Week 1: San Jose State vs Portland State 9/1/22 College Football Picks, Predictions, Odds

The San Jose State Spartans and Portland State Vikings square off Thursday in week 1 college football action from CEFCU Stadium.

The Portland State Vikings will come into the 2022 season looking to bounce back after a frustrating 5-6 season including a 4-4 mark in Big Sky conference play. The good news for the Vikings is that they return eight starters on offense, but QB is not one of those positions. The bright side is that the Vikings have a lot of options including Dante Chachere and Jaden Casey. The Vikings will also have to replace leading rusher Malik Walker who had 879 rushing yards for Portland State last year, but still have returning pieces like Jalynnee McGee, who rushed for 259 yards last season while also bringing in former Boise State running back Andrew Van Buren who rushed for 1,028 yards and 21 TDs in his career at Boise State. The Vikings’ deepest spot on offense is at receiver, including Beau Kelly, who led the Big Sky with 69 catches for 981 yards and 10 touchdowns last season, all conference highs. Darren Chase and Nate Bennett were solid as freshmen, combining for almost 1,200 yards and 8 touchdowns last year. On defense, the defensive line will be a work in progress as the bulk of the experience up front is no longer with the program. The good news there is VJ Malo returns at one end, recording 45 tackles, 20 TFLs and 10.5 sacks with 3 fumbles forced last season. Parker McKenna is back for the Vikings after leading the Vikings with 88 tackles last season while Anthony Adams returns as the top dog in the Portland State secondary as well as Evan Camarena at the other corner.

The San Jose State Spartans will be out to bounce back from a disappointing 5-7 season, including a 3-5 mark in Mountain West conference play last season. The Spartans have some solid depth at QB, with Nick Nash having spent a lot of time in the Spartan program and incoming transfer Chevan Cordeiro who thrived as a dual threat QB At Hawaii, rushing for almost 1,100 yards and throwing 45 touchdowns passes in his time as a Warrior. The Spartans lose their top tight end in Derrick Deese, but the entire receiving corps is intact as well as bringing in Elijah Cooks from Nevada to bolster the depth at receiver. Kairee Robinson is also expected to return to the RB1 slot for the Spartans this season with Tyler Nevens gone from the program. On defense, the front line is San Jose State’s strength, with First team all-MWC Villami Fehoko and Cade Hall putting the pressure on while Kyle Harmon is back after leading the Spartans at linebacker with a team-high 135 tackles last season. The secondary also has some returning depth after Nehemiah Shelton recorded 61 tackles last season and Tre Jenkins was second for the Spartans with 72 tackles last year.

There’s no doubt that the Spartans have the more name-recognizable team here, but I’m not looking to lay this many points with a San Jose State team that’s going through their fair share of turnover and just simply hasn’t been that impressive. Don’t get me wrong, I think San Jose State wins this game, but I see them wining an ugly 31-20 or 30-17 kind of game, letting the Vikings sneak in the backdoor in the process. Give me the Vikings and the points here.