Head Coach: Ken Niumatalolo is entering his 2nd season as the head coach of the Spartans with a 7-6 record. It’s not a record that pops but it was better than expected. Niumatalolo came in with a background of a lot of winning at Navy but at San Jose State he’s embracing a new method to win games.
Program Outlook: San Jose State is a program that doesn’t have a great history of success. From the 1990s through the 2000s it was one of the toughest jobs in the country and resources were sparse. That’s started to change. The Spartans have experienced some great seasons, including top 25 finishes in 2012 and 2020 but it has historically been tough to string together multiple good seasons, but there’s been more of them recently. 2024 marked the first time San Jose State had 3 straight winning seasons since the early 1990s. The program investment is helping facilities continue to improve and all of it is helping expand the fanbase. San Jose State might have a future as one of the better programs in the Mountain West.
How does the 2025 Roster look?: San Jose State ranks 41st in the country returning 60.5% of their production per Punt and Rally’s returning production rankings. That puts them 2nd in the Mountain West. Key players for the Spartans starts with QB Walker Eget, he took the job late last year and now is primed to have a big year in this pass heavy offense. The question mark will be who does he throw to? Nick Nash was one of the best receivers in the nation and now he’s gone, the transfer portal is being relied upon to help here. What may help is the run game. The offensive line is bigger and has more depth than last year and might pave the way for a talented duo of backs in Floyd Chalk IV and Lamar Radcliffe. The defense will be led by a loaded group of linebackers, Jordan Pollard is one of the best in the conference, he’s a game wrecker. Taniela Latu and Noah McNeal-Franklin will fill out this loaded group. The Spartans return safety Isiah Revis from a secondary that was one of the best at forcing turnovers last year, unfortunately they did lose a few pieces to the portal but this is still an experienced group that will be coached well. The defensive line has decent size and is experienced led by NT Gafa Faga, they aren’t great at getting after opposing QBs and only ok against the run but more depth could help.
Screenshot from FBSchedules.com
2025 Schedule Thoughts: San Jose State’s schedule is very favorable. Yes, the Texas game is there with their 40 Million dollar roster but outside of that, this schedule is very nice. Central Michigan is breaking in a new coach, Stanford has an interim coach, even Idaho has a new coach but is a game the Spartans can’t take lightly because the Vandals have been consistently a top 8 FCS program in recent years. The Mountain West schedule the most favorable schedule you could ask for, the Spartans avoid Boise State, UNLV and Colorado State. Their toughest games are Air Force and Fresno State but they get both at home. It’s a schedule that sets the Spartans up for a potentially special season.
Final Thoughts: This could be a big year for San Jose State. This schedule sets them up for a very realistic chance at an 11-1 regular season with a Mountain West championship appearance. I like this team’s potential a lot, the one risk point I see with them involves turnovers, they forced 21 interceptions on defense last year and that number is very difficult to repeat, they’ll need to come up with stops without the help of that many turnovers most likely.
Welcome to Updog Sports Talk 
Leave a comment