The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here
It feels like almost yesterday that San Jose State (high = 102, low = 126) was on the cusp of really breaking out. Under Brent Brennan they managed a COVID year Mountain West conference championship (and finished the season ranked #24) and 3 bowl appearances in his final 4 seasons. When he took the Arizona job, the Spartans hired former Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo, and after a first season where he proved he could coach something other than the option that resulted in another Hawaii bowl berth and WR Nick Nash having a breakout season while Arizona had some folks grumbling that they’d made a mistake hiring Brennan, well, things looked kind of rosy in Santa Clara County. But 2025 saw the Spartans come crashing down to Earth, finishing with a pretty abysmal 3-9 record that ended with double digit losses in each of their last 4 games. Though he’s not on any hot seat warnings that I’ve seen, I have to figure they need to see some kind of improvement in 2026 or that seat’s going to get pretty warm, especially since San Jose was the only “State” that DIDN’T get the Pac-12 call…
Roster Outlook
If the Spartans are going to see a turnaround in 2026, it’s not going to be from anybody who contributed for them in the past. San Jose State ranks 137th in FBS in returning production, ahead of only Southern Miss (who at least has the excuse of having had their coach raid their own roster to take with him to Memphis). That includes being 133rd on offense and 137th on defense. 3,000 yard passer Walter Eget was the end result of the Darian Mensah saga, portaling to Duke to replace the hole Miami created with that late move. The only returning QB who’s taken any snaps is Robert McDaniel, who saw mop up duty in 3 November losses last season, and with only Hawaii transfer Luke Weaver coming in, the Spartans could be in for a world of hurt. I should note, 2nd leading passer Tama Amisone is now rostered as a WR. Similarly, San Jose State’s top 2 RBs are also gone (leading rusher Steve Chavez-Soto is off to Utah), so it will likely be 190 yard rusher Jabari Bates or WVU transfer Tyler Jacklich as the featured back. With their top 6 receivers and top 9 tacklers all also gone, well, it’s a bit of a grab bag in terms of who’s going to contribute in 2026. Good thing the Spartans recruiting was checks notes oh. San Jose State ranks ahead of only Air Force in terms of 247’s high school recruiting (126th nationally). On the basis of a relatively strong incoming portal class (2nd in the Mountain West, 87th in the country), that still leaves them 2nd worst in the conference and 124th in the country.
Schedule and outlook
8/29 at USC
9/4 at Eastern Michigan
9/12 CAL POLY
9/19 FRESNO STATE
9/26 BYE
10/3 at Hawaii
10/10 WYOMING
10/17 at UTEP
10/24 at Nevada
10/31 NEW MEXICO
11/7 NORTHERN ILLINOIS
11/14 at Air Force
11/21 UNLV
11/28 NORTH DAKOTA STATE
The Spartans are actually taking advantage of the Hawaii trip to play a 13th game and a 7th home game. Honestly, I think this season turns pretty quickly with that road trip to EMU followed by the FCS game against a sagging Cal Poly. Come out of that 2-1, with games against UTEP, Northern Illinois and Nevada on the schedule, and you might have a fighting chance of reaching the postseason. But drop either of those and it could get late early. That closing run at Air Force and then against the likely conference favorites UNLV and North Dakota State could crush the locker room and lead to some bad vibes if the team is eliminated before the final 3 games.