San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
San Jose St. wins its way into league title game
Nomadic, patient and resilient are three adjectives that describe the 2020 San Jose State Spartans.
Another key adjective applies, at least until next Saturday: undefeated.
The Spartans improved to 60 Friday night by overcoming a 13point halftime deficit to beat Nevada 3020 at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas.
San Jose State thus clinched a spot in next Saturday’s Mountain West Conference championship game against Boise State. Not only is it the Spartans’ first appearance in the conference title game, but they’ve done it in their first winning season since 2012.
This is Brent Brennan’s fourth season as the Spartans’ head coach. In his first two years, they went a combined 322.
“I’ve been encouraging these kids to dream big,” Brennan said in his postgame Zoom news conference. “I
think too often people kind of limit themselves on what they believe they can accomplish. But we talk all the time about, ‘ Let’s win ’ em all. Let’s play the best football we can. Like, we can do this.’
“I just love this team. I love being a part of it.”
Brennan and his players didn’t love the first half against the Wolf Pack ( 62). Nevada outscored the Spartans 207 and outgained them on the ground 114 yards to 4. In the second half, the Spartans outscored Nevada 230 and owned a 19624 edge in rushing yards.
Brennan recounted what he told his players at halftime: “I just said, ‘ We need to focus on each other, play for each other and get physical,’ and that was enough.”
San Jose State got a break on the final play of the first half when Nevada’s normally reliable kicker, Brandon Talton, hooked a 25yard fieldgoal attempt. Then four big plays in the third quarter turned the game in the Spartans’ favor: Freshman Shamar Garrett jolted the Wolf Pack by returning the secondhalf kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown. Nevada had a 2ndandgoal at the 1 on the ensuing possession, but Jay Kakiva forced a Toa Taua fumble that Jay Lenard recovered. The Spartans responded with a 99yard drive that culminated in a 5yard TD pass from Nick Starkel to Derrick Deese Jr. Tyler Nevens displayed power and speed on a 69yard TD run that gave the Spartans a 2720 lead with 25 seconds remaining in the quarter.
Nevens, a senior, carried the ball two times for 12 yards in the first half. He finished the night with 12 carries for 184 yards. In the Spartans’ previous game, a 3524 win at Hawaii, Nevens gained 152 yards on 16 carries.
Nevens’ running has left an impression on his teammates, opponents and others.
“Tyler had just ( run) over a guy,” Starkel said, “and one of the refs was just like, ‘ Geez, that was a good run.’ You usually don’t hear refs say stuff like that but I think he just couldn’t help himself but to notice just the physicality that Tyler Nevens plays with.”
Nevens and his teammates spent 12 days at Humboldt State in early October because Santa Clara County rules at the time prevented the Spartans from conducting fullscale workouts on campus.
The Spartans won their first four games, then their games at Fresno State ( Nov. 21) and Boise State ( Nov. 28) were canceled because of coronavirus issues within the Bulldogs’ and Broncos’ programs.
When Santa Clara County then added restrictions on contact sports two weeks ago, the Spartans switched their home games against Hawaii to Honolulu and against Nevada to Las Vegas.
The Spartans have spent the past week in Vegas and will stay there this week.
Nevens said the “struggles that we’ve gone through throughout the season shaped us, and ( they) really shaped us for what we’ve been all about this season, and that was contending and playing for a championship game.”
In that championship game, San Jose State will try for another first: It has not beaten Boise State in 14 meetings, including a 5242 decision in San Jose last year.
On Friday night, the Spartans enjoyed what Brennan termed an “epic” postgame celebration in their locker room.
Said Brennan: “It’s so awesome to say, like, ‘ Hey, guess what we’re doing next Saturday night. Yeah, we’re playing for the conference championship.’ It’s unbelievable. It’s awesome.”
He then caught himself.
“It’s not unbelievable, but it’s awesome. I’m so excited, and we’ll be excited to play. I promise you that.”
Briefly: The Spartans gained 506 yards ( 200 rushing, 306 passing), the second time this season they’ve surpassed the 500yard mark. They gained 579 in a 3821 win over New Mexico on Oct. 31. … Linebacker Kyle Harmon’s streak of games with doubledigit tackles ended at five. He had four tackles against the Wolf Pack. … The Spartans did an excellent job containing Nevada receiver Romeo Doubs, who came into Friday averaging 20.1 yards per reception. He had nine catches for 75 yards ( 8.3 yards per reception).