Walker Eget was on his phone texting early Saturday morning, the mistakes he made hours earlier and the anticipation of an upcoming game against nationally-ranked Texas rattling around in his head.
Around 1:30, the San Jose State quarterback reached out to Spartans head coach Ken Niumatalolo, apologizing for their agonizing season-opening 16-14 loss to Central Michigan and vowing to play better.
Niumatalolo doesn’t doubt it.
“(I told Eget) you’re our quarterback, you’re our leader and you will bounce back,” Niumatalolo said this week. “It’s a tough position. You can’t play that position unless you have thick skin.”
Eget threw two touchdowns and passed for 308 yards, but was intercepted twice and lost a fumble against the Chippewas. He isn’t the only Spartan looking to bounce back from a game Niumatalolo called one of the worst losses in his 18 seasons as a head coach.
But they’ll have to do it Saturday morning as a 36.5-point underdog against a motivated No. 7 Texas Longhorns team expected to draw more than 100,000 fans for its home opener.
Central Michigan defensive lineman Michael Heldman (97) causes a fumble by San Jose State quarterback Walker Eget (5) in the first quarter during an NCAA football game on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025 in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Lachlan Cunningham)
“We’re going to have to play our very best to even have a shot,” Niumatalolo said. “This is a team that’s got a chance to go to the playoffs. We have to play lights out.”
Texas (0-1) is the highest-ranked team SJSU has faced since a 56-28 loss to Caleb Williams and No. 6 USC in 2023.
SJSU’s 24-16 loss against Auburn on Sept. 10, 2022 was the last time SJSU faced off against an SEC school. The Spartans have never beaten a team ranked No. 8 or higher.
The last time SJSU beat a ranked team road dates back to Nov. 1 1980 with a 30-22 win against No. 10 Baylor.
The Longhorns also are coming off a close, frustrating setback in their season opener. But last weekend’s 14-7 loss to defending national champion Ohio State knocked the Longhorns from No. 1 in the AP poll and temporarily took some steam out of quarterback Arch Manning’s potential Heisman run.
Like Eget, Manning, the nephew of former NFL stars Peyton and Eli, and Archie’s grandson, also got out to a slow start.
Manning finished with 170 yards, one touchdown and one interception against the Buckeyes, who claimed the top spot in this week’s AP poll.
Texas quarterback Arch Manning (16) runs the ball in the first half of an NCAA college football game against the Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025. (Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
“People are talking all these things about Arch Manning. It was one game,” Niumatalolo said. “The kid is a really good quarterback.”
Senior safety Jalen Apalit-Williams said he feels like he has watched film on the Texas Ohio State game around 100 times now.
“It’s really cool to be able to game prep watching a game like that because it is two teams at the highest level,” Apalit-Williams said. “It’s great to watch the tape and see how they play.”
The Spartans defense limited the Chippewas to 3 points in the second half after adjusting to stop the run. The Spartans also held the Chippewas to field goals on short fields to help keep the score close.
Leading the way on the defense was linebacker Jordan Pollard who had 15 tackles, which is good for fifth in the nation.
Pollard’s 15 tackle performance against CMU caught the eye of Texas head coach Steven Sarkisian.
“They’ve got a great linebacker in Pollard,” Sarkisian said during a press conference. “He’s a downhill player, run and hit guy. A good challenge for us.”
The Spartans have a lot cut out for them on Saturday.
Central Michigan running back Nahree Biggins (5) is tackled by San Jose State defensive back Jalen Apalit-Williams (7) and San Jose State cornerback Caleb Presley (0) in the fourth quarter during an NCAA football game on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025 in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Lachlan Cunningham)
“(Texas) is big, they’re fast and they’re scary looking,” offensive coordinator Craig Stutzmann said. “What an opportunity to go against probably the best team we are going to see all year and to play in a prestigious environment.”
Stutzmann’s unit only put up 14 points and Eget had three turnovers on two interceptions and one fumble.
The Spartans lost the turnover battle 3-0.
“That’s the number one stat that goes through all levels of football, the turnover margin,” Niumatalolo said. “If you win the turnover battle you normally win the game.”
Stutzmann attributed the poor offensive performance to missing blocking IDs and miscommunications all throughout the offense. This shocked Stutzmann as he said the Spartans looked very clean on the offensive side of the ball during camp.
San Jose native Danny Scudero was one of the few bright spots on the Spartans offense. Scudero had 189 yards receiving and one touchdown in his first game for his hometown college.
This week it will be wide receiver Leland Smith’s turn to go back to his home state.
Smith, a Houston native, will be playing his first football game in Texas since he was in high school in 2022. Around 40 members of Smith’s family will be attending Saturday’s game.
“My teammates blessed me with some of their tickets knowing I was from Texas,” Smith said. “Then I had to figure some stuff out and buy extra tickets.”
Smith will be seeing a lot of familiar faces lining up against him.
According to Smith, he played against or with the majority of Texas’ defensive starters in seven on seven football in the Fast Houston league. Including playing in a tournament on the same team as Longhorns corner Jaylon Guilbeau.
San Jose State’s Leland Smith catches an 11-yard touchdown pass from Walker Eget on Friday night in a season opener against Central Michigan at CEFCU Stadium on Aug. 29, 2025, in San Jose, California. (Photo by Thien-An Truong/San Jose State Football)
Spartans safety Larry Turner-Gooden spent the 2022 and 23 season as a Longhorn before transferring over to the Spartans prior to the 2024 season.
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SJSU is doing all it can to get ready for this Saturday’s game. This includes, playing music at practice as loud as the CEFCU speaker lets them, pumping in fake crowd noise, starting practice earlier to align with the PST kickoff time and more.
“We’re preparing for the noise, the different time zone, the heat, not to mention the really good football team we are playing,” Niumatalolo said. “The guys you are trying to cover, the guys you are trying to block are really big, fast and strong. We are just trying to be the best team we can be at kickoff.”
