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San Jose State at Utah
Saturday, Sept. 16
8:00 p.m. MT
Salt Lake City, Utah
If things don’t bode well for the Utes during their first two games of the season, Saturday, September 16th is the day to fix it. That’s when San Jose State comes to town.
If there’s anything malfunctioning within the offense or defense, this is the game where Utah can do some fine-tuning before hitting the road against Arizona, then facing off against Stanford, USC, and Oregon, all powerhouse teams that we at BlockU.com have placed in Utah’s top five most difficult games.
The last time the Utes faced off against the Spartans, they went to their house and reeled off 28 straight points for a 34-17 victory. Utah was able to make out with some big plays that night as the Ute defense had 10 sacks, which tied for the second-most in school history. This year should be no different.
Honestly, there’s nothing spectacular about this San Jose State team. They’re coming off a 4-8 season with their last winning record coming in 2012 when the Spartans went 11-2 (when current Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre was the head man there). The university is in rebuilding mode, trying to get back to being a legitimate contender. San Jose State made a big change during the offseason to their coaching staff and brought back a familiar face. Brent Brennan is returning to San Jose State as the Spartans’ new coach. Brennan was an assistant coach with the Spartans during the 2005 through 2010 seasons, but more recently he coached the wide receivers at Oregon State for the last six seasons.
Speaking of the offense, it took a major hit. SJSU lost one of its top two rushers, its top passer, and its top receiver from last season. If that’s not a dagger then I don’t know what is!
Defensively, the Spartans allowed their opponent to rush an average of 244 yards, score an average of 34.7 points and 433 yards of total offense per game.
With more than half of the roster being freshmen this year and a new head coach who will probably implement a new system, the Spartans don’t seem to be a threat.
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