Moore added seven assists for the Spartans (10-4). Tibet Gorener scored 11 points and added five rebounds. Robert Vaihola shot 4 of 5 from the field to finish with nine points to match Tolbert’s nine points. Vaihola added 13 rebounds, a career high.

The win snapped a 10-game losing streak for San Jose State in the series after the Spartans last beat UNLV in February 2017. This also marks the first time San Jose State has opened conference play with a win since joining the Mountain West in 2013.

“It wasn’t like we went out and banged a whole bunch of 3s or anything. It was just a rock-solid effort. We withstood a big run from them in the second half,” coach Tim Miles told reporters after the win. “We’ve lost a couple of those this year. So to be able to fight back against a team the caliber of UNLV and get over the top and win that says a lot about the resolve of our players.”

Elijah Harkless led the Rebels (11-2) in scoring, finishing with 20 points and two steals. Justin Webster added 11 points for UNLV.

Trey Anderson put up nine points in the first half for San Jose State, who led 41-30 at the break after a 19-5 run heading into halftime. San Jose State was outscored by 11 points in the second half and UNLV took a three-point lead late in the game before the teams finished regulation tied 65-65.

Tolbert scored his five overtime points while making his only attempt from the field, a 3-pointer to put the Spartans up by two with 1:27 left. Garrett Anderson came off the bench and iced the game for the Spartans with three late free throws.

NEXT UP

The Spartans visit Colorado State on Saturday while UNLV hosts San Diego State.

Of the 12, three players come from the transfer portal with experiences playing in the FCS and the ACC.

Three recruits transferred from local community colleges, with Noah McNeal-Franklin being the highest-rated recruit.

Imari Conley, who was committed to Fresno State 24 hours before signing day, flipped his commitment to the Spartans. Now, he’ll get to play alongside his brother Quali, who has experience playing at the Division I level.

Here’s who San Jose State signed:

LB Alexander Cobbs (6-4, 215) Long Beach (St. Anthony)Had 10 tackles in a game and is a two-time all-Del Rey league selection.

CB Jay’Vion Cole (5-10, 165) Cal Poly/ McClymonds (Oakland)Sophomore led Cal Poly with four interceptions this past season and helped McClymonds win the CIF Division 3A state championship in 2021.

CB Imari Conley (5-10, 180) Fresno (Central)Flipped his commitment from Fresno State to San Jose State just 24 hours before signing day.

RB Quali Conley (6-0, 210) Utah Tech/Central (Fresno)Junior rushed for 1,095 yards and eight touchdowns this past season at Utah Tech.

OL Luke Griskey (6-4, 265) Huntley, Illinois (Huntley)Was named 2021 Football University Top Gun national Gatorade offensive line MVP.

DL Vaka Hansen (6-1, 295) Orange (St. John Bosco)

All-Trinity League first team in 2021 and second team in 2022.

DB DJ Harvey (5-11, 190) Virginia Tech/Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth)Sophomore was primarily used on special teams for Virginia Tech, where he returned nine punts.

WR Kenyan Higgins (6-4, 170) Antioch (Pittsburg HS)He had a trio of touchdowns in two different games this season and won the CIF 1-A regional championship with Pittsburg.

TE Amaehu Kopa-Kaawalauole (6-5, 210) Ewa Beach, Hawai’iWon all-state honors and played four seasons of varsity football as a tight end and wide receiver.

LB Noah Mcneal-Franklin (6-1, 215) Contra Costa College/St. Patrick-St. Vincent (Vallejo)

DB Hunter Nowell (6-2, 195) Orange (St. John Bosco)

He won the CIF State Open Division championship with St. John Bosco two weeks ago.Was a 2022 pre-season JuCo All-American.

DL Tavarius Pitts (6-3, 260) Contra Costa College/Mays HS (Georgia)He recorded three sacks and four tackles for loss in a single game and was a first-team All-American.

