SAN JOSE – The momentum was in San Jose State’s favor multiple times Saturday night to pull off its first upset over a top-15 opponent since 2000.
But the Spartans never took advantage against No.13 Boise State and fell 42-21 to the Broncos at home.
Walker Eget threw two touchdowns on the first two drives of the game had a crowd of 20,517, the largest at CEFCU Stadium since 2013, ecstatic.
Boise State (9-1, 6-0 Mountain West) fumbled the ensuing kickoff and gave SJSU (6-4, 3-3) the ball back for a potential 21-0 lead.
The offense stalled out inside the 5-yard line and SJSU head coach Ken Niumtalolo initially sent out the field goal unit. He then called a timeout due to a substitution error and decided to go for it.
What ensued was a trick play to an offensive lineman for a negative gain that zapped all the energy from the stadium.
“My gut instinct was to go up three scores. But then we called a timeout and I got greedy, that’s really what happened,” Niumatalolo said.
The Broncos then had an 11-play, 98-yard drive for a touchdown to find their rhythm. They went on to outscore the Spartans 42-7 after the trick play.
“Those are always tough decisions because when you make them, you’re the hero and when you don’t, you know you’re not. But it’s tough I think we had them drawn up right, there’s just one little mistake. Those are the ones that kill you,” Spartans wide receiver Nick Nash said.
The first half ended tied at 14 and SJSU held Heisman Trophy favorite Ashton Jeanty to 57 yards.
Nash led the first drive of the second half with 89 yards and a touchdown on a 98-yard drive to get the crowd back into it.
Boise State got the ball and should have gone three-and-out topped off by a Soane Toia sack as the exclamation point.
But Jordan Pollard, who sat out the first half due to a targeting penalty in last week’s game, came in with a late hit to extend the drive that ended in a touchdown.
“That kills us and you can’t win a game playing like that,” cornerback DJ Harvey said.
San Jose State did not score another point after the penalty while Boise State scored four unanswered touchdowns.
The conference leader looked vulnerable at multiple points. SJSU stopped a fake field goal attempt, recovered a fumbled kickoff, and had the Broncos miss a field goal.
“It’s a hard pill to swallow because we felt like we had every opportunity to win that game and we had some missed opportunities we didn’t capitalize on,” Niumatalolo said of the Spartans’ 15th consecutive regular-season loss to Boise State.
Turnover problems
Eget finished 34-for-50 for 446 yards, three touchdowns, two interceptions and a fumble. The quarterback now has a turnover in five straight games.
“That’s a big thing that I’ve been struggling with and I really need to change that this week because that changes the game itself,” Eget said. “The score would be a lot different if we didn’t lose the turnover battle.”
The most damning was the fumble.
SJSU went for it on fourth-and-2 at the Boise State 44-yard line tied at 21. Eget ran past the first-down marker but defender Ty Benefield knocked the ball loose and ended the drive.
“If I could go back, I would just go down after I got the first and not take the unnecessary hit and fumble. That’s just bad ball,” Eget said.
Eget was only sacked once despite the Broncos coming into the game with the second-best sack rate (4.44 per game) in the nation.
Jeanty and quarterback Maddux Madsen did not turn the ball over and Boise State won the turnover battle 4-1.
“That was my No. 1 message going into the game, we have to take care of the football. It’s imperative and it cost us,” Niumatalolo said.
Heisman and Biletnikoff candidates put on a show
Two of the biggest names in college football combined for almost 300 yards and both broke school records.
Jeanty finished with 159 yards and three touchdowns, which helped him break Boise State’s single-season rushing record set in 2014 by Jay Ajayi. Jeanty finished the game with 1,893 rushing yards on the season.
“The explosive plays you saw in the second half with a great back like that, he’s going to find his own so it’s tough going against a back like that,” Harvey said.
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Nash broke Noel Grigsby’s SJSU single-season reception record (89) set in 2011. He concluded the game with 95 receptions this season and a stat line of nine receptions, 126 yards and a touchdown.
Justin Lockhart led SJSU in receiving with 10 receptions, 172 yards and a touchdown.
”It’s pretty bittersweet. I think it would have been cooler to say that we beat the No. 13 team in the nation but unfortunately, that’s not the case,” Nash said of breaking the record.
Both improved their already sharp resumes as the semifinalists for the Doak Walker Award (top running back) and Fred Biletnikoff Award (top receiver) are announced this week.
Up next:
San Jose State will play the second game of its end-of-season homestand against UNLV at 7 p.m. Friday.
“It’s an emotional roller coaster and we just gotta ride it into the next game,” Eget said.
The Spartans conference championship hopes are extinguished with three conference losses but they can spoil the Rebels’ chances.