STANFORD — Walker Eget passed for 473 yards and three touchdowns, including a score early in the fourth quarter that gave San Jose State a 12-point lead, but the Spartans’ hopes of defeating Stanford for the second year in a row were dashed in a 30-29 loss on Saturday night at Stanford Stadium.
It was the third time in four games SJSU’s fate was decided in the final seconds. The Spartans (1-3) missed a pair of field goal attempts in the final 90 seconds of their season-opening 16-14 loss to Central Michigan, and held off Idaho 31-28 a week ago on Denis Lynch’s field goal as time expired.
San Jose State Spartans’ Leland Smith (1) catches a long pass against the Stanford Cardinal’s Collin Wright (6) in the first half of a football game at Statanford Stadium in Stanford, Calif., on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Saturday night, the Spartans allowed nine points in the final 5:54 in the Bill Walsh Legacy Game, including Stanford’s go-ahead touchdown with 19 seconds remaining.
SJSU led 29-21 on Lynch’s 31-yard field goal with 7:51 remaining and had a chance to hold off the Cardinal on the final drive. The Spartans had the Cardinal stalled near mid-field on 4th and 10, but allowed a 34-yard pass to keep the drive alive. Stanford’s go-ahead score came four plays later.
San Jose State had just enough time to run three plays but didn’t get beyond it’s own 46 yard line.
SJSU has a chance to defeat Stanford in back-to-back seasons for the first time since they won three three in a row from 1998-2000. The Spartans won 34-31 last year in San Jose.
Saturday night, SJSU almost entirely abandoned the run against Stanford, running just 12 designed run attempts for 32 yards. Eget had 19 yards on scrambles.
San Jose State Spartans’ Kyri Shoels (4) celebrates his touchdown with a teammate afteer scoring against the Stanford Cardinal in the first half of a football game at Statanford Stadium in Stanford, Calif., on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
The gameplan coming in was to attack the Cardinal secondary that has struggled against the pass and it allowed for the Spartans to have three receivers over 100 receiving yards: Danny Scudero (135 yards on 11 catches), Kyri Shoels (147 yards on 10 catches) and Leland Smith (101 yards on six catches).
Lynch, coming off his winning kick the previous week against Idaho, made his first two attempts against Stanford, but then missed attempts from 28 yards and 22 yards before converting his fourth-quarter kick.
The Spartans led 20-14 at halftime and had sacked Stanford quarterback Ben Gulbranson four times by intermission, but were unable to stop the Cardinal from scoring on its final three drives of the game. Gulbranson passed for 444 yards and two touchdowns.
The Spartans open Mountain West play on Friday night against New Mexico (3-1, 0-0 MW) at CEFCU Stadium.
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