Spartans finish 6-0 at home
Chevan Cordeiro threw two short touchdown passes, Kairee Robinson ran for 148 yards, and San Jose State defeated Hawaii 27-14 on Saturday.
The Spartans (7-4, 5-3 Mountain West) finished the regular season 6-0 at home for the first time since 1978 with their first sixwin home season since going 6-1 in 2006. They await a bowl bid.
“What an awesome ending for this team,” San Jose State head coach Brent Brennan said. “I don't know the last time we went undefeated at home, but we did it this year. And that is very, very special.
“You're trying to build some tradition and some culture and you're building your own history.”
Cordeiro threw touchdown passes of 5 yards and 7 yards to Elijah Cooks (10 receptions, 121 yards) and Robinson scored on a 1-yard run to give the Spartans a 21-6 lead approaching the midway point of the third quarter. Taren Schive kicked two short field goals and the San Jose defense held on downs inside its own 10-yard line late in the fourth quarter.
Cordeiro credited Cooks for much of the offensive success.
“He makes my job easy,” Cordeiro said. “We have that connection; we have that chemistry. After every drive he communicates to me what's open, what releases are working. I just have to it up to him.”
“We just click,” Cooks added. “We just clicked toward the end of the season. He believed in me more. That's just what comes with the offense. As the season goes on, the quarterback starts to trust in someone more and he trusts me.”
Hawaii (3-10, 2-6), which was limited to 43 yards on the ground and 273 yards total offense, saw its last hope end when Brayden Schager was sacked by Junior Fehoko on a fourth-down play. The sack, with 2:16 to go, came after Hawaii had marched to the San Jose State 2-yard line only to incur 3-yard losses on consecutive plays before an incomplete pass.
“What an awesome ending for this team at CEFCU Stadium,” Brennan said. “If you could write a script better than fourth down, Cade Hall and Junior Fehoko meeting at the quarterback, which is what they've done so many times in their career here? I don't know that you could ask for a better ending for their careers.”