Photo credit: @SJSUSpartanFB

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — San Jose State head coach Brent Brennan held his weekly press conference inside Simpkins Stadium Center on Monday afternoon. Obviously, Brennan–and the Spartans–weren’t happy with their seventh straight loss of the season. The Spartans haven’t won a game since November 25, 2017 when they squeaked past the Wyoming Cowboys 20-17 at CEFCU Stadium to close out the 2017 season.

Here’s my Q&A with Brennan:

1. The Spartans got off to a good start, thanks to Bryce Crawford. The Spartans, however, lost a close game in the end. How disappointing was it for the players and coaches on Saturday night?
I think everyone was devastated. To go in there and go toe-to-toe with their great defense and just what they do as an offense running the football. The success they’ve had over the years. The respect that we have for their program to go in there and play as well as we did and not finish it and not come out with a win was really disappointing. The challenge for us now is how can we get rid of that game and move on to get ready for our next one. To me, this is the most important game of the year.

2. The Spartans’ run game was clearly broken. What changes can be made to make sure the Spartans capitalize on their opportunities and gain yards?
I think it was broken, but I think it made a big step last week against San Diego State even though the numbers weren’t big. I think we ran for more yards than everyone they played so far–maybe outside of Stanford. So I think that’s something we can feel really good about. We were playing the 12th-ranked defense in the country last week and I thought our offensive line and coach (Joe) Bernardi did a good job at the game plan there. I thought Tyler Nevens and Malik Roberson did a nice job running the ball and I felt like that run game was one of the things that kind of helped us sustain drives and change that game a little bit in the second half so obviously we’re going to put a lot of work into it and hopefully we can get an even better performance this weekend.

3. The Spartans committed costly penalties at the worst times. What are your thoughts on the horse-collar flag and roughing-the-passer call that allowed San Diego State to get ahead and avoid a huge upset?
The roughing-the-passer call…I thought that was a tough one! We got pressured in there and it was his first college football game. He hasn’t played yet at all. And I’m so proud of Junior Fehoko; he went in there and played his tail off. He did a lot of good stuff in that game. It was his first college game against an outfield like that. That’s a big time accomplishment. He’s not trying to rough the passer; he’s trying to play as hard as he possibly can. So that’s a real teachable moment, a real learning moment for him. The frustrating things are our penalties that stop the drive on offense or extend the drive on defense and those are the things that we need to eliminate. But in terms of penalties overall, that game, they were very low.

Spartan nation, don’t forget that you can call or text (408) 924-7589 for San Jose State football tickets.