By Ernie Gonzalez — Editor
In football terms, call it third and “very” long. In real life, it’s known as the start of another season.
An incompletion on the first snap and a run for loss on second down has set up year three — where San Jose State head coach Brent Brennan and his staff remain optimistic on keeping the chains moving.
All the buzz this offseason has swarmed around quarterback Josh Love, who secured the starting job after a solid junior campaign.
Love is without a doubt the heart of the Spartan offense. Last season as a junior, he threw for 245 yards per game with a 56 percent completion rate without his deep-threat target Bailey Gaither in half his starts.
Gaither on the other hand, who was on pace to be a top-5 wideout in the Mountain West last year, ruptured his Achilles tendon in week 5 against Hawai’i. The Paso Robles product had more receiving yards in 4 games (327) than in all of 2017 combined (320).
Tre Walker, who is entering his third go-around with the Spartans, is another wide receiver with explosive speed and route running ability. The Inglewood, Calif. native led the team with 714 yards, blooming late with all five of his touchdowns coming week 9 or later.
If Walker can avoid the injury bug in 2019 and consistently put up numbers like he did late last year, NFL scouts will certainly be eager to watch him perform.
The offense seems suited, right?
Experienced signal caller. Fast and healthy wideouts. There is another piece to the puzzle that still hasn’t matured — and in more ways that one — has proven to be the offense’s kryptonite: SJSU’s ground attack.
Don’t twist the facts though. Veteran running backs Tyler Nevens and DeJon Packer have proven that they can be physical and aren’t afraid to have the ball in their hands. It’s the offensive line that has crumbled in the trenches.
On paper, SJSU’s O-line is significantly smaller than most of its 2019 opponents. With the exception of Brennan’s new transfer Quinn Oseland, who stands 6-foot-6 and scales in at 305 pounds, most of the offensive line weighs between 275 and 295 pounds.
In 2018, SJSU had the 10th smallest offensive line in the country with an average height of 6-foot-4 and 290.8 pounds according to Crescent City Sports, a New Orleans based sports blog.
The O-line holds the key to the door that opens up the running game, therefore if the men up front struggle, the running game follows — aka rushing 101 in a nutshell.
In 35 combined games between Nevens and Packer, the two have found paydirt only seven times. That stat boils down to two things: the team trailing so badly, that running the ball is in their worst interest and the O-line.
If the blockers up front can open up some holes for the running backs when rushing and buy Love a few extra seconds per play when passing, the offense can certainly cause headaches to opposing defensive coordinators.
Of course, that “if” carries a lot of weight — no pun intended.
Now onto the defense, where the Spartans have been abysmal statistically over the past two seasons. SJSU ranked 129 and 127 in 2017 and ‘18 in total defense, respectively of 130 teams in the nation. They conceded 499 yards per game in 2017 and a “noticeably lower” 495 last year.
One bright spot however, has been limiting the turnovers. In Brennan’s first year at the helm, the Spartans couldn’t protect the football for the life of them. They ended the year with a -26 turnover margin, by far the worst in the nation that season. Last year, the Spartans ranked No. 59 in the country in that same category with a +1 margin.
On both sides of the ball, there will be plenty of new faces. There will be mistakes and there will be learning opportunities. But they will be on the same gridiron with leaders like seniors linebacker Ethan Aguayo or defensive lineman Sailosi Latu just to name a couple.
That’s been Brennan’s motto since the get-go. Repetition is the best practice. Gametime experiences are the best experiences — and you take the pluses with the minuses.
And in a way, that’s translated to Brennan’s 3-22 start with San Jose State football. You take the bad with the good. The problem now is that time’s running out, and fast.
Brennan, his staff, Love, the O-line and the defense have got one more shot — because it will be a while until this amount of leadership and unity represents SJSU football again.
SJSU isn’t expected to shock the conference. Hell, it isn’t expected to win half its games this year. But it is expected to compete and play at a high level every single snap.
And it starts by coordinating just the right set of plays to get a new set of downs.
Follow Ernie on Twitter @superego1012