San Jose State walked into CEFCU Saturday night hosting a Cal Poly team picking a fight above its supposed weight class.
But to a very formidable opponent, the Spartans fumbled on their opening series, got flagged five times for 55 yards on the night and needed a fourth-quarter interception to finally pull away in a 30-20 win that took nearly three hours to settle.
The final score says San Jose State handled business. The box score says something closer to the truth: the Spartans spent most of the night
fighting themselves as much as Cal Poly.
Self-inflicted wounds all over the stat sheet
Luke Weaver fumbled at his own 32 on San Jose State’s first offensive series of the game. The Mustangs drove into the red zone before Greco Carrillo picked off an Anthony Grigsby Jr. pass to end the threat. It was an early defensive bailout that kept the damage to zero.
It didn’t stop there.
To open the second-half, the Spartan’s kickoff sailed out of bounds, handing Cal Poly a short field. Nine plays and 65 yards later, Jaden Green caught a six-yard touchdown pass from Grigsby to tie the game at 13.
Head coach Ken Niumatalolo didn’t whitewash any of it postgame.
“We have self-inflicted penalties. Kicking the ball out of bounds, hitting the guy out of bounds and taunting. That’s about discipline. That stuff is going to kill you in close games.”
San Jose State also had 13 penalties the week before and still won. “That’s really alarming to me,” added Niumatalolo.
Tied three times before it was settled
As many times as it takes a good physical and mental beat down to come alive, this was not a comfortable night, though many outstanding stats were accomplished in the end.
After the Mustangs scored first, San Jose State answered on their ensuing possession with a Carson Clark touchdown catch, followed by two Trajan Sinatra field goals (44 and 32 yards) to take a 13-6 halftime lead.
Cal Poly tied it at 13 in the third quarter off the kickoff-out-of-bounds gift, before Cooper Hoch’s touchdown catch put SJSU back on top 20-13.
The Mustangs answered again to tie it at 20 in the fourth. Sinatra’s third make of the night, a 40-yarder, put the Spartans up 23-20 with under 12 minutes left.
It took Caleb Womack’s end zone interception in the fourth quarter that catapulted to Weaver’s 41-yard touchdown toss to Clark again and the final 30-20 score. Along with Weaver’s third passing touchdown of the night, the Spartans garnered almost 500 yards of total offense.
But it was Jabari Bates’ career-high 163 yards rushing that proved the presence of a viable and potent run game that put a shine in Niumatalolo’s and OC Craig Stutzmann’s eyes post game in the hallways.
Despite all the numbers, the human nature question has to be asked: what is it about having or needing the pressure and threat under your behind that compels one to find a next level? Or what is it that eludes or escapes a hyper-focused competitive athlete to make such mistakes? Somehow, it’s all things practices can’t simulate or expose.
In the end, it should’ve could’ve been a three touchdown win. If so, this human nature part wouldn’t have been brought up at all.
The other dimension: sickness
By design, Womack’s performance was going to be good or bad, as Cal Poly sensed a weakness at his cornerback spot. Conventional thinking was perhaps Womack was just a weak spot to exploit.
“They were definitely picking on me. I feel like they could see it in my weakness.” said Womack. “I came out sick all week, overly sick, and I wasn’t able to play to the best of my ability and they kind of noticed that.”
Ends up many Spartan players and staff were also sick.
Womack added, “It’s been beating me up: the head, the sniffles, the headaches, the stomach, but we fought through it.”
A familiar story to Hoch, Womack’s interception capped a four-year path that started as a walk-on before he earned a scholarship last season.
“It’s definitely been a long journey,” said Womack. “It’s a blessing, to say the least.”
The lesson that outlasts the score
San Jose State moves to 2-1, but Niumatalolo made clear the win papered over problems that won’t survive a tougher opponent.
“Football is a game of 170 plays and you got to find a way to move forward. You’re emotional. You’ve got to try to erase your past memory. You’ve got to have short-term memory and move on to the next one,” said Niumatalolo, pointing to next week’s rivalry matchup as the real test of whether the discipline gets fixed.
When facing Fresno State next week, it will be unforgiving if there’s any semblance from this particular evening.