DB Isiah Revis (5-10, 195) City College of San Francisco/ Liberty (Henderson, Nevada)He had a career-best eight tackles and two forced fumbles in a game against Laney College and was an all-conference safety selection.

The Spartans flopped Tuesday in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, losing 41-27 to Eastern Michigan on the blue turf of Boise State’s stadium.

Two years ago, in the Arizona Bowl, SJSU lost 34-13 to Ball State. In that game, the Spartans were wiped out by Covid, losing several key players and both their offensive and defensive coordinators in the days leading up to the game.

In this game, the Spartans (7-5) were simply wiped out. After taking a 13-0 lead, they gave up 33 unanswered points to Eastern Michigan (9-4).

Turnovers played a key role. SJSU, which had turned the ball over only six times all season, turned it over three times Tuesday. It was the first time this season that the Spartans had multiple turnovers in a game.

Eastern Michigan had won only one bowl game in its history — also against San Jose State in the 1987 California Raisin Bowl in Fresno.

After San Jose State’s second touchdown, Sterling Miles blocked the extra point attempt and Tristen Hines scooped up the ball and raced 87 yards for a 2-point defensive PAT.

That was the spark Eastern Michigan needed. The offense that had consecutive three-and-out possessions had touchdowns on its next four drives, all but putting the game out of reach.Samson Evans scored from 1 yard out to cut the Spartans’ lead to 13-9 at end of the first quarter.

EMU quarterback Taylor Powell passed for 298 yards and two touchdowns. The first of them, from the 1-yard line, put the Eagles in the lead 16-13. Powell threw another one, from 28 yards out, to make it 30-13 at halftime.

Cordeiro will be back next season, as will every other offensive starter, except star receiver Elijah Cooks.

The Spartans open next season at USC on Aug. 26.

Check back after 7 p.m. for a report from the postgame lockerroom.

But he turned serious when talking about the importance of closing out the season with a victory Tuesday against a gritty Eastern Michigan team.

“It always feels better when you have an experience like this and it ends with the result you want,” Brennan said. “For our program to play good football against a good opponent, that always matters. But to finish the season matters even more.”

And the finishing Brennan’s referring to is coach speak for winning.

For that to happen, San Jose State (7-4), a 3.5-point favorite, will need to remain careful with the ball while trusting its strength can trump the greatest strength of Eastern Michigan (8-4), its pass defense.

“We have to win the turnover battle,” Brennan said. “It always starts with that for us. And we’ve got to play with great effort.”

When it comes to protecting the football, only USC has turned the ball over as few times as the Spartans—just six times this season.

That stat got the attention of Eastern Michigan coach Chris Creighton — so much so that it was the first thing he mentioned when addressing how his team could pull an upset.

“It a hundred percent starts with taking care of the ball and taking the ball away,” said Creighton, who’s attempting to lead the Eagles to only their second bowl victory in school history. “I don’t know a coach in America that doesn’t believe in that. But how many of us are able to execute that successfully? Well, the answer is San Jose State.”

While San Jose State is plus-12 in the turnover battle, Eastern Michigan finished the season at net zero with 17 takeaways and 17 giveaways.

However, the Eagles have made strides in that department. After losing the turnover battle in their first seven games, they were plus-10 over the last five games.

But the matchup that will likely be the most pivotal in determining the outcome is how well Eastern Michigan can defend against San Jose State’s air attack.

Spartans quarterback Chevan Cordeiro has thrown for 2,884 yards this season, including 20 touchdowns to just four interceptions. As a team, San Jose State ranked 33rd in the nation in passing offense, averaging 264 yards a game through the air.

Eastern Michigan’s pass defense, on the other hand, limits opponents to an average of 210.4 yards per game, the 40th best in the nation.

Despite the Eagles’ youth in the secondary where all five starters are sophomores, defensive coordinator Neal Neathery runs an unconventional 4-2-5 defense. He’ll be relying on MAC defensive player of the year Jose Ramirez to generate pressure up front, something the senior has done well, leading the country in sacks per-game average with 12 total on the season.

