The game began with a chance to jump back into the conference race and ended with another disappointing loss to add onto the pile of heartache the Spartans have accumulated this season.
The Spartans dropped their homecoming game on Saturday 34-17 against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors.
San Jose State’s only victory this season has come against a division 2 opponent. SJSU has now lost four straight, two of which came against teams it beat handily last season. The defense continues to give up big plays, which puts the offense in a hole before it’s even settled.
These facts sunk head coach Ron Caragher deep into his chair postgame while trying to figure out where to go next.
“It was a really frustrating day,” Caragher said. “Things haven’t gone this season that I had foreseen going into it today.”
The Spartans’ run defense improved from the abysmal showing, giving up almost 450 yards on the ground to New Mexico, but could not hold up against the Rainbow Warriors passing game.
Hawaii quarterback Dru Brown completed 24 of 33 passes for 287 yard and two touchdowns.
On the other side, Spartans’ quarterback Kenny Potter had a game to forget on Saturday, completing only 13 of his 26 passes for 121 yards and three costly interceptions.
All of the interceptions followed Potter trying to make a play, scrambling around and throwing the ball up for grabs instead of the safe play out of bounds.
“We had a failure to execute,” Caragher said. “They did a good job collapsing the pocket. We had our opportunities just didn’t take advantage of them.”
The Spartans offensive line had another rough day, allowing the Rainbow Warriors to compile a season-high six sacks and giving Potter little time to throw the ball from the pocket.
“I put that game and loss on my shoulders,” Potter said. “I made critical errors that I don’t believe I should make as a football player and that loss is completely on me.”
Following two point-scoring drives to open up the game, SJSU had no rhythm on offense, which allowed Hawaii to gain momentum and take control of the tempo.
Prior to Saturday’s homecoming game, a tent among the tailgaters held a sign which said “fire Ron Caragher.”
This trend of fans calling for a coaching change continued from last year, before the team was announced that it had made a bowl game.
With the Spartans on a constant downspin since its first appearance in school history on the Nation’s top 25 list in 2012, the validity of the #firecaragher tweets may be coming to fruition.
In order for the Spartans to have a shot at making the postseason this year, they will have to win five of its remaining six games — a tall task to ask a team that is floundering and searching for an identity.
Last season it was all about Tyler Ervin; a talented running back who would ignite the offense with his big play ability and phenomenal return prowis.
This year SJSU does not have a player who has stepped up and taken the lead as the standout player to put the team on his back. That player needs to be found if the Spartans have any chance moving forward.
“We’re going to see if we’re men or if we’re going to run away from the situation,” Potter said. “I’m going to man up to my mistakes and step up and play a lot better football game next week.”
SJSU will stay at home this week and host the Nevada Wolfpack on Saturday at CEFCU Stadium at 7:30 p.m.
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