Game #1
San José State vs. Northern Colorado
Thursday, August 29, 2019
CEFCU Stadium, 7:00 p.m. (PT)
2018 San José State record: 1-11, 1-7 Mountain West.
2018 Northern Colorado record: 2-9, 2-6 Big Sky.
Series history: This is the first meeting between San Jose State and Northern Colorado.
Television: There is no play-by-play television coverage of this game.
Play-by-Play Radio Coverage: KKSF (910 AM, Oakland), RealTalk 910, is the new flagship radio station for San Jose State University football. Justin Allegri calls the play-by-play. Kevin Richardson provides commentary. The Northern Colorado broadcast begins at 6:30 p.m. (PT) with a pregame show.
Network affiliates are KION (1460 AM/101.1 FM, Salinas), KFIV (1360 AM, Modesto), and KWSX (1280 AM, Stockton).
The San Jose State-Northern Colorado broadcast with Justin Allegri and Kevin Richardson calling the action also will be carried on www.siriusxm.com Channel 965.
KSJS (90.5 FM, San Jose) also will broadcast the San Jose State-Northern Colorado game starting at 6:45 p.m. (PT).
Weekly Press Conference: The weekly San José State football press conference is in the Simpkins Stadium Center Gold Room on Mondays at 1:00 p.m. (PT). The Mountain West Network streams the press conference live through www.sjsuspartans.com/videos. The press conference also is archived at sjsuspartans.com.
Tickets: sjsuspartans.com/tickets or ticketmaster.com.
Athletics Ticket Office, 1393 S. 7th Street, San José, CA 95112, weekdays, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Ticket prices range from $10.00 for a general admission seat to $58.00 for a reserved seat.
Game Promotions: The Northern Colorado game is Throwback Thursday and Retro Night. San Jose State's helmet decal will be the one used for the 1948 season. There will be the debut of the Spartan Village Fan Zone, a t-shirt giveaway and the first 1,000 San Jose State students entering the game will receive a custom San Jose State University fanny pack.
Season openers: Since 1898, San Jose State has a record of 41-53-4 in season-opening games. The Spartans did not play football during the 1901 through 1920 and 1943 through 1945 seasons.
Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) opponents: Since 2000, San Jose State has a record of 15-2 against teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision or classified as NCAA Division I-AA at the time of the game. The two losses were to UC Davis in 2010 and 2018.
2019 opponents: San Jose State is the only Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) school with games in five different time zones during the regular season. The Spartans will exceed 16,000 travel miles in 2019 with short trips to Nevada and UNLV in the Pacific Time Zone, Air Force in the Mountain Time Zone, Arkansas in the Central Time Zone, Army West Point in the Eastern Time Zone and Hawai'i in the Hawaiian Time Zone.
The only other year San Jose State played in five time zones was in 2015 with road games at Oregon State, Nevada and UNLV (PT), Air Force (MT), Auburn (CT), Hawaii (HT), and Georgia State in the inaugural Orlando, Fla., Cure Bowl (ET).
The 2019 season also marks the first time San Jose State plays two of the three service academies (Air Force, Army West Point and Navy) in the same season and the Spartans' first trip to state of New York.
Projected first-time starters: Based on the depth chart for the Northern Colorado game, five Spartans are in line to make their first major college start.
On offense, sophomore right guard Tyler Stevens and running back DeJon Packer are listed as possible starters. For Stevens, the Northern Colorado game would be his first game action at the major college level. Packer, a fifth-year senior, has 14 games of playing experience with the Spartans since the 2017 season.
On defense, redshirt freshman Viliami Fehoko and sophomore Jamaar Hardy top the depth chart at two of the three lineman positions. Nehemiah Shelton, who played in three games and intercepted one pass last season, tops the depth chart at one cornerback spot.
Should Stevens, Packer, Fehoko, Hardy and Shelton start against Northern Colorado, it would mark the second consecutive season five Spartans had their first major college start in a San Jose State season-opening game.
The Spartans also begin the 2019 season with newcomers on special teams. Freshman Andrew Gonneville is listed as the long snapper. Redshirt freshman Matt Mercurio is the placekicker. Punter and kick-scoring holder Alex Galland is a graduate transfer from Yale University.
30-plus starts: Offensive lineman Troy Kowalski and linebacker Ethan Aguayo are the two San Jose State with at least 30 starting calls going into the 2019 season. Kowalski tops the Spartans with 33 starts followed by Aguayo with 30. Both players are projected to start in their third consecutive Spartan season-opening game.
Starting quarterback streak: Senior Josh Love is in line to be the first San Jose State player to start a season at quarterback in three consecutive seasons since Adam Tafralis in 2005 through 2007. In all, five Spartans (Tafralis, Steve Clarkson in 1980 through 1982, Ed Luther in 1977 through 1979, and Craig Kimball in 1972 through 1974) have started three consecutive seasons at quarterback since 1938.
Click on the link above for the complete San Jose State football weekly release containing game notes, depth charts, team rosters and 2018 team and individual statistics.