San Jose State among teams ushering in college football’s return to California

Fewer than 10 days after being cleared to practice on campus, the San Jose State Spartans are set to open the 2020 college football season with a home game on Saturday against the Air Force Falcons.

Due to coronavirus restrictions in Santa Clara County, the Spartans took their show on the road and spent the first half of October preparing to open a condensed Mountain West season in Humboldt County.

San Jose State officials worked out a deal with Humboldt State to temporarily relocate the team 320 miles to the north to avoid Santa Clara County restrictions that did not permit contact drills until last week, but they returned last Friday to prepare for a long-awaited season-opener.

The Spartans are one of three California college teams hosting home games on Saturday as Fresno State and San Diego State are also kicking off the Mountain West season.

Air Force, San Jose State’s first opponent, has been practicing in Colorado since August 1 and played its opener three weeks ago against Navy. The Falcons will arrive at CEFCU Stadium coming off a 407 victory that took place on October 3.

Fans are not permitted to attend college games in California, but San Jose State’s 7:30 p.m. kickoff will be televised Saturday on Fox Sports 1.

The Mountain West announced its 2020 schedule on October 1 and created an aggressive plan to return to action that would allow teams to play eight conference games this season. The Mountain West Championship is currently scheduled for December 19, but it remains unclear how conferences and universities will proceed if there are spikes in coronavirus positivity rates this fall.