By Ernie Gonzalez: (@superego1012)
San Jose State (1-9, 0-5 MW) didn’t stand a chance Saturday night against San Diego State (8-2, 4-2 MW) as it fell 52-7.
SDSU ran for a program-record 554 yards on Spartan turf shared by four different rushers and lead by Rashaad Penny, who became just the fifth back in school history to reach 3,000 rushing yards.
It was another game that became out of reach for the Spartans at the blink of an eye. SJSU had yet to run five offensive plays before going down three touchdowns and by that time, Penny was already over the century mark.
“It wasn’t what we wanted,” said head coach Brent Brennan. “To give up that kind of run yardage in a football game. It makes it hard to win.”
Aztec quarterback Christian Chapman threw the ball only five times, but it proved to be more than enough. SDSU used not only Penny (234 yards), but Juwan Washington (134 yards) and Chase Jasmin (82 yards) to drain the Spartan rush defense.
On offense, the Spartans were only able to engineer one drive of 10-plus plays and six of their 10 total drives resulted in three or less snaps.
“We only had 40-something plays on offense, which is not nearly enough for us,” Brennan said. “[It’s difficult] the balance of going fast and struggling moving the ball … then you’re exposing the defense more.”
Staying on defense, it was ripped to shreds. Nose tackle Ricky Leung-Wai and linebacker Noah Failauga nights were cut short because of injuries, forcing would-be redshirts to enter the game on defense.
True freshman linebacker Tysyn Parker had himself quite a college debut, as he tied Frank Ginda for the game-high in tackles with 16. Parker also recovered a fumble in the third quarter that was forced by Ginda.
Defensive tackle Owen Roberts had a “better now than later’’ mindset in response to what it’s like playing alongside newbies every week.
“I got 100 percent trust in everybody next to me. They’re young guys, but it’s good to get the reps now,” Roberts said after the game. “I just do my part as a veteran … I really don’t mind it. I was a young guy once upon a time.”
The Spartans will travel to Reno next Saturday and have another shot to end a miserable eight-game skid against the Nevada Wolfpack.