Much of the Eagles’ success in the secondary has been bolstered by Ramirez and the ability of the Eagles’ defensive front to get after quarterbacks. And Ramirez seemed excited about the challenge of facing Cordeiro.

“We’ve seen other dual-threat quarterbacks this season,” Ramirez said. “We’re just going to attack (Cordeiro) like we’ve been coached to attack all the other ones.”

With both teams at full strength — no players have opted out — could the weather be a deciding factor? The forecast calls for a 30 percent chance of snow and temperatures in the low 30s.

The Spartans weren’t slowed much in the snow and cold at Utah State a month ago, though they did lose 35-31.

As for the opposition…

“I mean, we’re from Michigan,” Eagles quarterback Taylor Powell said. “We play in pretty crappy weather every day. And I think this weather is actually beautiful and am super excited.”

“The Magic of Thinking Big,” by David Schwartz, is filled with earmarked pages and scrawl-covered Post-it notes. The book spoke to Brennan’s ambition upon becoming San Jose State’s football coach in 2017. It’s a continuing ambition. Brennan has read the book at least four times.

“It’s a book about self-belief, that most people spend their lives telling themselves they can’t do big things,” Brennan said. “And I wasn’t going to let that be us.”

To understand Brennan, the coach, is to see his vision. He sees San Jose State football as an undervalued asset, a program that has the elements to capture the Bay Area’s imagination. A program that has accepted a life in the shadows of its neighboring Power Five schools, Stanford and Cal.

In his sixth season, Brennan, 49, has brought San Jose State football out of the darkness. He transformed a program that went 3-22 over his first two seasons into a Mountain West contender headed to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl after a 7-4 season. It will be the Spartans’ second bowl game in three years, following their appearance in the 2020 Arizona Bowl.

No SJSU coach has taken the Spartans to more than one bowl game in his tenure since Claude Gilbert did it in 1986 and 1987. But Brennan wants more.

He wants SJSU to be a perennial contender in its conference, not a Cinderella story. Not just an infrequent visitor to the Associated Press college football polls, but a regular.

“We’re trying to change the perception of our program here,” Brennan said. “It’s so undervalued and misrepresented. This is a special place.”

To build a contender, Brennan had to make San Jose State a destination. To do that, he hopes people can see SJSU through the rosy lens he always has.

“This isn’t just a job to him, this is the job to him in a lot of ways,” athletic director Jeff Konya said. “When you talk about him in recruiting and trying to get others interested — donors and sponsors — that is infectious and that passion will come through.”

Catch a glimpse of Brennan on the sideline, he’s cheering on his team, clapping his hands, shouting encouragement. Catch him on social media, he’s sharing the school’s athletic accomplishments and posting content with the team.

At every game since freshman running back Camdan McWright’s death in a scooter accident in October, Brennan has worn a t-shirt that commemorates McWright. He cares about his players and wants everyone to know it.

“How could you not want to play for this man? Miss you coach B!” posted former SJSU quarterback Nick Starkel on a video of Brennan wearing big yellow sunglasses, referring to himself as “Swaggy B.”

More than anything, Brennan wants to generate enthusiasm for a team that sparked his enthusiasm for football.

Brennan grew up rolling down the grassy hill where the new scoreboard now stands, watching games with his family at Spartan Stadium. His father, Steve, had played football at SJSU in the late 1960s. His mother, Beth, had been a cheerleader. So Spartans football became a family affair, as it has for him, his wife Courtney and their two high school-age daughters.

It was in high school, as a wide receiver at Saint Francis in Mountain View, that Brennan caught the coaching bug. He wanted to shape lives the way he saw coaches shaping his.

“I enjoyed my relationship with them,” he said. “They pushed me on the field, hard and demanding, but also made you better and made you elevate and I loved it. It was a cool way to help the next generation. That’s always been a huge part of it for me, the relationship with the players.”

