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We are officially four weeks away from the 2026 season opener for the San Jose State Spartans football team!
Head Coach: Ken Niumatalolo – 3rd Season @ SJSU, 19th season overall
@ SJSU: 10-15 (.400)
Overall: 119-98 (.548)
Bowls @ SJSU: 0-1 (.000)
Bowls overall: 6-6 (.500)
Ken Niumatalolo was the quarterback for Hawaii from 1987-89, and then did a great job as the Navy head football coach from the 2007 bowl game through the 2022 season. He is Navy’s all-time career win leader where he went 109-83 at a school with plenty of restrictions. In year one in 2024, Niumatalolo led SJSU to a 3-0 start – the first SJSU head coach to start 3-0 since Lynn Styles in 1976 – and the Spartans finished 7-6 with a heartbreaking loss to South Florida (31-29 in 5OT’s) in the Hawaii Bowl. After a disappointing 3-9 2025 campaign, he enters year three at the helm of the San Jose State program.
The Offensive Coordinator is Craig Stutzmann, who enters year three as the OC with SJSU. He was the passing game coordinator at Texas State in 2023, was an assistant with the Green Bay Packers in 2022 and was the co-OC and QB coach at Washington State in 2020 and 2021. He runs the Spread-and-Shred offense.
The Defensive Coordinator is Bojay Filimoeatu who has 36 years of college coaching experience and took over as the SJSU DC the final two games in 2025.
Fred Guidici will be in charge of the Special Teams as his official title is Special Teams Analyst rather than the formal Special Teams Coordinator title.
Schedule: (* indicates Mountain West Conference game)
- August 29th, @ #20/21 Southern California
- September 4th, @ Eastern Michigan
- September 12th, vs Cal Poly
- September 19th, vs Fresno State (Battle For The Valley Rivalry Game)
- October 3rd, @ Hawaii *
- October 9th, vs Wyoming * (Homecoming)
- October 17th, @ UTEP *
- October 24th, @ Nevada *
- October 31st, vs New Mexico *
- November 7th, vs Northern Illinois *
- November 14th, @ Air Force *
- November 21st, vs UNLV *
- November 27th, vs North Dakota State
- December 4th, Mountain West Championship *
In the Quarterback room, it appears to be a three-man battle for the starting job between Luke Weaver (senior), Robert McDaniel (redshirt freshman) and true freshman Daniel Rolovich being in the mix. Rolovich probably has the biggest arm of the group, while Weaver brings in the experience and started two games for Hawaii last season. Based on what I’ve heard and seen, McDaniel can make all the throws.
In the Running Back room, SJSU only has Jabari Bates (senior) and Viliami Teu (junior) returning from the 2025 roster. SJSU brought in Sir Autry (redshirt freshman), true freshman Courshawn Hill, and Tyler Jacklich (junior) who played at Mercer in 2024 and West Virginia in 2025. This unit should be able to top 2025’s production, but it’s a somewhat underwhelming unit. Hopefully that room maintains better health in 2026 and surprises me!
The Wide Receiver room adds four transfers to the group in 2026 after the top five from 2025 departed. Carson Clark (freshman), Cooper Hoch (junior), and Anthony Ivey (senior) will likely be the top three players in that room. Jerry McLure (junior) probably will get the nod as the starting Tight End.
Regarding the offensive line, that unit lost four starters but they did add in three Power-Four transfers and are in similar shape to last year. Coach Niumatalolo feels the portal pickups make the group a little nastier this season and Left Guard Tyler Chen is the top guy.
In 2025, the defense was supposed to be the strong suit for SJSU, but that unit kind of took a dip.
The defensive line lost three starters, including all-Mountain West nose tackle Gafa Faga. But the unit brought in three transfers – however, none are starters – and the DL unit is a bit on the small side, so they could potentially take another step back. Coach Niumatalolo, however, really likes the group and says it’s one of the deepest units on the team with Nose Tackle Solomone Langi being the top guy.
The linebacker position is a bit of a concern to me considering that Ethan Powell (senior) is the only returnee that had more than seven tackles a season ago. I’ve heard Naseri Danielson and Dylan Lee had solid springs, so that’s a good note.
San Jose State loses all four of their starting defensive back’s from 2025, but they did add in seven transfers, however, but only one of them (SS Brian Dukes, senior) was a starter at the FCS level (Cal Poly).
Trent Carrizosa returns for his senior season as the Punter with some NFL potential. SJSU brought in Trajan Sinatra (junior) as their Kicker who hit 18-of-22 FG attempts with a long of 56 at Idaho State a season ago. The Special Teams unit definitely has upgraded the Kicker position and should be fine and improved in 2026.
Forecast:
In 2023, the Spartans finished in a three-way tie with UNLV and Boise State for first place in the Mountain West Conference and had back-to-back winning records for the first time since 1991-92. Niumatalolo won seven games in year one in 2024, his seven wins were the most for a first year coach since Ron Turner in 1992. SJSU had 7+ wins in three consecutive seasons for the first time since 1980-82. Last year I predicted SJSU would win the Mountain West with the team being stronger in all three areas, but they did not have the season anyone expected.
In 2025, they missed two field goals in the final 1:30 and lost to Central Michgan by two points. They led Stanford 29-21 with 7:51 left, but lost on a touchdown with 19 seconds left. They led Wyoming 28-14 when quarterback Walker Eget got hurt and SJSU blew a 14-point fourth quarter lead in a loss. SJSU turned the ball over on downs twice in the final five minutes in a 5-point loss to Utah State. At 3-5, they ended up losing the last four games by 26-ppg.
I can see this season going one of two ways. They appear to be very inexperienced and off a 3-9 season, they could be headed for the basement. On the other hand, many indicators are pointing up. The Spartans have surprised me in both of Ken Niumatalolo’s first two seasons, so they could surprise me again this year!
The sportsbooks have SJSU’s over/under win total set for 4.5 with the Over being priced around -130 to -150 (depending on which book you’re looking at) and the Under being priced around EVEN to +120.
Looking at the schedule, I think a 7-6 regular season (or better) is certainly realistic to be on the table.