San Jose State University Spartans quarterback Walker Eget (5) gets a pass off against the visiting New Mexico Lobos at Spartan Stadium in San Jose on Sat Oct 3, 2025 (photo from Winners and Whiners)

by Austin Ota

SAN JOSE — Following a heartbreaking loss on the road in the Bill Walsh Legacy Game, San Jose State returned home and put on an offensive show for its home crowd, taking down Mountain West-foe New Mexico, 35-28.

With 2024 receiving triple crown winner Nick Nash watching his alma mater on the sidelines, the Spartans (2-3, 1-0 Mountain West) gashed a surging New Mexico Lobos (3-2, 0-1 Mountain West) defense.

“That’s a really good football team,” said head coach Ken Niumatalolo. “Coach Eck — what he’s done — they had to start from ground zero. Their team was 3-1, with some big wins. They’re well coached. That was a hard-fought win.”

After redshirt-senior quarterback Walker Eget fired a career-high 58 past attempts against the Cardinal, the Spartans opened the Friday night bout against the Lobos with a curveball: establishing the run. Five of the first ten plays from scrimmage were rushes, including a third down run from Steve Chavez-Soto to put the Spartans up early. At the end of their first drive, the Spartans ran three straight times, marking just the second time since opening night against Central Michigan they’ve done so.

San Jose State followed with its best defensive possession of the first half. Lobo quarterback Jack Layne, who followed head coach Jason Eck from FBS Idaho, showed his game-management tendencies early on as he weaved through the Spartan defense. But as New Mexico’s run-first offense churned through three- and four-year gains, they had turned field position after converting on a fourth-and-one try.

It was a continued theme for the Spartans, who entered the game having allowed 10 conversions on 12 fourth down tries.

But a pass defense that has also struggled turned the tide on the next play. Larry Turner-Gooden had originally lined up as the man-defender marking the Lobo running back, but as he recognized the flea-flicker try from the opposition, Turner-Gooden floated back into coverage and made an acrobatic play on the football along the boundary for the Spartans’ second interception of the season and more importantly, the first of the safeties’ career.

Eget continued to slice apart New Mexico’s defense, connecting with Matthew Coleman early in the second quarter to put the Spartans up by a pair of touchdowns. Eget was terrific through an early three-safety shell, surely placed by the Lobos following the Spartan air-raid against the Cardinal.

“The biggest thing is go by your rules, go by your keys,” said Eget. “Not overthinking it, take what they give to you. You can’t be getting bored of taking the easy throws or the easy completions.”

The two teams traded scores with a New Mexico rush touchdown and a 70-yard dime from Eget to leading receiver Danny Scudero. The Lobos scored quickly after, canvasing 78 yards when Layne took the top of San Jose State’s defense for a 42-yard gain and Scottre Humphrey pushed the pile for a 1-yard touchdown. Friday night’s first punt came at the end of the first half, and Lobo kicker Luke Drzewiecki drilled a 25-yarder to keep the Lobos in it at the half, 21-17.

Chavez-Soto capped a four-and-a-half-minute drive with his second touchdown of the game. With Jabari Bates sidelined for the rest of the year after sustaining a late injury against the Cardinal and Floyd Chalk IV’s status up in the air as the deadline to redshirt looms, players like Chavez-Soto and sophomore Lamar Radcliffe could be huge pieces for the Spartans going forward.

“Coach Smith always just says, ‘stay ready’,” said the freshman. “So that’s what I did, stay ready, and waited for my opportunity.”
 

New Mexico entered Friday with a top-35 rush defense which allowed just 111 rushing yards per game. Ratcliffe entered the night averaging just 2.6 yards per carry, and Chavez-Soto hadn’t had a single collegiate touch. On paper, it was the unstoppable force of New Mexico’s rush defense against the very movable force of an unproven San Jose State rush attack that had lost its top two rushers.

Instead, the Spartans ran the ball a season-high 36 times for 153 yards. Radcliffe himself had 15 for 64, while Chavez-Soto turned in two touchdowns and put up 71 yards.

And of course, as all good quarterbacks do, Eget shouted his offensive line out for how tremendous they were guiding the run.

“They could be a room that is so freakin’ good,” said Eget. “Once they really knew it, it’s going to keep going with a head of steam. We knew that they had the potential to be one of the best o-lines, not in the Mountain West, but really in college football.”

Minutes later, Layne was intercepted a second time after he was pressured by Noah McNeal-Franklin. Jalen Bainer finished the play, picking up his first interception of the year as well.

When Eget found Leland Smith with 2:42 to play in the third to put the Spartans up by 18, it felt like the game was on ice. Bainer picking off Layne again to start the fourth pushed the metaphorical dagger in even more.

“To be able to close it out,” said Niumatalolo, “those are the type of things that you have to do to win championships. You have to be able to close games out. You have to be able to convert third-and-shorts. And we did so many things offensively, I feel like it’s going to bode well for us as we make a push to the next game.”

But San Jose State punted a second time after a three-and-out. New Mexico State scored on a QB keeper just three minutes later, and converted the two-point conversion. Spartan punter Trent Carrizosa had to double-down and punt again with 6:48 to play.

Layne hit Keagan Johnson in stride twice in a three-minute span for a combined 45 yards to bring New Mexico in field goal range, but after Spartan corner Runye Norton broke up a third down pass, the Lobos drilled a 31-yard field goal to make it a one-score game.

Chavez-Soto converted on a second-and-long to put the game on ice.

The overall hero was Eget. After a strong showing against the Cardinal, he finished 26-of-30 passing with 327 yards, finishing three touchdowns to three different receivers. Even though sophomore Danny Scudero has been the focal point thus far for the Spartans, Eget showed the ability to spray the ball to any open receiver against New Mexico.

Niumatalolo sung his praises.

“To me, everything started with our quarterback,” said Niumatalolo. “He played like I knew he could play. I’ve been saying this, the Walker I saw in camp, the Walker I saw in spring ball. The offense I saw was that offense right there. But we’ve been rolling, and if Walker plays like that… he’s just opened up so many things. He’s going with the ball to the right spots. Throwing it to the right people. As well as I thought the offense played last week, I thought the offense did a better job of finishing their catches.”

Now up over 1,500 yards and nearing ten touchdowns on the year, Eget’s stellar play becomes an easy target for the Spartan offense to try and take aim for as they ride on the shoulders of their quarterback.

With eyes on continuing 1-0 in conference play every single week, the message is straightforward, and it seems that the Spartans have the pieces in place to play the message through. They’ll head to Wyoming next to take on the Cowboys, with kickoff set for 4 P.M.