San Jose State (2-4, 1-1 MW) entered War Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon clear-as-day what their identity would be in a deflating 35-28 loss to the Wyoming Cowboys (3-3, 1-1 MW).
It was a spread-and-shred
offense that would take no prisoners early on, but flattened as the game went on when the Spartans needed it the most.
“We had a lot of drops, where guys are still open,” said Spartan head coach Ken Niumatalolo. “We’ve just got to catch them.”
But well-before the first-half was over, Spartan receiver Danny Scudero collected four touchdown catches via QB Walker Eget.
A 43-yard dot from Eget to the left pylon — a 72-yard bomb from Eget rolling to his right — and two sequences motioning Scudero to the right and left flat deep in the red zone for touchdown catch three and four.
With four touchdowns, six catches and 151-yards in the first-half ties a Mountain West record, Scudero finished with 10 catches, 180 yards, but still left much on the table with a handful of uncharacteristic drops.
At the least, it all likely cements Scudero as the top receiver in the nation for another week, but the loss hurt badly, especially after leading 28-14 for most of the game until the Cowboys’ 21 unanswered fourth-quarter points to overtake the Spartans.
“We did a lot of good things and a lot of bad things,” said Niumatalolo. “Kick off returns; a punt ran back on us to the house; a recovered a muffed punt, a fumble. It was just not enough good things in the end.”
“I don’t think Wyoming did anything different than we expected,” added Niumatalolo.
In between the scoring explosions from the air, each teams’ special teams joined the fray early on as well.
Off a lackadaisical Spartan punt coverage early in the first quarter, Wyoming’s Deion DeBlanc was the one who made SJS pay the price with a 73-yard return for a score.
Wyomings’ first series of the second quarter then saw Poke QB Kaden Anderson’s 35-yard TD pass to Michael Fitzgerald, as the Pokes remained steadfast throughout the game.
Spartan returner Jahari Johnson punched back right away with 98-yard kickoff return to setup Scudero’s fourth TD catch (Johnson had a mirror kickoff return called back last week against New Mexico).
Somehow, San Jose State was not the same after the Scudero outburst.
With the Pokes gaining only 32 total yards in the first quarter, the Spartans tallied 212, but by half’s end, Wyoming woke up with 223 yards, while San Jose stagnated with only 33 more yards in the second.
By game’s end, Wyoming continually rose; finishing with 411 total yards to San Jose’s 383 total yards of which much of the Spartan yards after scoring 28 first-half points amounted to zero,.
Coming in the second-half with San Jose’s 28-14 lead was a whirlwind flurry of madness.
Wyoming’s special team woes looked to rear its head after a muffed-punt on their own 10-yard line that San Jose State muffed right back with three plays minus-18-yards that Eget fumbled away that cornerback Jalen Bainer intercepted right back for the Spartans.
Eget was also injured on the series after losing the ball; missing four series that left the Spartan offense listless.
“Obviously losing Walker, we were sputtering there for a bit,” said Niumatalolo. “When the doctors told us he was down, we had to go with what they say.“
Without Eget, the third quarter had more Spartan firsts.
QB Xavier Ward played in his first series. Freshman running back Sir Autry saw his first play on a circus screen catch. Mathias Brown’s first ever field goal attempt from 53-yards out missed.
Brown also missed a 47-yarder.
“We’ve just missed too many field goals,” said Niumatalolo on the kicking game. “We’ve got to make one of those.”
With Ward and Tama Amisome switching out, the Spartans continued to be out-of-sync in the fourth quarter, even as Eget re-entered the game with three minutes remaining.
The Spartan defense could not hold back the onslaught after Ward’s pass was deflected at the line and returned by Poke linebacker Brayden Johnson for a 65-yard score.
“It was a huge play,” said Niumatalolo on the fourth-and-two INT and the momentum shift. “It was the play of the game.”
The Cowboys went on the score two more times with gashing runs and passes during the fourth quarter that the Spartan defense had no answers for.
“We need to be able to finish on tackles,” said Spartan cornerback Jalen Bainer. “And a mixture not being able to finish on plays.”
San Jose State has a week to auto-correct themselves before facing another potent conference team in Utah State next week in Logan.
