SAN JOSE, Calif. - Walker Eget completed 26-of-30 passes for 334 yards and three touchdowns, and Jalen Bainer snagged two interceptions to lead San José State football (2-3, 1-0 MW) in a 35-28 victory over New Mexico (3-2, 0-1 MW) Friday night at CEFCU Stadium presented by El Camino Health to open Mountain West Conference play.
Wide receiver Danny Scudero led the way with 151 receiving yards on seven catches, including a career-best 70-yard touchdown strike in the second quarter. Leland Smith added six receptions for 61 yards and a score, while Matthew Coleman hauled in an 11-yard touchdown grab in the first half.
On the ground, true freshman Steve Chavez-Soto paced the Spartans with 71 rushing yards and two touchdowns in his first career game, including a 10-yard score midway through the third quarter that extended the lead. Fellow running back Lamar Radcliffe chipped in 64 rushing yards as San José State piled up 153 yards on the ground.
The Spartan defense forced three interceptions, highlighted by Bainer’s two picks and Larry Turner-Gooden’s takeaway in the first quarter. San José State also recorded four sacks, with Bainer, Etu Finau, Jireh Moe, and Quincy Likio each notching key quarterback takedowns.
San José State built a 35-17 lead heading into the fourth quarter after Eget connected with Smith for an 8-yard touchdown. New Mexico rallied late, but the Spartans were able to run out the clock in the final minutes to preserve the win.
The Spartans finished with 487 total yards of offense, averaging 7.4 yards per play, while holding New Mexico to 76 rushing yards. San José State also dominated on third down, converting 8-of-12 opportunities.
- The Spartans have now won four straight games over New Mexico
- The Spartans are averaging 7.74 yards per play across their last three games
- The Spartans recorded 153 rushing yards, the second game this season with 100 or more yards on the ground
- Eget started the game 13-for-13 on passes and had two streaks of 10 or more straight completions
- Eget completed 86.7 percent of his passes in the game. The SJSU record for best completion percentage with at least 25 passing attempts was Kyle Reed, who completed 88.5 percent of his passes on Sept. 20, 2008
- This was the fourth career game Eget threw for three or more touchdowns
- For quarterbacks who had 30 attempts or more, Eget tied Conner Harrell of Charlotte with an 86.7 completion percentage for the best completion percentage in a game in FBS this season. Harrell did it on Sept. 13 against FCS Monmouth. Eget is the only one to do it against an FBS team.
- Eget was 23-for-24 at one point in the game, becoming the first player in the NCAA to throw just one incompletion on 20 or more passes with three touchdowns and no interceptions since Minnesota’s Tanner Morgan on Sept. 28, 2019, against Purdue
- Eget’s 70-yard touchdown in the second quarter to Scudero was the longest pass of Eget’s career and a career-long reception for Scudero
- Scudero has gone over 100 receiving yards in four out of five games this season
- As of Friday night, Scudero leads the country in receiving yards with 665 receiving yards
- As of Friday night, Scudero is second in the country with 40 receptions
- Smith’s eight-yard touchdown in the third quarter was a one-handed catch in the back of the endzone
- Bainer is the first Spartan to record two interceptions in the same game since Brandon Ezell on Oct. 4, 2019, also against New Mexico
- Bainer also recorded his first career sack and led the team with a career high of nine tackles
- The Spartans scored a touchdown on their opening drive for the first time this season
- 35 points is the most points the Spartans have scored all season
- Turner-Gooden’s interception was the first of his career
- Coleman’s touchdown was his first of the season
- Finau notched his first career sack
- Moe’s sack was also the first of his career
- The Spartans have four sacks in two straight games, while not letting up a sack in two straight games
- Mathias Brown made the first PAT of his career, going 5-for-5 on the day
- This was the first game of the season that the Spartans did not have a turnover
- The Spartans had their first fourth-down conversion of the season in the game
- Trent Carrizosa landed one punt inside the 20 and had a punt of 58 yards
- Carrizosa has seven punts inside the 20 this season
- The Spartans have recorded a takeaway in 17 of 18 games under head coach Ken Niumatalolo
- This is the second season in a row the Spartans have opened up 1-0 in Mountain West play
- The Spartans are the first non-ranked team to beat New Mexico this season
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