Fresno State Bulldogs vs. San Jose State game guide: What to know about matchup vs. Spartans
Fresno State needs to win at San Jose State on Thanksgiving Day to have a chance to win the West Division title in the Mountain West and book a date in the conference championship game. For the Bulldogs, it’s that simple. Win, then wait to see what happens on Friday with Boise State and San Diego State.
If Fresno State can take down the Spartans and finish 6-2 in Mountain West games, it will need the bitter-rival Broncos to take down the 6-1 Aztecs at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, handing them a second conference loss. The Bulldogs hold a head-to-head tiebreaker edge over San Diego State, with a 30-20 road victory in October.
“We don’t want to get into that too much, right?” coach Kalen DeBoer said, after one of the Bulldogs’ bye week practices. “But, yeah, that’s the reality of what it is. We have to make sure we’re focusing on us. We can’t control that, but we’ll have our eyes glued to that game, for sure.”
If Fresno State loses to the Spartans, there isn’t much reason to watch. The Bulldogs can just wait to see where they are headed for their bowl game, out of contention for the Dec. 4 conference title game.
The Spartans have won three of the past four games in the series played in San Jose, including a 62-52 victory in 2013 that ended the Bulldogs’ run of 10 victories in a row to start the season.
San Jose State also won in 2019, which turned out to be the final game for coach Jeff Tedford, who announced that he was stepping away due to health concerns one week later.
Fresno State at San Jose State
When: Thursday, 12:30 p.m.
Where: CEFCU Stadium, San Jose
TV: FS1
Find it fast: AT&T (Channels 652, 1652), Comcast (35, 408, 731, 1208), DirecTV (219), Dish Network (150)
Radio: Bulldog Sports Network (Paul Loeffler, Pat Hill, Cameron Worrell)
Find it fast: Fresno (AM1340), Bakersfield (AM970), Visalia (AM1130), Modesto (FM92.9), Stockton (AM1280), Bulldogs app, iHeartMedia app
The coaches: Kalen DeBoer (11-6 in second season), Brent Brennan (20-36 in fifth season)
The records: Fresno State 8-3, 5-2 in MW; San Jose State 5-6, 3-4
The series: Fresno State leads 42-38-3
Last meeting: San Jose State won 17-16 in 2019
Tickets: 559-278-DOGS or gobulldogs.com
About San Jose State: The Spartans are the defending Mountain West Conference champions, but 2021 has been nothing like it was a year ago. San Jose State last season spent part of fall camp at Humboldt State, some 300-plus miles from campus, due to COVID-19 restrictions in Santa Clara County. It ended the season playing home games in Las Vegas. The Spartans have not had to deal with any of that this season. The on-field results, though, also have not been the same. Quarterback Nick Starkel missed five games with an arm injury and the offense is averaging just 21.0 points a game, ranking 11th in the Mountain West Conference. … San Jose State has lost two games in a row and four of six, the wins in there against UNLV and Wyoming, which are a combined 3-9 in conference play. … The Spartans have played five teams averaging 27.0 or more points per game and are 0-5 in those games, losing to USC (29.6 ppg), Western Michigan (29.8), San Diego State (27.7), Nevada (34.9) and Utah State (33.4). Fresno State obviously is a team that can put points on the scoreboard, averaging 33.0 points per game, third in the Mountain West. … Another troubling sign for the Spartans – they are 4-2 in games decided by one touchdown or less and those wins have come at Hawaii (17-13), against New Mexico State (37-31), at UNLV (27-20) and against Wyoming (27-21). San Jose State is struggling to beat some poor teams. Hawaii is 4-7 and 1-5 in the MW, New Mexico State is 1-9, UNLV is 2-8 and 2-4 and Wyoming is 5-5 and 1-5. … Quarterback Nick Nash has continued to get reps since Starkel returned two games back, and poses a threat rushing the football. Nash has two 100-yard rushing games this season, against UNLV and Wyoming. He is the first San Jose State quarterback to do that since at least 1975. … The Spartans are tied for last in the Mountain West with six interceptions. Hawaii and Boise State, which are tied for first with 12, picked off Bulldogs quarterback Jake Haener four and three times.