2018
San Jose
College Football
Betting Preview
San Jose State magically beat Wyoming in the 2017 finale for its first FBS win and will aim to get that win a little sooner in Brent Brennan’s second season. The Spartans were bad on both sides of the ball last year and with a lack of experience with 12 starters returning, could be as bad again. That’s the main reason their over/under is at 2.5 wins, projected to finish last with +50000 odds to win the MWC at 5Dimes Sportsbook.
There’s no telling how the quarterback situation will play out with Montel Aaron the favorite to win the job again. He managed eight touchdowns and 10 interceptions as a freshman before giving way to Josh Love last year, who was probably worse under center. Two other guys are set to compete for the position in the fall, which is never a good sign for an offense that scored less than 16 points per Game. Even worse is that Four seniors are gone on the line making that group possibly a bigger issue than it was in 2017. There’s at least experience at skill positions with Tyler Nevens (670 yards) and Malike Roberson (347 yards) returning in the backfield to go with wide receiver Tre Hartley (527 yards) and tight end Josh Oliver (35 receptions). This offense could improve by five points per Game and it’d still be one of the worst in the country.
Unfortunately, it’s the same case for the defense that allowed 41.7 points and 285 rushing yards per Game. There may be a little more hope on this end, only because three starters return on the line, all of them seniors. Of course, those guys were also part of the problem last year. Ethan Aguayo and Jamal SCott give experience at linebacker, but the biggest issue may end up being the secondary, which doesn’t return any starters. They moved running back Zamore Zigler to safety and grabbed a few JUCO transfers that could all see significant time. Usually, neither of those are good things for a secondary.
The first goal for SJSU will be to not turn the ball over as much after a ridiculous 42 turnovers (22 fumbles lost, 20 interceptions). Another difficult non-Conference Schedule won’t help matters with early trips to Washington State and Oregon. There are at least opportunities for more than one win in MWC play with an early home Game against Hawai’i followed by CSU and then UNLV later in the year. That said, three wins are probably the max for the Spartans and that’s seen in the over/under. This team has mountains to climb before being able to compete in road Games against better teams in the conference. With so much uncertainty surrounding quarterback and the offensive line, another disappointing season is ahead for Brennan.
2018 San Jose State Spartans Football Schedule
Aug. 30 vs. UC Davis
Sept. 8 at Washington State
Sept. 15 at Oregon
Sept. 29 vs. Hawai’i
Oct. 6 vs. Colorado State
Oct. 13 vs. Army
Oct. 20 at San Diego State
Oct. 27 vs. UNLV
Nov. 3 at Wyoming
Nov. 10 at Utah State
Nov. 17 vs. Nevada
Nov. 24 at Fresno State