The San Jose Spartans had a great year in 2012, going 11-2, but they couldn’t sustain that last year as they fell to 6-6 and missed out on a bowl game. This year looks like a rebuilding year as they are the least experienced team in the MWC, which could mean another bowl season on the sidelines. Preview & schedule are below.
The Offense has been very good for this team the last few yew, but they will probably take a step or two back now that QB David Fales is off to the NFL, while also gone is WR Chandler Jones, who racked up 1356 yards and 15 TDs last year. Taking over for Fales looks to be JR Joe Gray, who played in 3 games as redshirt freshman, but got no action last year. He does not have the big arm that Fales had and that means this offense may need to be scaled down a bit for him. Tyler Winston looks to be another big play guy, after he had 858 yards receiving and 5 TDs as a freshman last year. The Spartans have a couple of other athletic receivers in Tyler Ervin and Jabari Carr, so overall this unit is still very good. The running game has its top two back returning and they may be leaned on a bit more with very little experience at QB. The OL has just 2 starters back and with little depth it rates as the worst in the MWC. The defense will really need to step up for this team, after allowing 35.1 ppg last year and with 8 starters back they should improve on that. The strength of this unit is their DL that brings all 4 starters back, with 3 of them being seniors. Chrsitian Tago leads a decent LB corps, after racking up4 sacks and 6 more TFL last year, while the leader of an average secondary is Dasheon Frierson, who had 3 TFL last year and 10 PBUs.
The Spartans did have a decent recruiting class, but still this is the 117th least experienced team in the nation and will go through some growing pains this year. The offense won’t be nearly as explosive as the last two years, especially with little experience at the QB spot, and a below average running game and a poor OL. The defense does look improved, but still some holes to fill in the back 7. Non-conference road games vs Minnesota, Auburn and Navy will be very tough, while getting road games vs Fresno State, Utah State and San Diego State in the MWC will be no picnic either. They also have tough home games vs Nevada and Colorado State. Rebuilding will be the name of the game for the Spartans, this year as they put up at best either a 5-7 or a 4-8 record. KEY TREND: 0-7 ATS when playing with rest.
2014 San Jose State Football Schedule
Aug. 28 North Dakota
Sep. 6 at Auburn
Sep. 13 OPEN DATE
Sep. 20 at Minnesota
Sep. 27 Nevada
Oct. 4 UNLV
Oct. 11 OPEN DATE
Oct. 18 at Wyoming
Oct. 25 at Navy
Nov. 1 Colorado State
Nov. 8 at Fresno State
Nov. 15 Hawaii
Nov. 21 at Utah State
Nov. 29 at San Diego St
Info gathered From Phil Steele's CFB Preview and Athlon Sports
-$25 of picks FREE! No Obligation - No Credit Card Required - Becoming a member is Fast and Free!
Stay on top of the latest odds and line moves for Football Season with our real-time odds from Las Vegas and offshore!
Handicapping Tips: NCAA Week 1 Betting
Ken Thomson and Bryan Leonard From Pregame.com take a look at some handicapping tips for betting week 1 of the NCAA football season.