Tag: San Jose State

Photo credit: @SJSUSpartanFB

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Spartans were ready to work in Saturday’s game versus the Colorado State Rams inside CEFCU Stadium on Saturday night. The Spartans hosted an equally bad Rams team on “Set the Expectation” night, but was it as great of an idea as it appeared on paper?

CSU opened the scoring with what turned out to be a five-yard passing touchdown by Preston Williams. SJSU’s pass interference penalty on JaQuan Blackwell was declined. Wyatt Bryant kicked in the extra point for a 7-0 Rams lead at the 10:57 mark of the first quarter.

Despite an apparent helmet-to-helmet injury to Jonathan Lenard, Jr., SJSU had some good looks midway through the first quarter like, say, Tyler Nevens’ 17-yard pickup.

CSU made it 14-0 with 3:04 left in the first. Williams scored a 16-yard passing touchdown and Bryan kicked in the extra point.

The Spartans trailed the Rams 14-0 at the end of the first. SJSU had to fine tune their offense in the next three quarters in order to pick up a win over CSU.

SJSU attracted some positive attention to themselves as Zamore Zigler intercepted K.J. Carta-Samuels’ pass intended for a CSU receiver midway through the second quarter.

CSU expanded its lead to 21-0 with 3:24 left in the second. Warren Jackson tallied a 16-yard passing touchdown and Bryan kicked in the extra point.

CSU extended its lead to 28-0, thanks to Jackson’s second touchdown on the night–a eight-yard passing touchdown–and Bryan’s kick for the extra point with 23 seconds left in the second.

The Spartans dug themselves into a larger deficit 28-0 at halftime.

SJSU, however, salvaged something in the third quarter. Josh Love completed a pass to Tre Hartley, who ran the ball for a 24-yard passing touchdown, and Bryce Crawford followed up with a successful kick for the extra point. The Spartans avoided a shutout, but were still down 28-7 with 7:47 left in the third.

SJSU cut the Rams’ lead in half with 5:17 left in the third. Tyler Nevens rushed for a six-yard rushing touchdown. Crawford kicked in the extra point to bring his team within 14 points, 28-14.

SJSU pulled within seven points just 3:09 later. Hartley scored his second touchdown on the night–a 51-yard passing touchdown off a pass from Love–and Crawford kicked in the extra point to pull closer to the Rams, 28-21.

It seemed like CSU wasn’t worried whatsoever, as SJSU tied the score 28-28 with 28 seconds left in the third. Thai Cottrell scored a one-yard passing touchdown and Crawford kicked in the game-tying, extra point. Just five seconds later, Boogie Roberts scored a safety to put the Spartans up 30-28.

The Spartans put up 30 unanswered points for a 30-28 lead at the end of the third.

CSU, however, refused to back down. Izzy Matthews rushed for a one-yard rushing touchdown and Bryan kicked in the extra point for a 35-30 Rams lead at the 11:26 mark of the fourth quarter. And, as if the confidence level wasn’t already high, CSU hurriedly capitalized on SJSU’s first turnover on the night for a 42-30 lead on Rashad Ajayi’s 55-yard interception and Bryan’s kick for the extra point.

The Spartans suffered their fifth straight loss, 42-30, to the Rams.

Notes
Spartans’ possible starters
Offense: Justin Holmes, Jackson Snyder, Troy Kowalski, Trevor Robbins, Jake Colman, Deano Motes, Josh Oliver, Josh Love, Malike Roberson, Thai Cottrell and JaQuan Blackwell.

Defense: Bryson Bridges, Boogie Roberts, Sailosi Latu, Jesse Osuna, Kyle Harmon, Ethan Aguayo, Jamal Scott, Dakari Monroe, John Touissaint, Tre Webb and Jonathan Lenard, Jr.

Up Next
The Spartans head to nearby Levi’s Stadium to face the Army Black Nights next Saturday at 12:30 pm PT on ESPNU.

