SAN JOSE – It’s been nearly a month since San Jose State last played at CEFCU Stadium. And a little home cooking could do the Spartans some good.
San Jose State (2-5, 1-2 Mountain West) is going to need a big finish to extend its bowl streak to four straight seasons. They head into Saturday night’s game against Hawaii coming off a bye after blowing fourth-quarter leads in consecutive losses at Wyoming and Utah State.
Overall, four of the Spartans’ five losses have been by a touchdown or less. Both of their wins were by a combined 10 points, and both came at home, the last coming on Oct. 3 against New Mexico State.
“This is a pivotal game for our season,” head coach Ken Niumatalolo said. “We still have a lot to play for, but you got to start with one (win).”
San Jose State Spartans’ Kyri Shoels (4) celebrates his touchdown with a teammate afteer scoring against the Stanford Cardinal in the first half of a football game at Statanford Stadium in Stanford, Calif., on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Hawaii (6-2, 3-1) is a surprising third in the Mountain West standings after being picked to finish seventh in the preseason poll. San Jose State, picked to finish third, is ninth in the 12-team conference. SJSU is considered a slight favorite by Vegas oddsmakers.
The bye week was pivotal for the health of SJSU’s two key offensive pieces: quarterback Walker Eget and FBS receiving yards leader Danny Scudero. Both played through injuries in the Spartans’ 30-25 loss against Utah State two weeks ago.
“I’m going to do everything in my power to go out there and give my guys everything because I know if they were in my position they would do the same thing,” Scudero, the former Archbishop Mitty High star, said during practice this week. “Whether you have to take a play off or go to the tent, you better get your butt back out there. That’s the way it is, it’s football.”
Eget and Scudero both practiced all week and were not listed on San Jose State’s injury report.
JUST FOR KICKS
The kicking game has been a season-long issue for the Spartans. Their two kickers have made just six of their combined 14 field goal attempts: Denis Lynch (6-12) and Mathias Brown (0-2).
In an attempt to improve their success rate and play into each kicker’s strengths, the Spartans will use the left-footed Lynch from kicks on the right hash and the right-footed Brown from the left hash.
“Our line of demarcation is actually pretty close,” Niumatalolo said. “If it’s not fourth and a mile we will probably go for it.”
Hawaii, on the other hand, have a sensation in Tokyo native Kansei Matsuzawa. The former high school soccer player who taught himself how to become a football kicker from YouTube videos is 20-20 on the season, including a season-long 52-yard field goal. He made a 38-yard game winning field goal as time expired in Hawaii’s 23-20 season-opening victory over Stanford.
“Any kicker going 20-20 is amazing, that’s 60 points,” Niumatalolo said. “Hearing the story about how he learned to kick off YouTube, it’s pretty impressive.”
PASSING FANCY
The Spartans lead the Mountain West in passing yards per game (313.43) but, right behind them in second place are the Rainbow Warriors (295.88).
Both offensive run similar schemes as they both derive from the Run and Shoot offense.
Eget leads the Mountain West in passing yards (2,149), passing touchdowns (15) while only throwing three interceptions. Hawaii quarterback Micah Alejado has thrown for 1,757 yards, 12 touchdowns and six interceptions. Alejado, who is averaging 292.83 passing yards per game, trails only Eget (307) in the conference.
San Jose State wide receiver Danny Scudero catches a pass against University of New Mexico in the teams’ Mountain West Conference at CEFCU Stadium on Friday night. (John Lee – Santa Cruz Sentinel)
All signs point to this matchup being an air raid on both sides. However, the Spartans passing defense is allowing 298.14 passing yards per game, which ranks 11th in the Mountain West compared to the Rainbow Warriors 5th ranked passing defense.
The big question this game is will the Spartans be able to limit the passing attack and keep up with the Rainbow Warriors offense.
“You look at it statistically and it’s a strength against our weakness,” defensive coordinator Derrick Odum said. “It’s going to be a big challenge for us.”
TOMEY CONNECTION
In 2019 the matchup between San Jose State and Hawai’i was renamed to the Dick Tomey Legacy Game in honor of Tomey, who was the head coach of Hawaii (1977-1986) and San Jose State (2005-2009). Tomey died in 2019 at the age of 80.
This title means a little extra to Niumatalolo, who was coached and recruited by Tomey during his playing days at Hawai’i.
The Dick Tomey Legacy Trophy is on display before the start of an NCAA college football game between Hawaii and San Jose State, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Eugene Tanner) (AP Photo/Eugene Tanner)
“A lot of what I do and the way I coach I learned from coach Tomey,” Niumatalolo said. “I don’t know if there are many people that can speak more to his legacy than I can.”
The Spartans have four coaches who played for the Rainbow Warriors, including Niumatalolo, offensive coordinator Craig Stutzmann, wide receiver coach Billy Ray Stutzmann and offensive line coach John Estes.
Niumatalolo and the Stutzmann brothers were all born in Hawaii.
“You know that it doesn’t (mean more this week) but, there’s a little bit extra to want to win this one you know that’s where we were born and raised,” Stutzmann said. “But at the same time the way we treat it is just another game.”
