Written by Tyler Pastorius
Following a 44 – 38 defeat at the hands of the UC Davis Aggies last week, San Jose State is looking to bounce back against the Washington State Cougars. The trip to Pullman, WA, begins a two-game road stretch for the Spartans as next week the will be north again facing Oregon. But, this week the focus needs to be on the 1 – 0 Cougars who beat Wyoming 41 – 19 in the opening week of college football.
Losing your first game of the season, which is supposed to set the tone for your team is rough as is but, now your level of competition is even getting raised for Week 2. Washington State had a very strong opening game against Wyoming where in the fourth quarter alone the Cougs put up 21 points. Rushing wise there was nothing too impressive that stands out but if we are looking at the passing numbers, San Jose State is potentially going to have a repeat of last week. The Cougars quarterback Gardner Minshew was 38/57 for 319 yards, 3 touchdowns, and only 1 interception on the day. Hopefully, SJSU head coach Brent Brennan is preparing his team for another air-raid style of offense this week.
For the Spartans, three quarterbacks saw game time last week. Which means going into this game fans can be expecting at least a two QB rotation between Josh Love (14/29 for 109 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception) and Montel Aaron (13/19 for 254 yards, 2 touchdowns). Just looking at the numbers, with fewer passes thrown but getting more yards and no turnovers is a great sign for Aaron. Granted, I do think playing time will be split between the two again, and I think we may see a little more Aaron to try and keep the game as close as possible.
Overall, this game does look like a mirror image of last week’s matchup that the Spartans seen with the Aggies. Washington State is obviously more talented being a Power 5 school, but play style, is very similar. The only difference is that the Aggies had a rusher in Ulonzo Gilliam who carried the ball 23 times for 132 yards and two touchdowns while the Cougars highest rusher last week was James Williams with 16 carries with 82 yards and a touchdown. This could have been a bad matchup for the Cougars or it shows the lack in rushing offense that the team has this year. One thing that is for sure, the Spartans need to see that defensive line that Coach Brennan was raving about prior to Week 1 against the Aggies otherwise there can be another high output for the run game.
Looking at this matchup and seeing how San Jose played Week 1, I expect the secondary to get exposed again against the Washington State air-attack. If the Spartans defensive line shows up though and can minimize the run game this can play into a great role for the secondary and give a little bit of an aid to them. Hoever, that could be a big ask on both sides seeing how the defense was very lackluster in Week 1. Washington State only allowed 19 points against Wyoming, if that defense plays as well as it did last week, the Spartans can be in for a long Saturday night in Pullman, Washington. Unless San Jose state gets a grand game going and are able to get consistent play in the passing game with one quarterback, I think Washington State has a fairly easy win over the Spartans. However, anything is possible and if the Spartans put together a strong focused week at practice there is potential for big upset late Saturday night.
This game is at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Washington as the San Jose State Spartans (0 – 1) goes against the Washington State Cougars (1 – 0) at 8:00 PM PST.
NOTE: Even if you were unable to go to or view the game write as if you were there. Also mix up word choice example, you can use however instead of but.
