San Jose State has to sort out its quarterback after the significant loss to Fresno State

FRESNO – San Jose State entered its first bye week a month ago as one of the most common offenses in the country. The attack, with a heavy dose of run-pass options, averaged more than 330 yards through the air and seemed to know which way it was going.

Saturday's 33-10 loss to Fresno State has SJSU longing for the previous version as it enters its second idle week of the season.

“Our worst game all season and we are disappointed that it came against our rivals,” San Jose State coach Ken Niumatalolo said. “We’re out of sync right now.”

The quarterback carousel was back in full swing with Walker Eget, Emmett Brown and Xavier Ward all seeing time.

Niumatalolo said he was involved in Saturday's decisions following previous moves by offensive coordinator Craig Stutzmann.

Combined, the three quarterbacks were 21 of 51 for 284 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions. Three consecutive drives in the second half ended with an interception and a substituted quarterback.

“I think it's a little harder for any offense to be successful with the quarterback change,” wide receiver Nick Nash said.

Eget started the game and hit Nash for a 35-yard touchdown on the first drive. Nash's 12th touchdown was the first and only for the Spartans.

Eget finished the game 14-for-31 for 202 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.

Brown led the only other scoring drive, finishing 6:16 for 66 yards with an interception. Ward led a drive in the fourth quarter and finished 1-for-3 for 16 yards and an interception.

“We need to correct this because I don’t want to play quarterback in the musical chair,” Niumatalolo said.

The lack of consistent running plays also hurt the quarterbacks, especially Eget: The Spartans only called for four running plays in the first half.

Floyd Chalk IV and Jabari Bates finished the game with a combined 15 carries for 119 yards.

Eget entered the week as the expected starter for the foreseeable future. Now the Spartans are going back to the drawing board.

Turnovers don’t bother the Spartans

SJSU started Saturday with 20 takeaways, second best in the country.

Although Robert Rahimi scored another goal with his fourth interception, it came far too late.

On Saturday you could get a first impression of what the team looks like without losing the ball in a timely manner.

Fresno State's Mikey Keene started 17 of 18 and finished the game 30 of 41 for 275 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.

“It's hard to win games if you're not disciplined, and I think that's an area we need to focus on more,” linebacker Jordan Cobbs said.

San Jose State applied pressure that resulted in two sacks but often resulted in Keene finding an open man downfield.

Notably, the Spartans applied pressure on third down in the second quarter when Keene completed a pass to sophomore Jalen Moss over the middle. Moss beat his only defender and raced to the end zone to complete a 43-yard touchdown.

“In the first half we had trouble getting through on third downs and that hurt us a little bit,” Niumatalolo said.

It was one of 12 third-down conversions the Bulldogs generated.

Problems on the offensive line

The Bulldogs' two sacks and four quarterback hits undercut the pressure they generated on Saturday.

Early in the second quarter, Eget stumbled when he was sacked by cornerback Al'zillion Hamilton, hampering the offense.

Backup center Joseph Harbert began the second half as a replacement for Hudson Mesa, who had difficulty snapping the ball.

Harbert was the third different center used this season after Mesa took over for Tyler Chen following Chen's snapping issues.

“We were just trying to find a spark, something. We needed a spark somewhere and unfortunately we couldn’t find it,” Niumatalolo said.

The Spartans had given up just one sack in their last three games.

Not prepared for rivalry

“I thought we were prepared, but obviously we weren’t,” Eget said.

Emotions ran high as the Valley Trophy was on the line. The two teams began shouting insults at each other before kick-off as they entered the pitch from the dressing room tunnel. Both teams took part in the histrionics, but once the game began it quickly became clear who was the more disciplined team.