Chandler Jones turned a 15-touchdown, 79-catch season into a spot on the honorable mention list for Sports Illustrated’s All-America team, the only San Jose State player to land on the team. The Mountain West landed a slough of honorable mentions from the magazine, but no actual spots on the first or second team.
Check out the team here.
The long and short of it: David Fales got snubbed. Again.
Courtesy of the Ottawa Redblacks Twitter account (original source TBA)
Matt Faulkner, perhaps best remembered the serviceable but unremarkable starter in 2011 for San Jose State, has signed as the first quarterback for the expansion Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League. He is the first quarterback under contract for the team, which will begin building its team in earnest on Monday with the expansion draft.
In his one year starting for the Spartans, he completed a shade under 65 percent of his passes for 3,149 yards, throwing as many touchdowns (13) as he did interceptions (13). He had transferred from Fresno State and Mt. San Antonio College.
The Ottawa Citizen places him as likely third on the depth chart, since the Redblacks will at least get two QBs with CFL experience in the expansion draft.
This is the third attempt at a CFL franchise in the Canadian capitol. The Ottawa Rough Riders went for more than 75 years before folding in 1996. The Ottawa Renegades went from 2002 to 2005 before the league forced the team to cease operations.
Tyler Winston parlayed a strong freshman year as Noel Grigsby’s replacement into an award from the Mountain West Conference this year, winning the conference’s freshman of the year award after a strong first season.
He caught 58 balls this season for five touchdowns and 858 yards, a 14.8 yards/catch average. Not bad for someone who was needed as an emergency replacement for the senior Grigsby, who was lost for the season in the early going.
He leads a class of three other Spartans on the all-Mountain West first football team, with David Fales predictably losing out on the first QB spot to Derek Carr from Fresno State. Receiver Chandler Jones, cornerback Bene Benwikere and linebacker Keith Smith all earned first team honors.
Fales was the second team quarterback along with offensive lineman Nicholas Kaspar and kicker Austin Lopez. Freshman tight end Billy Freeman and offensive lineman Ryan Jones were honorable mention.
The conference awards were: Offensive player of the year, Derek Carr, Fresno State; Freshman of the year, Tyler Winston, San Jose State; Special teams player of the year, Carlos Wiggins, New Mexico; defensive player of the year, Shaquil Barrett, Colorado State; Coach of the year, Matt Wells, Utah State.
It will be a winter of discontent for San Jose State.
The Spartans will spend December at home this year after a 6-6 record and a rousing win over ranked rival Fresno State, victim to there being too many eligible teams and not enough spots. San Diego State and Colorado State snapped up the last two spots from the Mountain West, with the Aztecs taking their boring act to Boise instead of the Spartans, who spent the entire week campaigning for that spot.
Those were the Spartans last good hopes. There was no magic to be worked, either: the few at-large bids went to mediocre teams in power conferences, and with so many teams fighting over the scraps, the Spartans were bound to be one of the many left out. It’s 2008 all over again.
For a season that started with such high hopes, it’s a disappointing end for everyone involved.
There will be a lot of hand wringing about bad losses to mediocre teams which could have tipped the balance for a bowl game to their favor.
So why did this happen?
Saturday morning, I said that what ails San Jose State basketball is an inability to move the ball and pick good shots.
Well, then.
Throw that out at least for one game. San Jose State walked away Saturday with its most impressive win of the season, rallying to beat the University of Houston 72-68 on the road.
The team’s top two recruits were the show: Rashad Muhammad, in continuing with what is becoming tradition for the Spartans, led in scoring with 21 points, including a 3-pointer in the final minutes that gave them the lead for good.
More impressive, though, is Jalen James’ triple-double, just the second in school history and third in Mountain West history. The freshman guard had 12 points, 10 assists and 13 rebounds against the Cougars on Saturday. It is the first in the conference since 2006, and first since 2001 for San Jose State.
This was a big win for the Spartans. They came back from an 11-point deficit with about eight minutes left, playing strong defense and taking advantage of Houston going cold from the field. They had 17 assists, by far the most in a game this season, and shot a season-high 48.9 percent from the field, including a 14 for 26 mark from 3-point range.
D.J. Brown added five assists and four steals in the game, and Devante Wilson had 16 points. The Spartans are off 10 days before facing UC Davis on Dec. 18.
Enjoy this one, guys. You did what no one else in the Mountain West could do this year: beat the Bulldogs.
Breaking down who I think is going to win in this weekend’s Mountain West football games.
A month ago, Friday’s San Jose State-Fresno State showdown had all the trappings of a classic. San Jose State appeared to be cruising through conference with big wins over Wyoming and Colorado State. Fresno State was everyone’s favorite BCS buster.
Much has changed in a month. San Jose State blew a double-digit lead to San Diego State and has yet to find its swagger, especially on defense. Fresno State’s schedule has been shown to be weak, as Rutgers and Boise State flounder; its BCS ranking has suffered as a result. A month ago, this looked like it would be for the Western division crown, as well as the newly minted Valley Cup.
It’s for much less now, but still a lot.
San Jose State isn’t even bowl eligible, and must beat the Bulldogs to even have a prayer at a postseason. Fresno State’s BCS hopes can die with a loss Friday or the following week in the Mountain West championship game. One play can be the difference between a trip to Phoenix with all the trimmings, or a disappointing slog to Las Vegas. One score could be the difference between more than $10 million for the Bulldogs.
So, yeah, a lot is riding on Friday’s game.
Here are five things to follow for the 77th meeting between the two schools and the first for the Valley Cup:
UNLV was picked to finish at or near the top of the Mountain West by almost everyone, but the luster of those predictions seems like a long, long time ago.
The Rebels are 2-3 to open the season, not really putting up much of a fight against stronger competition they were supposed to go toe-to-toe with, and losing badly to two teams that no business coming to the Thomas and Mack Center and doing such things.
UNLV is lucky one of those games didn’t count.
San Jose State has won two in a row with a strong win over Pepperdine. It still isn’t enough to get them out of the rankings early doldrums.
Here are this week’s Mountain West Conference men’s basketball rankings for the first few weeks of the season.
This week’s predictions for Saturday’s slate of Mountain West Conference games:
San Jose State coach Rob Caragher has stolen a page out of the kindergarten handbook in an attempt to lighten the dour mood around the South Campus.
After a lifeless performance in a loss to Nevada on Saturday, he decided to bring some levity to this week’s practices by having the fat guys on the offensive and defensive line participate in a kicking contest, with ice cream as the prize.
It ended in a tie, so everyone got sweets, writes Jimmy Durkin of the Mercury News. It makes the players take their mind off the task at hand at least, but it doesn’t necessarily fix the fact that the Spartans let the last really good opportunity to wrap up a bowl berth escape and run for a touchdown.
Now, it means having to do it against a 6-4 Navy team that runs the ball as well as anyone or an undefeated Fresno State program that is firing on all cylinders.
Climbing the Mountain West 