A quarterback swap and trick play were pivotal moments in San Jose State’s 35-31 comeback victory over Nevada Saturday at CEFCU Stadium.
Quarterback Walker Eget was told to sub in by offensive coordinator Craig Stutzmann for Emmett Brown in the middle of a third-quarter drive. Brown had three passes batted down to that point of the game and the Spartans had failed to score on three of their prior four drives.
Eget led the Spartans (4-1, 2-0 Mountain West) downfield for touchdowns on two of his three drives at the helm.
The game-winning play saw wide receiver Nick Nash go in motion before the snap, receive a lateral pass and hit a wide-open Jabari Bates in the endzone to take the lead.
“It’s been a long journey and it was really, really fun,” Eget said on getting substantial playing time. “When we went down, everybody still stuck together because we went through way harder things.”
Quarterback battle reignited
Two quarterbacks were battling for the starting spot dating back to spring camp: Brown and Eget.
The pair’s battle was undecided all the way up to the final week of training camp. San Jose State’s coaching staff decided on Brown before the season opener against Sacramento State.
The position is up in the air again after Eget came off the bench in a surprise appearance and led the Spartans to a comeback win from down 28-21.
“(Eget) got put in a tough situation,” Niumatalolo said. “Wasn’t like he came in up 40-0.”
Eget finished 10-for-13 for 141 yards and Brown was 12-for-28 with two passing touchdowns and 170 yards.
“He looked like a veteran quarterback,” Nash said of Eget.
Stutzmann felt his offense was bogged down, according to Niumatalolo. He vividly remembered the offensive coordinator calling for Eget to get in the game.
“It wasn’t like there was a timeout,” Niumatalolo said. “He didn’t have any time to think.”
Niumatlolo said the decision was unexpected, but he had full faith in Stutzmann’s call for a change and Eget’s ability.
“We’ll just see how it plays out,” Niumatalolo said of the quarterback situation going forward.
Brown has thrown for 15 touchdown passes and 1,460 yards this season.
“It’s a team sport. Most of those points were him, so we can’t forget about that,” Eget said of teammate Brown.
Niumatalolo expects both to get starting reps at practice this week.
Banged-up defense struggles but comes through late
The Spartans defense allowed a quarterback to break free on the ground again.
Two weeks ago, Washington State quarterback John Mateer had 111 rushing yards. This week, Brendon Lewis led Nevada (2-4, 0-1) with 90 yards and scored two rushing touchdowns.
“He was definitely an issue,” Niumatlolo said of Lewis. “Run defense is all gap cancellation and guys got out of their gaps.”
The Wolfpack finished with 416 total yards of offense.
“We just gotta wrap up,” defensive back D.J. Harvey said. “We had a lot of missed tackles.”
SJSU did have some absences on defense. Starters who did not play included defensive end Quincy Likio and linebacker Jordan Cobbs.
“We gotta communicate better. First half we didn’t communicate at all,” Harvey said. “(There was) a lot of people out of place.”
Starting cornerback Michael Dansby missed the entire second half after he was pulled due to injury minutes before halftime.
It wasn’t all bad for the defense, Soane Toia and John Ward both recorded a sack, the first of the season for the defensive linemen.
Harvey led the Spartans with 10 total tackles.
The curtain-closing play for the Spartans was Robert ‘Rocket’ Rahimi’s second pick of the season on a pass intended for Wolfpack wide receiver Jaden Smith in the endzone.
Offense spreads the wealth
Saturday’s win saw eight different Spartans with receptions and all finished with double-digit yards.
Nash was double-teamed by Nevada for the majority of the game.
“It was honestly really annoying,” Nash said. “But it was nice to see some of the other guys on the field get some success from it.”
Although Nevada tried to take Nash away, Niumatalolo said the plan left everybody else open including the run game.
Running back Floyd Chalk IV had two rushing touchdowns on the night and led the Spartans with 57 rushing yards. Bates added 42.
“If everybody’s on the same page then the ball will move itself,” Eget said. “If they keep busting runs like that I don’t think this offense can be stopped because that was sort of the missing element we had in the past.”
Stutzmann has guts
Between a fourth-and-goal call to go for it, a trick play with Nash acting as the passer, and the decision to pull the quarterback who started the past five games, Stutzmann has proved why he was hired to be in charge of SJSU’s offense.
Chalk’s five-yard touchdown run dialed up by Stutzmann on fourth down tied the game at 28 apiece.
The Spartans were just led downfield by Eget, who had just been thrown into the game.
“Great call by Coach Stutzmann, because (Eget) came in there and played well,” Niumatalolo said.
Wide receiver coach and passing game coordinator Kevin McGiven was the designer of the trick play that led to Bates wide-open. And Stutzmann knew exactly when to call the play: in the game’s final minute when a field goal would tie it, but a touchdown would give the Spartans a lead.
“Before it happened, I knew it was a touchdown,” Nash said.
Niumatalolo said the play had been working perfectly at practice and had every confidence that it was going to work again. And it did.
Those three decisions alone summed up to 14 points on the scoreboard for the Spartans – just what was needed to win.
Next up
San Jose State heads to play Colorado State (2-3), who the Spartans have not beaten on the road since 2013. Kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m. Saturday in Fort Collins.
SJSU will look to win its third Mountain West Conference and fifth overall game.
