Takeaways from San Jose State’s season-opening loss to Central Michigan

SAN JOSE San Jose State s season-opening - loss to Central Michigan on Friday night at CEFCU Stadium can be boiled down to quarterback Walker Eget s three turnovers and kicker Denis Lynch s missed -yard field goal with left in the competition A rough start for both but coach Ken Niumatalolo has not lost faith in either of them I trust Walker he ll bounce back and I trust Denis he ll bounce back Niumatalolo disclosed It s a tough loss but give credit to Central Michigan This type of start to the season was not what was expected of the Spartans as they came into the match as -point favorites Niumatalolo reported he felt as if he didn t do a good enough job getting his message across to the organization in preparation for the tournament Don t turn the ball over don t have that one penalty that s the only message I ve been talking about Niumatalolo noted That s why it s disappointing I didn t do a good enough job of getting that message across Here are the takeaways from the loss SCUDERO SHINES IN HOMECOMING While the Spartans offense had a competition to forget Danny Scudero was far from disappointing in his homecoming championship after spending the past two seasons at Sacramento State The former Archbishop Mitty High star had nine receptions for yards and a touchdown He played the Nick Nash slot receiver role in offensive coordinator Craig Stutzmann s Spread and Shred offense very well Nash completed a lengthy career with the Spartans last season Scudero indicated off his ability to make the big play as he snagged a -yard pass from Eget in the first quarter and took a -yard pass to the end zone in the third quarter with of those yards coming after the catch Scudero displayed good speed and good hands and seemed to have great chemistry with Eget right away Both of Scudero s parents attended San Jose State and he described getting to play for SJSU as a dream come true His big performance was a little bittersweet My parents were able to come out to the meeting Scudero explained But the loss stings so I d rather walk out of here with a win Scudero was named the Bay Area News Group Santa Clara County high school football athlete of Now he gets to showcase his talents as a Spartan MORE QB SWITCHING Yes the Spartans are still changing quarterbacks mid-game Last year Eget and former Spartan Emmett Brown were engaged in a quarterback battle that was neck-and-neck This culminated in Brown and Eget swapping snaps seemingly at random in the first quarter during SJSU s - loss to Colorado State last October At his weekly news conference the next week Niumatalolo noted that SJSU would not want to do that again Well in Friday s season opener freshman Tama Amisone took a sparse snaps under center to start the third quarter But this time it was different from how it was with Brown Amisone did not attempt a single pass in his time on the field He rushed for yards on five attempts That was our plan coming in We had various packages for Amisone Niumatalolo announced Bringing in Amisone had nothing to do with the way Eget was playing The Spartans even used Amisone at crunch time Trailing - with left SJSU faced a third-and-nine situation from Central Michigan s -yard line Instead of opting to go with Eget for the crucial play the Spartans instead brought in Amisone for a designed quarterback run which lost four yards On the next snap Lynch missed the -yard field-goal attempt that would have given SJSU the lead After Niumatalolo seemed displeased with the quarterback swapping last season it will be enthralling to see if the Spartans continue to use packages for Amisone moving forward TURNOVERS The Spartans lost the turnover battle - Walker has to play better he has to take care of the ball Niumatalolo disclosed It s hard to win while losing the turnover battle by such a wide margin but SJSU almost did The biggest thing in this challenge was turnovers Eget mentioned The outcome would be thoroughly different Eget threw two interceptions including forcing one into double-coverage in the back of the end zone and was strip-sacked All of this happened in the first four drives With how well the defense played in the second half SJSU could have been in a much better position had it not dug itself a hole in the first half The disappointing thing is this is not how we ve been playing offense in camp Niumatalolo noted We got to get right DEFENSE MAKES BIG ADJUSTMENTS In the first half the defense struggled to contain the Chippewas physical ground event as Central Michigan rushed yards before halftime The Chippewas only scored points off Eget s turnovers even when two of the turnovers left them with a short field The Spartans defense came up with big stops holding the Chippewas to a field goal twice Related Articles College football Who and what to watch in Heartbreaker San Jose State misses late FG try falls to Central Michigan San Jose State football Perez has helped rebuild Spartans roster and trailblazer is just getting started What to know before San Jose State kicks off against Central Michigan With returning QB San Jose State begins quest for new school record With the way the defense played they gave us a chance to win until the very end Niumatalolo commented Central Michigan s running back duo of Nahree Biggins and Trey Cornist combined for rushing yards for the competition But in the second half San Jose State held Central Michigan to three points and yards rushing Linebacker Jordan Pollard led San Jose State s defense with total tackles the the majority by any contestant on the field I feel like everyone was doing their job and not doing too much Pollard commented Our D-line was making plays on the ball and Isiah Revis made a hit knocking someone s helmet off Early in the fourth quarter the Spartans held the Chippewas at the goal line on fourth down on a great tackle by Pollard and edge rusher Justin Stearns indicative of what happened much of the event The Spartans held the Chippewas to -of- on third down RUN MEETING STILL NOT A MAIN FOCUS While Stutzmann s offense can produce big numbers for the receivers sometimes the running meeting can feel neglected Friday s encounter was another example of that But when Stutzmann did call the running backs number the results weren t there Floyd Chalk IV was the Spartans leading rusher with yards on attempts Lamar Radcliffe had yards on seven attempts The Spartans didn t seem keen on using the ground championship until Amisone checked in to start the third quarter The Spartans only had rushing yards in the first half UP NEXT SJSU will advance to Memorial Stadium in Austin Texas to take on No -ranked Texas on Sept Kickoff is at a m on ESPN