Photo credit: @SJSUSpartanFB

By: Ana Kieu

San Jose State suffered a 24-9 beating from Wyoming on a chilly, snowy Saturday in Laramie, Wyo. As a result, San Jose State’s record fell to 1-8, 1-4 Mountain West, while Wyoming upped its record to 4-6, 2-4 Mountain West. Neither record calls for bragging rights, but the Cowboys were arguably the better team, not the Spartans.

With that said, here are three takeaways from San Jose State’s game against Wyoming.

SJSU needs more than just Love 
Spartans quarterback Josh Love deserves credit for his performance on Sunday. After a fumble, Love threw 17-yard touchdown pass to receiver Tre Walker was the Spartans’ lone TD of the game. Unfortunately, a bad snap on the kick led to the Spartans’ unsuccessful 2-point conversion attempt, so there’s that, too.

But Love took hard hits and continued to pick himself up off the ground throughout the game. It’s not everyday where you see a college quarterback act like a grown man in the pros. It’s just Love needs more playmakers around him to finish off those game-changing plays.

Wyoming had the upper hand
Like I mentioned in the introduction, the Cowboys were arguably the better team.

Sure, the Cowboys’ first drive wasn’t perfect as the team had to settle for a 3-0 lead 4:24 into the game, thanks to Cowboys kicker Cooper Ruthe’s 26-yard field goal. But the Cowboys gained 424 yards on the ground and 473 total yards. Also, Cowboys quarterback Sean Chambers singlehandedly increased the Cowboys’ lead to 17-3 after using his 6’4″ frame to sneak for a first down on the three-and-one from 64 yards.

Third time might’ve been the charm
The Spartans were inside the Cowboys’ 20-yard line twice in the fourth quarter, but came away with only one touchdown. The Spartans answered on their second possession set up by linerbacker Jesse Osuna’s fumble recovery of the Cowboys running back Nico Evans’ fumble in the Spartans’ secondary. Walker flawlessly timed his shoulder turn to Love’s pass in the near right corner of the end zone to cut the deficit to 17-9. Spartans punter Brian Papazian was unable to set the snap for the extra point down, but the Spartans were back in the game with 8:48 remaining.

This has been something that some fans have been pondering. What if the Spartans were inside the Cowboys’ 20-yard for a third time in the fourth quarter? Would the Spartans actually capitalize on that opportunity? We’ll never know what could’ve happened.

San Jose State pays a visit to No. 14 Utah State this Saturday at 1:00 pm PT.