San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Spartans are on point at West Point; they stun Black Knights
WEST POINT, N.Y. — Jet lag never felt so good for the San Jose State Spartans.
Josh Love passed for 314 yards and three touchdowns, Matt Mercurio kicked four field goals, and San Jose State stunned Army 3429 on Saturday, handing the Black Knights — who pushed Michigan to overtime in September — their fourth straight loss.
“This is an incredible win for our team,” Spartans coach Brent Brennan said. “Coming on the road like this with such long travel for an early game, we woke our kids up at 4 a.m. West Coast time for pregame meal and to get everyone started and they handled it incredibly well. We are really excited about this, and we are going to enjoy it.”
San Jose State (44) was coming off a second straight loss — 2717 to San Diego State on homecoming — but the Spartans managed to do something they haven’t done in four years: win two road games (they won at Arkansas 3124 on Sept. 21).
San Jose State scored on all five of its firsthalf possessions, the first time that’s happened this season, and when the Spartans were stopped Mercurio made sure they came away with points, hitting from 30, 23, 38 and 28 yards, one of them after Army lost a fumble.
“For us, any win is a big thing,” Brennan said. “We’re trying to build this program.”
The San Jose defense swarmed the Army quarterbacks, notching six tackles for loss, five of them sacks. The Black Knights (35), with their groundoriented triple option, entered the game having allowed just six sacks.
“We’re excited for the rest of the season,” San Jose State defensive end Cade Hall said. “That’s the only thing on our minds.”
Love, who was not sacked and rarely was pressured, completed 20 of 31 passes for the Spartans, who were beaten 523 at home last year by Army in the first meeting between the teams.
“It just seemed like we were playing catchup the whole game,” Army coach Jeff Monken said. “They scored just about every time they had it. We’ve got to get them off the field. We didn’t finish drives. When you turn the ball over and the other team doesn’t, your chances go way down.”
San Jose State hosts No. 22 Boise State next Saturday.
John Kekis is an Associated Press writer.