San Jose State vs Portland State preview: Spartans should bounce back

To say San Jose State struggled in their opener against Tulsa would be an understatement. The Spartans scored only 10 points and turned the ball over three times.

There should be reprieve playing a FCS team this week but the Spartans are playing a pretty good program in Portland State. The Vikings beat two FBS teams in Washington State and North Texas last year, made it to the FCS playoffs and are currently ranked 14th in the current FCS rankings.

This is not your average FCS team.

Even with this being a pretty good Portland State team, San Jose State must get a win and figure out what is going wrong.

The Vikings are led by former BYU quarterback Alex Kuresa, and last year had a great season by being named to the All-Big Sky team while passing for 1,975 yards, 17 touchdowns, and seven interceptions; he also rushed for 755 yards and scored seven times on the ground.

The San Jose State defense will need to slow him down and not let Portland State’s offense get going. Going from Tulsa to Portland State, even if the Vikings are good, is a welcomed relief for the Spartans.

The offense for San Jose State needs to find its rhythm in both the passing and rushing game, but more importantly in the ground game. Last week, The Spartans rushed for only 53 yards and rushed for 1.7 yards per carry.

Kenny Potter was not terrible throwing the ball but his 16 of 28 should improve and complete more than 60 percent of his passes this weekend. Perhaps, the passing game will also find a go-to wide receiver.

Overall, look for a much better performance from San Jose State