Photo credit: @SJSUSpartanFB

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — After high-energy practices, San Jose State has geared up to welcome its next Mountain West opponent, the Colorado State Rams, to CEFCU Stadium on Saturday for a Set the Expectation game.

In case you didn’t know, Set the Expectation was launched by Brenda Tracy, a rape survivor who was gang raped by four football players. Set the Expectation is a pledge for male college and high school athletes. The latter can have their parents sign their pledges with them. Contrary to popular belief, the pledges aren’t legally binding documents, just a simple step towards accountability for the players and coaches. In addition, the coaches can use the pledge as a blueprint to have a serious conversation about consent, domestic violence and sexual assault.

Saturday’s Set the Expectation game was scheduled at the right time, as October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. SJSU’s Beyond Football program made it clear that they proudly support the YMCA Silicon Valley and asked fans to donate money for the amazing non-profit at https://www.gofundme.com/settheexpectationsjsustanford.

Aside from Beyond Football and Set the Expectation, SJSU has proved fans time and time again that the local community is one of the most important things in everyday life. The Spartans volunteer for local charities, non-profits and schools.

The #MeToo and #TimesUp movements were culture shocks in North America, but the actual changing of the existing laws will take at least a year for real results. Of course, the brave women and men have shown us how far we’ve come, but there’s also the thought of how far they need to go in order to make things happen for the safety and well-being of the younger generations.

Beyond Football recently shared a snippet of head coach Brent Brennan’s comments on Set the Expectation in his weekly radio show at the Hukilau in San Jose’s Japantown. This video highlight proves that Brennan has been using his platform in all sorts of ways.

The Spartans are more than student-athletes. They’re part of the 90%. They’re talented players on the field, informed men off the field and educated scholars in the classroom. Whether or not the Spartans enter the NFL, they’ll leave SJSU as fine, young men who have a lot to offer the Silicon Valley and beyond. At the end of the day, education is an important thing. Without education, one wouldn’t have class, dignity and respect.

Photo credit: sjsuspartans.com

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — San Jose State football has been a horrendous Mountain West team so far. But that doesn’t mean that the Spartans players aren’t putting in work on and off the field.

The Spartans’ defensive tackle Boogie Roberts and tight end Josh Oliver have been balling out this past week.
Roberts, a fifth-year graduate student, touched the ball in four different ways and scored his first offensive touchdown in SJSU’s epic, five-overtime home loss to Hawaii 44-41 at CEFCU Stadium. Moreover, Oliver was named as the John Mackey Tight End of the Week by the John Mackey Award.

Roberts was the first known SJSU defensive player to recover a fumble as a defensive player and score a rushing touchdown on offense in the school’s 125-year history of the sport. Roberts was also added to the Paul Hornung Award Weekly Honor Roll. The Paul Hornung Award’s currently in its ninth season. It’s given annually to the most versatile player in major college football by the Louisville Sports Commission and football legend Paul Hornung. The winner and his family will be honored at the annual Paul Hornung Award dinner presented by Jewish Hospital Sports Medicine at the Galt House Hotel in Louisville in March 2019. This will be the Paul Hornung Award’s third year as an associate member of the National College Football Awards Association. The LSC launched the Paul Hornung Award in 2010 to honor its namesake and native son as well as to promote outstanding performances by versatile college football players who often go unnoticed.

Oliver recently matched a career-high with eight receptions for a single-game career-best 158 yards and one touchdown in SJSU’s 44-41 loss to Hawaii in a whopping five overtimes. Oliver’s incredible night included a 14-yard touchdown reception that extended SJSU’s lead to 24-16 in the third quarter. Oliver also caught a career-best 70 yard reception in the conference contest.

Oliver’s 158 receiving yards are the most by a Spartan playing any position in a single game since 2013. Other honorable mentions this week include CJ Conrad, Mickey Crum, Mik’Quan Deane and Drew Sample.

