San Jose State boosts bowl hopes with comeback win over UNLV
Head coach Brent Brennan didn’t rule out the need for a defibrillator, quarterback Nick Nash heard voices in his head, and for the first time in what must’ve felt like an eternity the ball bounced in favor of San Jose State.
A sack by linebacker Kyle Harmon on the final play of the game sealed the Spartans dramatic 27-20 victory over UNLV on Thursday night in the Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium.
San Jose State erased a two-touchdown deficit to break a two-game skid and climb back to .500 for the season, while the Rebels — who haven’t won since the regular-season finale in 2019 — suffered a 13th consecutive loss.
With four games left — next on the schedule is a home game against Wyoming on Oct. 23 — the Spartans (4-4, 2-2 Mountain West) not only improved their odds for consecutive trips to bowl games, but can also record back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in 29 years. The Spartans have four regular season games remaining to reach the six wins needed for bowl consideration.
“Late there in the fourth quarter, the back judge came up to me and said, ‘This is a hell of a football game,’” said Brennan, who simply thought: “This feels
like a hell of a heart attack to me.”
He added: “There were times when it didn’t look good. But they kept playing for each other, they kept fighting for each other. … This is a big-time team win that we needed desperately. So I’m just excited that we found a way to finish it.”
Nash, in his fourth start as Nick Starkel’s injury replacement, shined under the bright lights of the Raiders’ state-of-the-art new home.
The dual-threat QB scored the go-ahead touchdown with 7:14 left in the fourth quarter on a 15-yard dash. It originally looked like a designed draw, but Nash saw the safeties in coverage, didn’t like the look, and took off right away.
“My coach was telling me, ‘You’ve got to have a
quick reaction, you’ve got to get through your projections quickly and if it’s not there you can take off use your legs,’” Nash said. “I literally thought of his voice at that moment and I was like, ‘I need to take off right now.’
“So, I did it.”
Nash ran for 121 yards on 17 carries and threw for 213 yards on 17 of 28 passing with no interceptions.
“To me, what it looked like is he just attacked more running the ball,” Brennan said. “There wasn’t as much hesitation. It was more like, you know, he went through his progression and when it wasn’t there he went. And he hit with speed and aggression.”
It wasn’t a picture-perfect triumph, considering San Jose State lost a fumble on the opening kickoff. Nash also coughed it up
in the second quarter. On top of that, the Spartans turned it over on downs twice in UNLV territory.
Both fumbles put UNLV (0-7, 0-3) inside the red zone and turned into touchdowns as the Rebels jumped out to a 17-3 lead with 5:51 left until halftime.
Momentum shifted with 16 seconds left in the first half, as San Jose State defensive end Cade Hall — last year’s Mountain West defensive player of the year — forced a fumble while UNLV was trying to run out the clock.
On the next snap, tight end Derrick Deese Jr. caught a 32-yard pass to set up running back Tyler Nevens’ TD from a yard out with two ticks left.
Deese had five catches for 101 yards in the first half. (He finished with six for 106.)
Trailing 17-13 at halftime, the Spartans only allowed three more points the rest of the way, recovering three of their own fumbles in the second half — including on back-to-back plays during the winning drive.
Nevens tied the score at 20-all on the second play of the fourth quarter, a 10yard touchdown run.