Photo credit: @SJSUSpartanFB

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — I know I sound like a broken record, but San Jose State has nothing to play for (and nothing to lose). However, SJSU has a game coming up against Fresno State inside Bulldog Stadium this Saturday at 4:00 pm PT on ESPNU. So the Spartans must prepare themselves in order to snatch the Valley Trophy away from the rival Bulldogs in the nationally televised game.

Here’s my Q&A with Spartans head coach Brent Brennan:

1. Why did you decide to punt at the 50 down on two possessions with five minutes left?
Because the down and distance was more than I thought. I think it was maybe fourth and nine or fourth and 11…I was ready. I told coach (Kevin) McGiven this is going to be fourth down, depending on what we get here and then we didn’t get enough on third…and then our defense was playing so well. I thought we would be able to get a stop there. That was why.

2. Christian Johnson picked up the fumble recovery in the second quarter for the first of his career. That was obviously a moment worth noting, but what else were you proud of when it came to the Spartan defense?
I thought the Spartan defense did a great job. I thought that coach (Derrick) Odum and the staff had the guys really prepared–multiple fourth down stops and we had the play where we got to run into the punter, so that gave them five yards, then gave them a fourth and short.

Ethan Aguayo, I believe, made a huge hit and we stopped them there. Also, we got good field position with our offense–multiple fourth down stops and two turnovers. Obviously, Ethan again with the tipped interception on the screen play. It was a really big moment in that game early on.

I thought our defense played really, really hard. There were a couple throws we’d like to contest a little better or finish a little better, but I thought against a really physical running attack and against a team that had really been playing really excellent offense the previous month, I thought our defense did a really good job holding them to 21 points and doing what we did against the run game and on third down and the turnover battle was four to one, maybe. So it’s just a lot of good stuff.

3. The US Open Trophy made a guest appearance at the game. Just how awesome was it to see the trophy and did you, the other coaches and the players touch the trophy or avoid it altogether?
You know what? I was unaware the US Open Trophy was at the game until I saw a picture of it. My brother-in-law is a big golfer and he showed me a picture of it, so I was unaware that it was there.

Obviously, it was really cool that it was, but we were so locked into Senior Day and making sure that that experience for our seniors and their families was something that they would remember and something that would be positive for them. So that’s kind of where I was at.