Brennan took any coaching gig he could get, landing a few at summer camps and, eventually, back home to the Bay Area at Woodside High School. After stops at Hawaii, Washington, Arizona and Cal Poly, Brennan found himself back at SJSU in 2005 as an assistant to legendary coach Dick Tomey, his mentor until Tomey’s death in 2019.

After a pit stop as wide receivers coach at Oregon State, Brennan returned to his roots at SJSU, this time as head coach. But his homecoming was bittersweet.

Brennan’s father had died a year before.

“One of the biggest bummers for me with this job is that my dad doesn’t get to share it with me,” Brennan said. “I think it would have been incredible to share this journey with him. Dad loved people. I’m a lot like him in that way. I genuinely, genuinely enjoy people.”

By making the Spartans a brotherhood, a family of sorts, he hopes to create a program that athletes won’t want to miss out on. After taking over a downtrodden team six years ago he’s feeling that brotherhood manifest itself in success.

“Having gone through ups and downs and highs and lows, sticking with each other, that bond is really strong and they really care about each other,” he said. “There’s a special brotherhood with this team, and it’s so fun to be part of it.”

Take Chevan Cordeiro, the quarterback who transferred from his home state Hawaii to San Jose State last year. A toxic environment at Hawaii prompted his departure, but with Brennan’s team he found a home away from his hometown.

“He’s a great leader,” Cordeiro said. “We’re all following him. When we’re struggling he always has a smile on his face and gives us that mindset that we’re still going to win. We’re all going to follow him until we can’t. I couldn’t ask for a better leader.”

“I love playing for that guy,” said senior defensive lineman Kyle Harmon.

Brennan and his coaching staff treat the team like family. Often players will have dinners with their position coaches and savor time spent together everywhere from the film room to the weight room. That culture stems from Brennan, players say. And it has led this team to a promised land.

Two years ago, after the Spartans went 7-0 in the regular season, the University of Arizona expressed interest in Brennan as its head coach. He was named as a candidate in Stanford’s recent coaching search. The calls will continue. Brennan can’t imagine leaving now.

“I believe I am exactly where I’m supposed to be,” he said.

Sacramento State head coach and Cal grad Troy Taylor was officially hired by Stanford to replace David Shaw on Saturday morning.

Shaw, the winningest coach in Stanford history and a two-time Rose Bowl winner, announced his retirement shortly after midnight on Nov. 27 following the Cardinal’s season-ending loss to BYU.

Taylor, 54, has won Big Sky Coach of the Year in all three full seasons in charge of the Hornets and has a 30-8 after Friday night’s barn-burning 66-63 loss to Incarnate Word in the FCS quarterfinals.

Born in Southern California and raised in the Sacramento area, Taylor first came to the Bay Area to play quarterback at Cal. He was a starter in all four years he was on campus (1986-1989) and went 1-2-1 against the Cardinal in the Big Game. Taylor joins Jerod Haase (basketball) and David Esquer (baseball) as Stanford coaches with a Cal pedigree.

After a short NFL career, Taylor returned to Berkeley as an offensive coach from 1996-2000. While Taylor left to coach high school football, he returned a third time to be the color analyst for the Golden Bears’ radio broadcast alongside Joe Starkey. He gave that up to become head coach at the powerhouse Folsom High School outside of Sacramento for four years before moving back up to the college ranks.

After one season as an offensive coordinator at Eastern Washington and two seasons in the same role at Utah, Sacramento State brought Taylor back to Northern California to be the head coach of the Hornets.

Since taking over in 2019, he has helped bring a level of success never before seen in Sacramento, as the Hornets have won at least a share of the Big Sky Conference championship in all three seasons (the Hornets didn’t play in the COVID-delayed spring 2021 FCS season) since being hired, with the Hornets finishing each regular season ranked in the Top 4 in FCS.

