By Ernie Gonzalez (@superego1012):
It was the same formula to defeat for San Jose State (1-11, 0-7 MW) in Colorado State (7-5, 5-3 MW), falling 42-14.
It took the Spartans six plays to put up seven points on their opening drive, but failed to find a rhythm on offense the rest of the way.
The Rams answered back fast with two touchdowns in each of the first two quarters , en route to 35 unanswered points to cruise past the Spartans.
SJSU did something significantly better this week protecting the football for the entire first half, but their only turnover of the game proved to be costly.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Montel Aaron marched the Spartans down the field on the first possession of the third quarter facing a 21-point deficit, but a red zone interception sucked away the hope his offense gained.
Aaron seemed a lot more aggressive Saturday throwing the ball 10 times, but only completing two of them, both to Tre Hartley, who had his best game of the year with five receptions for 109 yards. Poise and accuracy have to be Aaron’s focal points before the start of the 2018 season.
On the other side, Rams senior quarterback Nick Stevens had himself a senior day, putting up madden-like numbers with 305 yards on 26 of 32 passing and 3TD.
Spartans cornerback Jermaine Kelly played nation’s leading receiver extremely well, limiting Michael Gallup to seven receptions for just 47 yards.
It was the ground game that the Spartans had trouble stopping though, as Rams senior Dalyn Dawkins rumbled over the Spartans 24 times for 138 yards and 1TD.
It’s the sixth time this season a Spartan opponent has rushed for over 300 net yards, as the Rams pounded the Spartans for 301.
As for the Spartans, it was a different look as Tyler Nevens got a significantly lighter load, carrying the ball just four times for 11 yards.
Although Nevens was sidelined for most of the game, the running game did shine for the Spartans as they tied their season total with two rushing touchdowns on the afternoon, including a fourth quarter 54-yard TD by Zamore Zigler.
On defense, junior linebacker Frank Ginda finished with 11 tackles, exactly what he needed entering Saturday to break Carmen Messina’s 2009 Mountain West mark of 162. Ginda still leads the nation and has another game to make the peak the mountain-top.
The Spartans’ season finale will be next Saturday as they host Wyoming at 2 p.m.