Even though San Jose State didn’t make a bowl game last year, it was still a big improvement over the 1-11 last-place finish of 2018. The Spartans also pulled off a few big victories, especially the road win over Arkansas 31-24 on September 21. That was San Jose State’s first ever win over an SEC opponent and can be considered a nice building block in the years to come. All things considered, the Spartans did pretty well in 2019. 

In any case, head coach Brent Brennan is back for his fourth season at the helm and 10th season overall with the team. He and his staff are facing an uphill battle this year, and the ultimate goal is certainly to hit bowl eligibility. Looking at the schedule however, that’s not going to be an easy task. There are plenty of pitfalls. 

San Jose State has a very rough road schedule this season, and most of the heavy competition is front-loaded early in the year. The Spartans start off at Central Michigan, then have to go to Penn State, Boise State, San Diego State, New Mexico and Fresno State. Home games like Air Force, Nevada and Hawaii could potentially be troublesome as well. To put it bluntly, the bad news here is that there may not be enough realistic win opportunities to become bowl-eligible this season. 

Pick: I have to stick with the under here. Given the difficult schedule and the competitive conference, I don’t think San Jose State will take another step forward. I simply don’t see six wins on the schedule; the Spartans will likely get one or two road games, but to get to a half-dozen they’ll have to rattle off 4-5 home wins. A few decent teams are mixed into that group, and unless everything goes pretty much perfectly for the team SJSU probably won’t get there. I think San Jose State will make some solid progress on the field this year and have a good shot at equalling their record from a year ago, however. 

2020 San Jose State Spartans Football Schedule 

Day, Date                                    Opponent

Saturday, September 5                at Central Michigan 

Saturday, September 12              UC Davis 

Saturday, September 19              at Penn State  

Saturday, September 26              OPEN 

Saturday, October 3                    at Boise State  

Saturday, October 10                  Air Force 

Saturday, October 17                  UNLV     

Saturday, October 24                  at San Diego State 

Saturday, October 31                  at New Mexico 

Saturday, November 7                Nevada 

Saturday, November 14               UConn  

Saturday, November 21              Hawaii 

Saturday, November 28               at Fresno State   

Saturday, December 5                MWC Championship