There couldn’t be much more of a contrast between the offense that Navy ran during Ken Niumatalolo’s tenure in Annapolis and the offense his San Jose State squad operates now.
As you might know, the Midshipmen were one of the toughest offenses to prepare for under Niumatalolo because of their triple-option scheme. Navy found plenty of success with this strategy during his 15-plus years as head coach.
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Now at SJSU, Niutmatalolo’s offense is much more pass-heavy. Despite the change of pace, there hasn’t been a lull in his offense’s production. A primary reason is because of offensive coordinator Craig Stutzmann, who Niumatalolo hired shortly after he was named the Spartans’ head coach in January. Stutzmann served as the passing game coordinator at Texas State in 2023 and held various offensive positions at a handful of programs over the past few decades.
We’ve already been introduced to the potential of this spread offense under Stutzmann and Niutamalolo. Behind wide receiver Nick Nash’s incredible start to the season and some quality quarterback play, San Jose State is averaging 33.5 points and 416 yards per game.
Sitting at 4-2, the Spartans have been one of the more surprising teams in the Mountain West. College football betting odds had the Spartans’ preseason win total at 4.5 games, a number they should easily go over. Their ability to put points on the board is a big reason why.
Yet, even with the success, there has been somewhat of a quarterback dilemma in San Jose. Washington State transfer Emmett Brown won the job in the spring and has started every game this season. Brown played pretty much the entirety of each of the first four games, where he averaged 322.5 passing yards per game and passed for 13 touchdowns. He tossed four interceptions.
Two weeks ago against Nevada, however, the Spartans and Brown were struggling and trailed 28-21 in the third quarter. Backup QB Walker Eget was called into the game and led the Spartans on a game-tying possession and a go-ahead scoring drive.
Following that performance, there was some chatter about who would be the starter going into last Saturday’s contest against Colorado State. Brown started, but Eget came in on the fourth possession of the game and led SJSU on a promising drive that ultimately stalled because of penalties. Eget played all but one play in the second half and tossed a late interception that stymied SJSU’s comeback attempt.
During last week’s weekly press conference, Niutamalolo applauded the mental focus of Eget to get tossed into the Nevada game with what seemed like no notice and not skip a beat. He also noted Stutzmann’s ability to have his QBs prepared for the moment and that Eget typically spends time in practice getting reps with the starters.
However, it was noticeable last week that Eget’s timing was off with his wideouts. There were a couple of throws he missed in the second half that could have turned into much-needed chunk plays.
During Brown’s only play in the second half, the snap went over his head and he was forced to throw the ball away. The Spartans punted two plays later.
Stutzmann has been known to utilize two quarterbacks. In 2019, while he was the passing game coordinator for Hawaii, a young Chevan Cordeiro took some snaps from Cole McDonald in a season where McDonald passed for 4,135 yards and 33 TDs.
This situation is a little different, and there might be more of a 50/50 split going forward until one of these guys does enough to be the primary option. Of course, utilizing two different QBs can have its advantages, but it can also cause some issues like we saw last week.
I don’t know who will be starting this week against Wyoming, but I’d argue Eget didn’t do enough to earn the nod. I don’t believe Brown did anything to cost him the job, either. But I will say Brown won the starting job in the spring for a reason and had the Spartans’ offense rolling just a few weeks ago.
