SAN JOSE STATE Brennan to match wits with Strong in early test
Not one but two coaches will be making their debuts Saturday when No. 19 South Florida visits Spartan Stadium to play San Jose State.
While former Texas coach Charlie Strong has the splashiest resume, Spartans coach Brent Brennan gets his first job as a head coach started a week earlier than normal.
With the Spartans playing in Hawaii this season, they opted to play a 13th regularseason game and were allowed the early start. Brennan says he would have preferred the traditional start next week, saying the earlier opener gave the team less time for training and complicated summer school for the players.
It also added another tough test for a challenging nonconference schedule that includes trips to No. 23 Texas and Utah next month. But Brennan acknowledges there is a possible bright side.
“I think it’s an opportunity for great exposure if we rise to the challenge and play well, which I think we will,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Bulls will be the first ranked team to take the field this season (No. 14 Stanford kicks off against Rice in Australia about 21⁄2 hours later).
“Everybody is going to be watching,” South Florida running back D’Ernest Johnson said. “Everybody is happy that college football is back, and we’re the ones that are playing on TV. I’m very excited. I’ve been waiting on this opportunity since last year, after the bowl game.”
South Florida wants to use this game to show it deserves its ranking and to begin making the case as the best team from the Group of Five conferences.
With a dynamic quarterback in Quinton Flowers, a high-profile new coach in Strong and what they believe will be an improved defense, the Bulls appear to have the ingredients to improve on last year’s 11-win season.
“It’s great that we’re in a position we’re in, but still at the end of the day, nobody is going to roll that ball out there and just let us go up and down the field,” Strong said. “Now, we have a target on our back, and we’re going to get the best.”
Flowers blossomed into one of the most productive players in the nation as a junior, rushing for 1,580 yards and 18 touchdowns and throwing for 2,812 yards and 24 TDs with eight interceptions. The 2016 American Athletic Conference offensive player of the year ranked 10th nationally in total offense per game and was the country’s second-leading rusher among quarterbacks behind Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson of Louisville.
Brennan won’t announce his starter at quarterback until game time. The top two contenders are Josh Love and Montel Aaron. Love has some experience, going 31-for-60 for 392 yards, two touchdowns and five interceptions as a freshman last season. Aaron redshirted last year but made some big plays in the spring game and in practice leading up to the opener.
The Spartans might have a unique insight into Strong’s mind-set; offensive coordinator Andrew Sowder spent last season as a quality-control coach working with receivers on Strong’s staff with the Longhorns.
“The key thing for us on defense is not so much worry about what he’s going to do, we have to worry about ourselves,” Strong said. “Let’s get lined up, and let’s make sure we get our feet in the ground and let our guys just go play. Let them enjoy playing.”