Final: SJSU 40, Colorado State 20

The San Jose St. Spartans used a 14-0 first quarter, piled up 429 yards' worth of passing, and dominated the time of possession clock by 13 minutes en route to a 40-20 victory over the Rams in San Jose tonight. With the win, SJSU now goes to 2-1 on the season going into their intrastate showdown with San Diego State. With the loss, the Rams fall to 1-2 as they prepare to take on a surprisingly good Utah State squad next week.

It truly was a tale of two quarters for the first half, as the Spartans ran up and down the field against the Rams in the first quarter, getting themselves out to a 14-0 lead and squashing some of the doubts people may have had about SJSU's ability to start a game well.

However, the Rams answered back in kind in the second quarter, striking for two quick TD drives using a no-huddle set and a spread offense, and the Rams went for two on their second touchdown but failed on that conversion. SJSU took the ensuing drive for a field goal, and the Spartans were able to stop the Rams on their quick-draw offense via an interception by James Orth. After a booming punt by Harrison Waid and a sack by Travis Johnson, SJSU went into the locker room leading 17-13.

Colorado State opened the third quarter with the ball but went three-and-out; punter Pete Kontodiakos pinned the Spartans on the SJSU 2-yard-line, but the Spartans were able to go on a clock-grinding 98-yard drive for a touchdown pass from David Fales to Jabari Carr, closing out the scoring for that period at 24-13.

After going three-and-out again, SJSU ran another six minutes off the clock on their next drive, culminating in a field goal by Austin Lopez. CSU once again went three-and-out, but were gifted a new set of downs when Travis Talianko fumbled the punt and CSU recovered at the SJSU 43. Two plays later, Garrett Grayson hit Charles Lovett for a 38-yard TD pass, and the score was 27-20 SJSU.

From there, the Spartans reached into their bag of tricks, with receiver Kyle Nunn hitting Chandler Jones for a 43-yard TD pass. After a quick CSU fumble, Fales hit Jones for another TD, this one 51 yards, closing out the scoring at 40-20.

For those of you with ESPN3 capability, a replay of the game can be seen here.

Overall, it was another outstanding effort from the SJSU offense, and while the game got closer than most SJSU fans would have liked at times, it was still a pretty good marker of how far the SJSU football program has come in the last 2+ seasons under Mike MacIntyre.