After beating Hawaii last week in a high-scoring game that may have saved San Jose State’s season, the Spartans will aim to use the win as a springboard to succeed over their four remaining games.
The next two weeks could certainly provide a soft landing for the Spartans (3-5, 2-2 Mountain West).
SJSU will face off against the two worst teams in the Mountain West in Air Force (2-6, 1-4) at home and Nevada on the road before taking on the best team in conference at San Diego State and finishing at home against Fresno State.
The Spartans need to go at least 3-1 the rest of the way to secure a bowl game. A shot at the conference championship even remains alive, though they would need to win out and have some help in the form of some opportune losses from San Diego State and Boise State.
“I’ve told our guys that we can beat anyone in our conference and anyone in the conference can beat us,” Niumatalolo said.
A big reason the Spartans have been able to stay afloat this season is their offensive success, which included 630 total yards gained in the 45-38 win against Hawaii.
Through eight games, Danny Scudero has 1,085 receiving yards, which makes him the fastest player in San Jose State history to eclipse 1,000 receiving yards.
In the same timespan last season, SJSU’s 2024 triple-crown winner and current Atlanta Falcon Nick Nash had 995 receiving yards.
“(Scudero) was our No. 1 recruit and he has exceeded all of our expectations,” Niumatalolo said. “He’s an awesome young man. When you get people like that who are really good players and they are good people, it helps a lot.”
Quarterback Walker Eget’s 2,607 passing yards rank fourth in all of FBS.
After starting the year on the scout team, running back Steve Chavez-Soto has combined with Lamar Radcliffe to make a strong one-two punch out of the backfield. The duo has combined for 515 yards and seven touchdowns over the last four games.
Their effort has rounded out the Spartans offense under offensive coordinator Craig Stutzmann, as the offense has been dynamic through the air but at times struggled to establish the run.
“Everybody thinks that I want to throw the football every down but I love when we run the football,” Stutzmann said. “It brings that physicality, it brings that power, there is nothing like handing the ball off and seeing our running backs go through the line and finish in the endzone strong.”
The offense has been soaring over the past few games. With such a small margin of error to reach a bowl game, the big question is whether the defense will be able to match that production.
The Spartans defense ranks ninth in the Mountain West in both points allowed per game (29.29) and in total yards allowed per game (425.43). The Spartans rank dead last in the Mountain West in passing yards allowed per game (298.14).
Despite Air Force’s record, the Falcons have the second-ranked scoring offense in the Mountain West (33.88 points per game). Five of their six losses have been within one score, including a 51-48 loss to UNLV.
After facing off against the pass-heavy Hawaii, SJSU turns around and faces off against the triple option-heavy Air Force, meaning the Spartans will have to be ready with a completely different defensive package than the one they prepped for the week before.
“As you can imagine, it’s a challenge for sure,” said defensive coordinator Derrick Odum, who has faced the Falcons five times since joining the Spartans in 2016. “The week before, it was a lot of nickel and seven on seven last week. This week, it is dealing with the run game and getting ready for the play action off of these types of runs.”
Air Force quarterback Liam Szarka is second in the Mountain West in total rushing yards (816). In years past, the fullback was the focal point of Air Force’s offense; this season Szarka is the main rusher on the team.
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Despite Niumatalolo having faced off against Air Force many times in his career as a player at Hawaii and during his 25 seasons coaching at the Naval Academy, this offense is a new look for him.
“I think the diversity of their shotgun is what they (added),” Niumatalolo said. “They’ve done that in years past but they added some new wrinkles to it.”
The Spartans match up favorably against the Falcons through the air as Air Force has the 11th-ranked passing defense in the conference (ahead of only the Spartans) and San Jose State has the best passing offense in the Mountain West.
Not to mention, Air Force is a run-heavy team and SJSU has the fourth-best run defense in the Mountain West.
After the high-flying win over Hawaii, it seems the Spartans could be locked into another tight, high-scoring game, albeit through different means.
“Even though Hawaii was 6-2, we knew we could beat those guys,” Niumatalolo said. “I guarantee Air Force feels the same way.”
