San Jose State’s week three bye could not have come at a better time.
SJSU started the season with a 16-14 loss to Central Michigan, a game the Spartans entered as 13.5-point favorites. The following week, SJSU fell 38-7 to then-No. 7 ranked and preseason No. 1 Texas.
SJSU used the time off to reset and regroup ahead of Saturday’s matchup against Idaho at CEFCU Stadium (2 p.m. on NBC Sports Bay Area).
“It’s allowed us to focus on us,” head coach Ken Niumatalolo said this week. “So you just look at the wheres you can get better at, and I would say there are a lot of them.”
At the top of the list is holding on to the football. The Spartans already have turned the ball over seven times while forcing just two turnovers.
Quarterback Walker Eget has thrown for 492 yards and two touchdowns and has completed 52.9 percent of his attempts, but also has accounted for four of the seven Spartan turnovers. He has thrown three interceptions and lost a fumble.
“The biggest thing (I want to improve on) is going to be decision making. Just being able to be smoother,” said Eget, who threw for 2,504 yards in just seven starts in 2024.
Offensive coordinator Craig Stutzmann had a simple message for Eget over the bye week: don’t over think things.
“I think it’s a lot of he wants to make the perfect read, he wants to make the perfect throw,” Stutzmann said. “It doesn’t exist. Football is not a perfect game.”
Stutzmann believes the offense is almost ready to get clicking. Wide receiver Danny Scudero, the former Archbishop Mitty High who transferred after two seasons at Sacramento State, has been able to showcase what this offense can accomplish when firing on all cylinders.
Scudero, who caught 52 passes last season with the Hornets, has caught a team-leading 16 passes for 249 yards and one touchdown.
Scudero is the only Spartan with at least 100 receiving yards in a game this season. Kyri Shoels is the only other Spartan with double-digit receptions.
A bright spot from week two was SJSU receivers Scudero and Shoels being able to create separation while running routes against a strong Texas secondary. The tandem combined for 15 of SJSU’s 21 receptions in the loss.
“(Texas) is really good on defense and has elite athletes,” Stutzmann said. “So being able to get guys open just shows that we are close, it’s just a matter of when.”
The Spartans still have two more games before their Mountain West Conference opener on Oct. 3 against New Mexico, but second-year head coach Niumatalolo and the Spartans are eager to get back to their winning ways.
“We would love to be in a better spot at this point but we recognize we still have a lot to play for,” said Niumatalolo, whose Spartans opened last season 3-0 en route to a 7-5 regular-season record and the school’s third-straight bowl appearance.
The Spartans were picked to finish third in the conference in the preseason poll. But the other top contenders have gotten out to hot starts.
UNLV, picked to finish second, is the only Mountain West school remaining undefeated at 3-0, including a 30-23 win over UCLA.
Fresno State and Hawaii are both off to 3-1 starts.
Last weekend, New Mexico (2-1) scored a 35-10 win over UCLA.
The Spartans might be the only winless team in the Mountain West, but it’s still early, and Niumatalolo has seen encouraging signs.
“We were a play or two away from winning week one, and we lost to a team that was preseason ranked No. 1,” Niumatalolo said. “There is no need to burn the building down.”
Niumatalolo also stressed patience with the SJSU kicking game. USC transfer Denis Lynch has missed all four of his field-goal attempts, including a 33-yard potential winner in the closing seconds of the loss to Central Michigan.
“I haven’t lost confidence in Denis,” Niumatalolo said. “I told him, ‘we’re going to need you and I trust you.’”
SJSU has won five straight against Football Championship Subdivision opponents, but Idaho (2-1) is one of three FCS teams to have multiple wins against FBS programs since 2023. In fact, both of those wins have come against Mountain West opponents with a 33-7 win over Nevada in 2023 and a 17-13 win over Wyoming last season.
In 2024 the program kept a game against No. 3 ranked Oregon to within 10 points in a 24-14 loss.
The Vandals opened this season with a 13-10 loss against Washington State.
“They’re a great team, we can’t take anybody for granted,” safety Jalen Apalit-Williams said. “We have to start fast and finish strong.”
SJSU is familiar with Vandals quarterback Joshua Wood, who transferred from Fresno State.
Wood appeared in all 13 games for Fresno State as a situational play quarterback. The last time Wood faced off against San Jose State he had three rushing attempts for 17 yards during Fresno State’s 33-10 win.
“We have to be humble in our approach, we’re San Jose State, we don’t have a ton of revenue sharing money like everybody else,” Niumatalolo said. “They’ve got players who have transferred from FBS schools on their team.”
SJSU will look to keep the strong play from the defensive side of the ball going. While the offense has looked inconsistent, the defense has looked like it can go toe-to-toe with anybody.
The Spartans held Central Michigan and Texas to a combined 4-25 on third down. A strong performance considering SJSU’s third down defense ranked 120th in the nation in conversion rate (46.2%) in 2024.
“It was a big point of emphasis this offseason,” defensive coordinator Derrick Odum said. “The guys have bought into honing the details of that call in that particular situation.”
The Spartans have shown potential of what the team can be, but it will be up to them to put all the pieces together against Idaho.
“I want to see inspired football,” Stutzmann said. “When I’m on the sideline I want to be like “Gosh, I don’t even know if I coached that up but that was awesome.’ That’s what I want to see (Saturday).”