The 2018 John Mackey recipient will be announced on December 5, 2018 and then presented live on December 6, 2018 at the Home Depot College Football Awards Red Carpet Show on ESPNU. Other key dates include the 2018 Mackey Semi-finalists on November 15, 2018 and the 2018 Mackey Finalists on November 22, 2018.

The John Mackey Tight End of the Week is an honor distinct from the annual John Mackey Award. This weekly honor was started in 2004 to draw attention to individual play by tight ends during the season. The Tight End of the Week acknowledgment doesn’t have a direct bearing on the final John Mackey Award selection process. The John Mackey Tight End of the Week honor will run until the announcement of the eight semifinalists.

The John Mackey Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association that encompasses the most prestigious awards in college football. The 24 awards boast over 750 years of tradition selection excellence.

Photo credit: sjsuspartans.com

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose State Spartans hope to turn their luck around when they welcome the Colorado State Rams to CEFCU Stadium on Saturday night. The Spartans will play their second straight home and conference game in the South Bay.

Here are all the details on the Saturday night showdown:

Saturday’s game
San Jose State vs. Colorado State
Saturday, October 6, 2018
CEFCU Stadium, San Jose, Calif., 7:30 pm PT
CBS Sports Network

SJSU’s record
0-4, 0-1 Mountain West. Most recently, the Spartans lost to Hawaii, 44-41 in five overtimes on September 29.

CSU’s record
1-4, 0-1 Mountain West. The Rams lost to Illinois, 34-19, on September 22. CSU had a bye week for the week ending September 29.

Radio
KLIV (1590 AM, San Jose) originates SJSU football broadcasts. Justin Allegri calls the play-by-play. Kevin Richardson provides commentary. The CSU broadcast begins at 3:30 pm PT with a pregame show.

SJSU’s network affiliate is KION (1460 AM/101.1 FM, Salinas).

Television
The CBS Sports Network will provide play-by-play coverage of the SJSU vs. CSU game. Rich Waltz calls the play-by-play. Aaron Murray provides analysis and commentary.  Jordan Daigle is the sideline reporter.

The live telecast is scheduled for 7:32 pm PT.

Tickets:
• sjsuspartans.com/tickets and ticketmaster.com.

Athletics Ticket Office, 1393 S. 7th Street, San José, CA 95112, weekdays, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm.

For home games at CEFCU Stadium:
• New modern family plan
• Spartan alumni season ticket
• Pricing in a distinct seating section

Series history
CSU leads the series, 5-4. The Rams have wins in the last two meetings between these teams including a 42-14 triumph last year in Fort Collins. SJSU’s last win in the series was a 34-27 road victory in 2013.

Five overtimes
SJSU’s recent 44-41 five overtime loss to Hawaii on September 29 is the longest game in Spartan football history and by a MW member since the overtime rule was enacted prior to the 1997 season.

The game was the third time in SJSU’s 10 overtime games that more than one overtime period was necessary. The Spartans lost a double overtime game to Boise State at home, 56-49, on November 13, 2004, and a triple overtime contest to Navy at home, 58-52, on November 22, 2013.

Of SJSU’s 10 overtime games, three are against Hawaii and all of them were played in San Jose. The Rainbow Warriors are 3-0 against the Spartans in overtime games.

SJSU now has played 18 periods of overtime in its 10 games.

Four hours, four minutes
Each of SJSU’s first two home games this season lasted four hours and four minutes. The UC Davis game on August 30 didn’t have a commercial format while the Hawaii encounter on September 29 did through Spectrum Sports/Stadium.

Best of the week
Quarterback Josh Love’s 451 passing yards in the five-overtime loss to Hawaii was the best by a FBS player in games played the week ending September 29, 2018. The 451 yards ranks seventh best through five weeks of regular-season action.

