference play where the pressure of winning starts to get bigger.
“Playing well against Cal Poly in a home game was great, but this is a much different thing,” Brennan said. “We’re traveling three time zones, we're playing a seven o’clock kick out there. So it’s just a much different experience altogether. This is gonna be an incredible challenge for us and we’re excited to play.”
Saturday’s game against Toledo also allows the Spartans to show a level of consistency that they haven’t been able to build on yet this season.
The offense has been sporadic, showing great flashes in spurts against USC while looking downright bad against Oregon State. The defense was the driving force of the team against Cal Poly, but was run over in the first two games of the season where they gave up 98 points combined.
If the Spartans can show consistency in all three phases on Saturday, it can certainly help a team who has struggled to find its identity early in the season.
“A win no matter who you play in college football is hard,” said Cordeiro after SJSU’s win over Cal Poly. “But we know that it’s just one game and it’s onto the next. We gotta focus on Toledo.”
