SAN JOSE – San Jose State’s season-opening 16-14 loss to Central Michigan on Friday night at CEFCU Stadium can be boiled down to quarterback Walker Eget’s three turnovers and kicker Denis Lynch’s missed 33-yard field goal with 1:13 left in the game.

A rough start for both, but coach Ken Niumatalolo has not lost faith in either of them.

“I trust Walker, he’ll (bounce) back and I trust Dennis, he’ll (bounce) back,” Niumatalolo said. “It’s a tough loss, but give credit to Central Michigan.”

This type of start to the season was not what was expected of the Spartans as they came into the game as 13.5-point favorites.

Niumatalolo said felt as if he didn’t do a good enough job getting his message across to the team in preparation for the game.

“Don’t turn the ball over, don’t have that one penalty, that’s the only message I’ve been talking about,” Niumatalolo said. “That’s why it’s disappointing. I didn’t do a good enough job of getting that message across.”

Here are the takeaways from the loss:

SCUDERO SHINES IN HOMECOMING

While the Spartans’ offense had a game to forget, Danny Scudero was far from disappointing in his homecoming game after spending the past two seasons at Sacramento State.

The former Archbishop Mitty High star had nine receptions for 189 yards and a touchdown. He played the Nick Nash slot receiver role in offensive coordinator Craig Stutzmann’s Spread and Shred offense very well. Nash completed a lengthy career with the Spartans last season.

Scudero showed off his ability to make the big play as he snagged a 46-yard pass from Eget in the first quarter and took a 45-yard pass to the end zone in the third quarter with 40 of those yards coming after the catch.

Scudero displayed good speed and good hands and seemed to have great chemistry with Eget right away.

Both of Scudero’s parents attended San Jose State and he described getting to play for SJSU as “a dream come true.”

His big performance was a little bittersweet.

“My parents were able to come out to the game,” Scudero said. “But the loss stings, so I’d rather walk out of here with a win.”

Scudero was named the Bay Area News Group Santa Clara County high school football player of 2022.

Now he gets to showcase his talents as a Spartan.

MORE QB SWITCHING?

Yes, the Spartans are still changing quarterbacks mid-game.

Last year, Eget and former Spartan Emmett Brown were engaged in a quarterback battle that was neck-and-neck. This culminated in Brown and Eget swapping snaps, seemingly at random, in the first quarter during SJSU’s 31-24 loss to Colorado State last October.

At his weekly news conference the next week, Niumatalolo said that SJSU would “not want to do that again.”

Well, in Friday’s season opener, freshman Tama Amisone took a few snaps under center to start the third quarter.

But this time it was different than it was with Brown. Amisone did not attempt a single pass in his time on the field. He rushed for 23 yards on five attempts.

“That was our plan coming in. We had some packages for (Amisone),” Niumatalolo said. “Bringing in Amisone had nothing to do with the way Eget was playing.”

The Spartans even used Amisone at crunch time.

Trailing 16-14 with 1:20 left, SJSU faced a third-and-nine situation from Central Michigan’s 11-yard line.

Instead of opting to go with Eget for the crucial play, the Spartans instead brought in Amisone for a designed quarterback run, which lost four yards.

On the next snap, Lynch missed the 33-yard field-goal attempt that would have given SJSU the lead.

After Niumatalolo seemed displeased with the quarterback swapping last season, it will be interesting to see if the Spartans continue to use packages for Amisone moving forward.

TURNOVERS

The Spartans lost the turnover battle 3-0.

“Walker has to play better, he has to take care of the ball,” Niumatalolo said.

It’s hard to win losing the turnover battle by such a wide margin but SJSU almost did.

“The biggest thing in this game was turnovers,” Eget said. “The score would be completely different.”

Eget threw two interceptions, including forcing one into double-coverage in the back of the end zone, and was strip sacked. All of this happened in the first four drives.

With how well the defense played in the second half, SJSU could have been in a much better position had it not dug itself a hole in the first half.

“The disappointing thing is this is not how we’ve been playing offense in camp,” Niumatalolo said. “We got to get right.”

DEFENSE MAKES BIG ADJUSTMENTS

In the first half, the defense struggled to contain the Chippewas physical ground game as Central Michigan rushed 158 yards before halftime.

The Chippewas only scored 13 points off Eget’s turnovers even when two of the turnovers left them with a short field. The Spartans’ defense came up with big stops, holding the Chippewas to a field goal twice.

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“With the way the defense played, they gave us a chance to win until the very end,” Niumatalolo said.

Central Michigan’s running back duo of Nahree Biggins and Trey Cornist combined for 201 rushing yards for the game.

But in the second half, San Jose State held Central Michigan to three points and 78 yards rushing.

Linebacker Jordan Pollard led San Jose State’s defense with 15 total tackles, the most by any player on the field.

“I feel like everyone was doing their job and not doing too much,” Pollard said. “Our D-line was making plays on the ball and (Isiah Revis) made a hit knocking someone’s helmet off.”

Early in the fourth quarter, the Spartans held the Chippewas at the goal line on fourth down on a great tackle by Pollard and edge rusher Justin Stearns, indicative of what happened much of the game.

The Spartans held the Chippewas to 2-of-13 on third down.

RUN GAME STILL NOT A MAIN FOCUS

While Stutzmann’s offense can produce big numbers for the receivers, sometimes the running game can feel neglected.

Friday’s game was another example of that. But when Stutzmann did call the running backs’ number, the results weren’t there.

Floyd Chalk IV was the Spartans leading rusher with 44 yards on 11 attempts. Lamar Radcliffe had 15 yards on seven attempts.

The Spartans didn’t seem keen on using the ground game until Amisone checked in to start the third quarter. The Spartans only had 21 rushing yards in the first half.

UP NEXT

SJSU will travel to Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas, to take on No. 1- ranked Texas on Sept.6. Kickoff is at 9 a.m. on ESPN.