Passing Yardage Totals for Games Played the Week Ending September 29
Quarterback, School                                               Opponent            Yardage
Josh Love, San Jose State                                        Hawaii                      451
Gardner Minshew, II, Washington State                    Utah                            445
Jon Wassink, Western Michigan                                Miami (Ohio)             439
Kyler Murray, Oklahoma                                            Baylor                          432
Riley Neal, Ball State                                                  Kent State                  402
Charlie Brewer, Baylor                                                Oklahoma                  400

Trend broken vs. Hawaii
The Hawaii game marked the first time this season only one quarterback played for SJSU. Josh Love played the entire game against Hawaii and passed for a career-best 451 yards and matched a career-high with three touchdowns.
In each of SJSU’s first three games, the Spartans used at least two quarterbacks. Love, Michael Carrillo and Montel Aaron played in the opener vs. UC Davis. Aaron and Carrillo were the quarterbacks at Washington State. Love and Aaron called the signals for the Spartans at Oregon.

Tops of the week
Josh Oliver led all FBS tight ends in single-game receiving yardage for games played the week ending September 29. Oliver had 158 yards and a touchdown on eight receptions–the second time this season he had eight catches in a game.

Tops at his position
For the fourth consecutive week, Josh Oliver is the leading pass receiver among FBS tight ends. Oliver is averaging 6.75 receptions a game and has 27 catches for the season. He and Missouri’s Albert Okwuegbunam (5.75/game) are the only two tight ends listed among the FBS’ top-50 pass receivers in games played through September 29.

20 of Oliver’s 27 receptions this season resulted in a SJSU first down.

Oliver’s 336 receiving yards are the most of FBS tight ends.

Most in FBS
SJSU, Texas State and Utah State are the three schools this season to attempt six field goals in a game. Texas State and Utah State attempted six field goals in games ending the week of September 8. The Spartans’ six field goal tries occurred in their five-overtime loss to Hawaii, 44-41, on September 29.

Photo credit: @SJSUSpartanFB

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — After a much-needed bye week to recharge and refresh, the San Jose State Spartans returned to CEFCU Stadium on Saturday to host the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors in the university’s annual Homecoming game.

Prior to Homecoming, the Spartans’ Twitter announced this year’s SJSU football captains: Dakari Monroe, Bryson Bridges, Boogie Roberts and Josh Oliver. All four players deserved their respective titles. The Spartans’ other captain was Mayor Sam Liccardo. Liccardo received some boos and heckles, but ignored the negativity around him.

The Spartans survived an early scare just minutes into the first quarter. Jesse Osuna went down with an apparent injury, but he managed to get up off the ground after nearly five minutes. Spartan fans cheered and clapped when Osuna got up.

The Rainbow Warriors got on the board first. Ryan Meskell scored a 25-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead with 7:45 left in the first.

The Spartans’ Twitter diverted the fans’ attention to the SJSU men’s basketball players who were at Homecoming to show some love to the SJSU football players on the field.

The Spartans trailed the Rainbow Warriors 3-0 at the end of the first quarter.

The Spartans flipped the script just moments after the first quarter. Boogie Roberts scored a two-yard rushing touchdown and Bryce Crawford kicked a PAT to snatch a 7-3 lead just 35 seconds into the second quarter.

The Spartans grabbed a 14-7 lead at the 10:04 mark of the second quarter, as Bailey Gaither caught a pass from Josh Love for a 55-yard passing touchdown and Crawford kicked a PAT.

Gaither, however, appeared to be in pain following his touchdown. Gaither had his left ankle checked out while covering his face with a towel. Gaither didn’t return to the game.

The Rainbow Warriors held onto the red zone, but the Spartans refused to allow a scoring play. Crawford kicked a 24-yard field goal to extend SJSU’s lead to 17-3 with 6:12 left in the second quarter.

The Rainbow Warriors brought themselves back into the game with an 18-yard passing touchdown by Elijah Dale from Cole McDonald and a PAT from Meskell. Hawaii pulled within seven points, but continued to trail SJSU 17-10 with 2:21 left in the second quarter.

