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The San José State Spartans (1-1) bounced back from their Week 0 loss to get a 27-21 win in Ypsilanti, Michigan over the Eastern Michigan Eagles (1-1).
The announced attendance at Rynearson Stadium in Ypsilanti, Michigan was 5,646 which was disappointing to hear with it being a Friday night game and early in the season.
This marked SJSU’s first win away from CEFCU Stadium since November 9th of 2024 – snapping a seven game losing streak in true road games and eight game losing streak including neutral site locations.
I thought the defense played a very good game. Sure, there’s always a handful of plays you’d like to have back, but in general played pretty well. That unit only gave up 14 points on 281 yards of total offense, and held Eastern Michigan to 3-for-16 (18.8%) on third-down conversions and 1-for-4 (25%) on fourth-down conversions. The defense also forced an interception with 1:55 remaining in the game to put the Spartans in the drivers seat.
The Spartans offense was a little painful to watch, particularly in the first half. Quarterback Luke Weaver eventually settled down a bit and finished completing 23-of-39 attempts for 316 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.
The Spartans did allow Eastern Michigan to force a strip sack in the final minute of the third quarter, which the Eagles recovered and returned for a touchdown to put EMU ahead 21-17, which turned out to be EMU’s final score of the game.
The Spartans had two fumbles in the game on top of the interception, but fortunately only lost the one on the strip sack.
SJSU committed 13 penalties for 100 yards. I don’t have the data in front of me as I write this on how many were on the offense and how many were on the defense, but it felt like a majority were on the offense.
Three potential turnovers (fortune it was only two) and 13 penalties is ridiculous. They need to clean that up and clean it up in a hurry!
Senior running back Jabari Bates I thought had a very good day running the ball – he had 20 rushing attempts for 119 yards (6.0 average), including one reception for 13 yards.
Junior receiver Cooper Hoch led SJSU in receiving yards with a career-high 115 yards on five receptions, which included his first two career touchdowns.
Up Next:
The Spartans will have their home opener next Saturday, September 12, where they’ll host the Cal Poly Mustangs (1-0) at CEFCU Stadium at 8:00 PM (CT)/6:00 PM (PT). It will be televised on MW+