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It seems as though the San Jose State Spartans may have played their last game of the season tonight with a loss to Boise State and end the regular season at 5-7. Boise State was able to walk away with a 40-23 win as quarterback Brett Rypien had an efficient night going 25 for 33 for 197 yards along with two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Let's take a look at what happened for the Spartans:
Offense
Kenny Potter put up some big numbers against a Boise State pass defense that is one of the weaker ones of the conference. Potter threw for 336 yards and 3 touchdowns, but did turn the ball over 2 times by throwing two interceptions( as noted in the keys to victory, this could not happen). Receivers Billy Freeman and and Hansell Wilson both had big nights, as Freeman got 109 receiving yards and Wilson brought in 98 while both hauled in a touchdown. The Boise State defense held Tyler Ervin to 52 yards on 11 carriers and had zero touchdowns (which will be no surprise, if you read the keys to victory!).
Defense
The pass defense didn't have too bad of a night. Yes, Rypien threw two touchdowns, but that's probably more attributed to the fact that running back Jeremy McNichols gashed them for 192 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Overall, the pass defense did a pretty decent job keeping Rypien to 197 pass yards and star wideout Thomas Sperbeck to 6 catches for 45 yards and no touchdowns (hey, they were able to achieve this key to victory at least!). The run defense was horrendous. Boise State ran for 300 yards and three touchdowns on the night. Overall, had the defense showed up today, then the Spartans may have very well won this game, or at least not lose so badly.
As it was stated all week, this was the Spartans last chance to make it to a bowl game. After falling short of making it to 6-6, it looks like this may not happen now. However, with the plethora of bowls that are in college football now (truly, would like to see some of these taken away), there are probably going to be teams that go 5-7 and still make it to a bowl. Will this happen for the Spartans? Who knows. But there is still the chance that the Spartans may play one more game this year as there might be a crunch to fill all of the bowl spots.