The Spartans took their first timeout of the first half. That being said, the final 21 seconds of the second quarter was crucial for SJSU. After a couple of failed passes, SJSU took their second timeout with nine seconds left on the clock. That wasn’t the solution either. SJSU proceeded to use their third timeout with five seconds back on the clock. Crawford attempted a field goal, but it missed the crossbar.

The Spartans settled for a 17-10 lead over the Rainbow Warriors at halftime.

The Spartans were alarmed for a moment, but continued to cling onto a one-point lead, 17-16, with 9:13 left in the third quarter. John Ursua caught pass from McDonald for a three-yard passing touchdown, but Meskell failed to kick in a PAT.

The Spartans took a 24-16 lead just 53 seconds later. Josh Oliver caught a pass from Love for a 14-yard passing touchdown and Crawford kicked in a PAT.

The Spartans had some good looks that wowed the Spartan fans in attendance. Jonathan Lenard, Jr. collected his first career pick. Also, Tre Hartley helped the Spartans’ process in getting a first down.

The Spartans led the Rainbow Warriors 24-16 at the end of the third quarter.

The Rainbow Warriors tied the score 24-24 at the 12:45 mark of the fourth quarter. Ursua caught a pass from McDonald for a three-yard passing touchdown and Marcus Armstrong-Brown was successful on the two-point conversion.

The Spartans went ahead 31-24 at the 10:07 mark of the fourth quarter. Malike Roberson caught a pass from Love for a four-year passing touchdown and Crawford kicked in a PAT.

But the Rainbow Warriors refused to back down. Hawaii tied the score 31-31 with 4:34 left in the fourth quarter. Ursua caught a pass from McDonald for a four-yard passing touchdown and Meskell kicked in a PAT.

Neither team made the necessary go-ahead play in order to win, so the Spartans and Rainbow Warriors headed into the first overtime with a 31-31 tie. Hawaii got the first overtime possession.

The Rainbow Warriors snatched a 38-31 lead. Dayton Furuta scored a one-yard rushing touchdown and Meskell kicked in a PAT.

The Spartans quickly tied the score 38-38. Roberson scored a 13-yard rushing touchdown and Crawford kicked in a PAT. As a result, the two teams headed into the second overtime with a 38-38 tie.

Meskell missed two field goals, so the two teams headed into the third overtime with a 38-38 tie.

The third time clearly wasn’t the charm as Meskell missed his third field goal in the third overtime. The Spartans had their chance to get ahead, but Crawford missed his go-ahead field goal. The two teams headed into the fourth overtime with a 38-38 tie.

Crawford, however, kicked a 20-yard field goal to put the Spartans ahead 41-38. The two teams headed into the fifth overtime and this specific statistic signaled the Spartans’ first fifth overtime game at CEFCU Stadium.

Meskell kicked a 35-yard field goal to tie the game 41-41. The Rainbow Warriors then scored what appeared to be a touchdown, but the officials called it out of bounds and subsequently handed a five-yard holding penalty.

Meskell kicked another 35-yard field goal to put the Rainbow Warriors ahead 44-41. Shortly after, Crawford received an opportunity to kick in another game-tying field goal for additional playing time, but missed it wide right.

The Spartans fell to the Rainbow Warriors 44-41 in the fifth overtime.

Notes
Spartans’ possible starters
OFFENSE: Justin Holmes, Justin Snyder, Troy Kowalski, Trevor Robbins, Jake Colman, Deano Motes, Josh Oliver, Josh Love, Malike Roberson, Bailey Gaither and JaQuan Blackwell.

DEFENSE: Bryson Bridges, Boogie Roberts, Sailosi Latu, Jesse Osuna, Kyle Harmon, Ethan Aguayo, Jamal Scott, Dakari Monroe, John Toussaint, Tre Webb and Jonathan Lenard, Jr.

Up Next 
The Spartans host the Colorado State Rams next Saturday at 7:30 pm PT on CBS Sports.