San Jose, Calif.-----For San Jose State University football fans, they hoped this year's September 12 home opener against UC Davis would yield similar results to the 2012 season.
The 2012 home opener with the Aggies was positioned as the season's second game – the same as this year. Those hopes ended when the non-conference contest was canceled by the impact of COVID-19. Likely, the recent bad local Air Quality Index figures of the week would have a bearing on playing this 2020 game, too.
The plots and sub-plots from the 45-13 Spartan win on September 8, 2012 included:
• Avenging a 14-13 Homecoming loss to UC Davis in 2010
San Jose State's 45 points were the most scored by the Spartans in the 12 games between these teams since the series began in 1922.
"…They beat us two years ago and today we made some plays when we needed to. We were able to run and pass the ball. Last year (2011) when we did that, we won," said third-year head coach Mike MacIntyre, now the defensive coordinator at the University of Memphis.
• No parent intervention, between San Jose State offensive guard Nicholas Kaspar and his brother Anthony Kaspar, a defensive lineman for the UC Davis.
A four-year starter for the Spartans, Nick now is the chief of staff for San Jose City Council member Maya Esparza after three years as the president and CEO of the Silicon Valley Central Chamber of Commerce.
"…every once in a while, we looked up and locked eyes, and it was weird. After the game, he said 'good luck the rest of the season.' He's staying in San Jose tonight, so we'll hang out and will probably give each other tips on what the other one can do better," said Nick who added bragging rights wouldn't be settled until Christmas. That didn't really come true since the Spartans were in Washington, D.C., preparing for the Military Bowl against Bowling Green.
Defense Comes Through
Realizing San Jose State's defense with five first-team all-conference players could set the tone in a game from start to finish. Defensive end Travis Johnson tied two school records with four quarterback sacks and 6.0 tackles for loss. Cornerback Bene Benwikere came up with the first of three Spartan interceptions and his 43-yard return set up De'Leon Eskridge's 17-yard touchdown run just before halftime that put the Spartans ahead for good at 14-7.
"I think the pick by Benwikere flipped the whole game," MacIntyre said in his postgame interview.
"… once we got the feel of the game, we played like we know we can," said Johnson, the Spartans' career recordholder with 32.0 quarterback sacks and 49.0 tackles for loss.
1,000-Yard Rushers
Unleashing a running game with the two most recent Spartans to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. University of Minnesota transfer De'Leon Eskridge relied on his power running style with a dose of speed to score three times gaining 130 yards on 16 carries. Eskridge would finish 2012 with 1,025 yards and 11 TDs. Then-sophomore Tyler Ervin, who was moved from defense to offense in 2012, gave San Jose State a dynamic all-purpose back rushing for 56 yards on just 10 carries and returning three kickoffs for 89 yards. Ervin, now playing for the Green Bay Packers, crossed the 1,000-yard mark in 2015 as a durable and explosive senior gaining 1,601 yards and scoring 16 TDs.
And, David Fales' Passing Grade
The quiet efficiency of quarterback David Fales in his second game as the Spartan starter. Fales, beginning the 2020 National Football League season on the New York Jets' reserve squad, completed 23-of-32 without an interception for 277 yards and a touchdown to Chandler Jones, who also caught a scoring pass from back-up Blake Jurich. Fales would go on to pass for 4,193 yards and 33 TDs in San Jose State's best season of the 21st century – a 21st ranking in the final Associated Press poll and the Military Bowl victory.
A LOOK BACK – Undefeated & Far West Conference Champions
The Spartans' 2012 win in the series was their fifth in the 12 games between these teams. It took San Jose State five tries starting in 1922 to get that first win over UC Davis, then known as the California (Cal) Aggies, 19-7 in the 1932 game in Sacramento. The victory gave the Spartans the Far West Conference championship and kept San Jose State's hopes alive for its first undefeated season in school history.
Winners of only six of 24 games the previous three seasons, first-year head coach Dudley "Dud" DeGroot guided the Spartans to a 7-0-2 record in 1932 with a season-ending 20-0 shutout over visiting Weber State at Spartan Field the week after beating UC Davis.
After a 0-0 tie in 1934, the two teams would not play each other again until 2007, UC Davis' fifth season in NCAA Division I as a I-AA member. San Jose State posted a 34-14 win in Spartan Stadium.
WHAT'S AHEAD
Next up in the original 2020 football schedule was a September 19 non-conference game at Penn State. The game with the nationally-ranked Nittany Lions would be the second in two years for the Spartans to play in an "East Coast" team, face a top-10 ranked opponent on the road, and compete against a Big Ten Conference member.
NOTES – The Dodger, the champion, the future NFL head coach, and the 2012 defensive line
In the Spartans' 1932 win over UC Davis, Jack Wool completed a 47-yard touchdown pass to Bud Hubbard and scored the game's final touchdown on a 12-yard run. Wool was a four-sport San Jose State letterwinner and would go on to become the 1932 Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) national champion in the pole vault clearing 13-feet-4.5 inches.
Hubbard is acknowledged as the first Spartan to play professional football. He was an end on the 1935 Brooklyn Dodgers of the National Football League.
Coach "Dud" DeGroot, captain of the 1922 Stanford football squad, was a member of the 1924 U.S. Olympic gold medal winning rugby team. After coaching San Jose State to a perfect 13-0 record in 1939, he would later coach the NFL's Washington franchise in 1944 and 1945 and the Los Angeles Dons of the All-America Football Conference in 1946 and 1947.
In 2012, San Jose State and Arizona State were the two Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) each with four all-conference defensive linemen. For the Spartans, Johnson was the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Defensive Player of the Year; tackle Travis Raciti was a first-team All-WAC honoree; and defensive end David Tuitupou and tackle Anthony Larceval, second-team All-WAC picks.
