Nov. 27, 2017
Final San Jose State weekly release
San José State season record: 2-11, 1-7 Mountain West. The Spartans concluded the season with a 20-17 win over Wyoming and tied for fifth place in the Mountain West's West Division.
San José State head coach Brent Brennan: Finished his first season as a major college head coach. Has a major college head coaching record of 2-11, all at San José State. Brennan returned to San José State after six seasons as a receivers coach at Oregon State. He was a Spartan assistant coach during the 2005 through 2010 seasons.
40 Starts: Offensive linemen Jeremiah Kolone and Nate Velichko and safety Maurice McKnight finished their San Jose State careers with 40 or more starting calls. Velichko led the team with 43. Kolone started 41 times before an injury ended his season. McKnight had 40 starts for the Spartans.
Post Thanksgiving: With the win over Wyoming, San Jose State is 5-2 in final games of the season since 2011.
Spartans in top-20 for fumble recoveries: San José State is tied for 19th nationally with 10 fumble recoveries. Western Michigan is the national leader with 16. The last time a Spartan defense recovered at least 10 opponent fumbles in a season was in 2012 when that team tied for second nationally with 17 fumbles recovered.
2017 turnover margin improves at season's end: In each of the last two games at Colorado State and versus Wyoming, San Jose State had a 0.00 turnover margin. The Cal Poly win on September 2 was the one game this season the Spartans had a positive turnover margin at 1.00.
Spartans doing the job covering kickoff returns: Presently, San José State is third nationally for fewest kickoff return yardage at 133. The Spartans have produced a touchback on 65.9 percent of kickoffs. Nine kickoff returns averaged 17.9 yards per return, 17th best nationally. The longest is 36 yards by Hawai'i's Keelan Ewaliko on October 14. The Spartans, Georgia Southern, Rice, New Mexico and Florida are the five teams that defended a kickoff return less than 10 times this season.
Rushing touchdowns picked up: Five of San Jose State's six rushing touchdowns on the season occurred in the team's last three games. DeJon Packer accounted for one each at Colorado State and Wyoming. Tyler Nevens' 12-yard touchdown run opened the scoring in the November 11 game at Nevada. Nevens' run was the first rushing touchdown by a Spartan since September 2 when Zamore Zigler scored on a 17-yard fourth-quarter run in the Cal Poly victory.
Malike Roberson raced for the longest Spartan run of the season when he scored from 54 yards away in the fourth quarter at Colorado State. Montel Aaron scored on a 5-yard touchdown run in the Wyoming victory.
Ginda named CoSIDA Academic All-District 8: In a vote by College Sports Information Directors of America, Frank Ginda is one of four linebackers to be named Academic All-District 8. The district covers NCAA Division I football programs in California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Utah and Hawaii. Nominees must have at least sophomore standing at the nominating institution, possess a minimum 3.30 grade point average on a 4,00 scale and be a significant player on one's team. Ginda is a junior majoring in communication studies and has a cumulative grade-point average of 3.43.
First to 100, 150 & more: Linebacker Frank Ginda is the first Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) player this season to be credited with 50 tackles, 100 stops and more recently 150 tackles. Ginda finished the season with 173 tackles in 13 games. He is the national leader in total tackles, unassisted stops and tackles per game.
His 13.31 tackles per game average is the 20th best single-season figure by a FBS player since the NCAA standardized tackles as a statistic in 2000. The 173 tackles are the eighth most by a FBS player in a season since 2000.
click on the link above for the complete season-ending release with notes, rosters and team and individual statistics.