Photo credit: Photo collage of San Jose State Spartans logo from twitter.com and Fresno State Bulldogs logo from pinterest.com

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Unlike the San Jose State Spartans, the Fresno State Bulldogs have been a fairly consistent team in recent years. So let’s look beyond the football rivalry and attempt to answer the open-ended question: “What can San Jose State learn from Fresno State?”

Why should we try to answer such a question?
First things first, San Jose State had a rough 2017 campaign under first-year head coach Brent Brennan, first-year running backs coach Alonzo Carter and a few other newbie coaches. The Spartans went 2-11 (1-8 Mountain West) in 2017. Of course, I’m not saying things won’t start to look up in Year 2 (2018), but if the Spartan coaching staff doesn’t get their act together, then it’s likely most–if not, all–of them will be on the hot seat and end up with pink slips in their hands.

Second, Fresno State–as you may already know–has made three Mountain West Championships since 2013 when there was an expansion to 12 members along with the division of the conference into Mountain West and West divisions, respectively. The Bulldogs faced the Utah State Aggies in the inaugural MW Championship Game in 2013 and won 24-17. The Bulldogs then faced the No. 22 Boise State Broncos in 2014, but lost 28-14; and missed back-to-back MW Championship Games in 2015 and 2016 before getting the chance to face the Broncos again in 2017. This time around, Fresno State were edged by Boise State 17-14, but it was a good game between the two teams nonetheless.

Last but not least, San Jose State is a work in progress. So far this offseason, the Spartans stepped up their game–most recently in their first team scrimmage last Saturday at CEFCU Stadium. Montel Aaron, a 6-foot-5 quarterback, was the first player on the field. And, as expected, Aaron didn’t disappoint that day. Aaron didn’t miss a pass, and when the options failed down the field, he’d tuck it twice for 15-plus yards in his opening drive. Also, Aaron looks like he has a shot at becoming the Spartans’ starting quarterback this coming season. It’s just a question of whether or not Aaron can stay healthy.

What can San Jose State learn from Fresno State?
Like I’ve mentioned earlier, there are plenty of things the Spartans can learn from the Bulldogs. CEFCU Stadium may not always be filled like Bulldog Stadium, but right now, San Jose State is displaying signs of a football program who’s on the correct path towards a cultural rebirth, while Fresno State should have a pretty good year under head coach Jeff Tedford, who has worked in Fresno, Calif. since 2017.

The Bulldogs have a darn good offense in Marcus McMaryion, KeeSean Johnson (a Palo Alto, Calif. native) and an equally good defense in Jeffrey Allison along with all the other guys in the Bulldog secondary.

Meanwhile, the Spartans are better in the defensive department. From what I’ve seen in the first Spartan scrimmage, redshirt freshman Johnny Balderas and true freshman Tre Jenkins each racked up one interception apiece in last Saturday’s scrimmage. Not only did Balderas snag up a deep ball, he also snagged one from Josh Love, a 6-foot-2 quarterback who already has the necessary in-game experience to succeed. Balderas is still developing, but it’s nice to see that his redshirt year is paying off this summer.

The Spartan offense has to take a few steps to complete the big picture context. As you may already know, Bailey Gaither, a 6-foot-1 wide receiver, had a 14.5 yards per catch average last season–and that was No. 1 among all Spartans with 20-plus receptions in 2017.

“We’ve gone over a lot of stuff. We had a good summer. We’ve had the same OC (Offensive Coordinator Kevin McGiven) since spring. Being able to put a transition from spring to summer to fall, it’s gone well. We have a lot of vets. Having these new guys, it will be an easier transition for them since we can be the ones setting the foundation for them,” said Gaither.

The Spartans took a more commercial approach with the then-Spartan Stadium becoming the CEFCU Stadium (named after the Citizens Equity First Credit Union). Now, all the Spartans need to do is start winning games and providing the action-packed experience that has made a lot of their home games great during the Dick Tomey, Mike MacIntyre and perhaps the Ron Caragher eras. Sadly, I can’t speak for the other eras before the ones I just mentioned, as I wasn’t even born yet.

But I believe the Spartans can get more than two wins in 2018. Hopefully, they’ll make a bowl game appearance, too.