AUBURN, Ala. – When the lights went down in Jordan-Hare Stadium at the end of the third quarter Saturday night, with the Auburn Tigers clinging tightly to their 17-10 lead, it felt like more than an in-game gimmick.
The darkened football field, only faintly illuminated by thousands of cell phone camera lights was giving blank slate vibes – all the points and penalties wiped clean. The last 15 minutes was either team’s for the taking.
“The hard part is that we just didn’t finish it,” admitted San Jose State head coach Brent Brennan after the game. “That’s a tough pill to swallow right– fly across the country and play your ass off and not finish it? It is disappointing.”
It looked like the “playing their asses off” part would pay off when San Jose State kicker Taren Schive put a 27-yard field goal through the uprights to cut Auburn’s lead to just four. But the Tigers would prove too strong down the stretch, opening a gap too big for the Spartans to close courtesy of a 4-yard rushing touchdown from quarterback T.J. Finely, who finished 13-of-20 for 167 yards as well as five carries for 21 yards.
Schieve would put one more field goal on the board for SJSU, a 37-yarder with 2:11 left to play but Auburn would hold on to that 24-16 lead until the final whistle.
“Finishing in the red zone, we lacked that last game and this game too,” said San Jose State quarterback Chevan Cordeiro. “If we finish in the red zone and get those six points on the board, would have been a lot different.”
Brennan agreed with his QB.
“I think anyone watching the game knows we need to play better in the red zone,” emphasized Brennan. “Now we were playing a pretty good group today. So that poses a different kind of challenge – protection challenge, height-length, speed, that kind of stuff.”
Cordeiro, a transfer from Hawaii, looked more at ease under center tonight, reading Auburn’s defense, keeping his composure under pressure, going through his reads and most importantly hitting his big receivers.
“Those three – Justin (Lockhart), Elijah (Cooks), Charles (Ross) – when they get open, they make my job easier,” praised Cordeiro. “The offensive line did a hell of a job today, my running backs, my tight ends, our defense – we fought hard today.”
Ross led the receiving corps, fishing with five catches for 89 yards. Lockhart and Cooks had four a piece, finishing with 57 and 46 yards, respectively.
The Spartans defense held Auburn to just 153 yards of offense in the first half. But things started clicking for Finely and Robby Ashford, who see times at quarterback and led the team in rushing with seven carries for 64 yards.
“Credit Coach Harsin and his team,” said Brennan. “They made plays when they had to. I’m interested to see the tape and see how that unwound. It felt like a lot of their offense came in big chunks and that’s frustrating because I thought we played consistently really good defense.”
The Spartans defense finished with 44 tackles, led by defensive back Tre Jenkins who had seven.
San Jose State heads home to embrace a bye week, regroup and working on that finishing games thing against Western Michigan in Week Four.