Taylor’s final season in charge at Sacramento State has been questionably the best in program history. The Hornets won double-digit wins for the second time in school history and first time since Sacramento State moved up to Division I in 1993 while also picking up their first FCS playoff win.

Hiring a coach with that level of rapid success at the FCS level is exactly what Stanford did the last time it hired a coach from outside of the program in 2006, when the Cardinal hired Jim Harbaugh from San Diego. Harbaugh was coming off of back-to-back 11-1 seasons at San Diego, while the Cardinal went 1-11.

In Harbaugh’s four years, the Cardinal went 4-8 in 2007 (and upset No. 1 USC), 5-7 in 2008, 8-5 in 2009 and 12-1 in 2010, winning the Orange Bowl and finishing ranked No. 4 in the country. Harbaugh then left to take over the 49ers and the school promoted Shaw from offensive coordinator to the head coaching role.

Shaw, 50, left some big shoes – and lots of empty seats – to fill at Stanford. He won three conference titles in his first five seasons and was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year four times.

Overall, Shaw’s record was 96-54 in 12 seasons in charge of his alma mater.

But Stanford hasn’t played in a bowl game since the 2018 Sun Bowl, the last time the team won at least four games. (The Cardinal was 4-2 during the COVID-19-shortened 2000 season)

The Cardinal had 3-9 records each of the past two seasons and has lost 15 of its past 18 Pac-12 games.

When Stanford athletic director Bernard Muir spoke about the job search last week, he said the school wasn’t as concerned about ties to the West Coast or Power Five head coaching experience, but integrity and how the candidate balanced academics and athletics.

Muir’s candidate pool indicated such, with former Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett one of the finalists for the job. Garrett ultimately elected not to take the job, posting on Twitter late Thursday night that he was staying with NBC as a broadcaster.

The Cardinal also reportedly discussed the job with former BYU and Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall and two former Stanford assistants: current Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman and Vic Fangio, former head coach of the Denver Broncos and 49ers assistant. San Jose State’s Brent Brennan’s name also was connected to the opening.

But in the end, Muir chose Taylor, even if he has no Power Five head coaching experience. Taylor will be tasked with helping the Cardinal figure out how to navigate the new college sports landscape.

One advantage Taylor will have in attempting to return Stanford to prominence is the use — in a small way — of the transfer portal. Taylor’s roster at Sacramento State is filled with transfers from schools at the FBS, FCS and junior college levels.

Since 2020, Stanford has accepted one transfer.

“We can’t build a roster full of transfers, but certainly we can at least hopefully dip our toe in the water there and see if there are the right individuals that can join this program,” Muir said last month.

When Shaw announced his decision, he said he felt the core of Stanford’s team “can be very, very good” and that the Cardinal is “not that far away.” But since that decision was announced, at least some of that core has dwindled.

At least 15 Stanford players have entered the transfer portal to leave the program in the week since Monday, including linebacker Levani Damuni, who this season was a team captain and led the team in tackles.

Additionally, two-year starter Tanner McKee announced he would declare for the NFL Draft on Thursday, meaning Taylor will be inserting a new quarterback when taking over. (Granted, Taylor may be used to unique situations at the position, as he alternated between two quarterbacks in games all season long).

Stanford has also lost two four-star commits since Shaw’s resignation: edge rusher Hunter Clegg (who switched his commitment to Utah) and tight end Walker Lyons, though Lyons only reopened his recruiting process and did not rule out the Cardinal.

Lyons went to Folsom High School, where Taylor used to work and just down the road from his current job. It would make sense if one of the first things Taylor did on the recruiting trail for the Cardinal is to head back to his old stomping grounds and try to get Lyons’ commitment back.

Laurence Miedema and Jon Wilner contributed to this report.

Fehoko also led a group of four Spartans (7-4, 5-3 Mountain West) named to the all-Mountain West first team, with seven more among the second-team and honorable-mention honorees.

The junior recorded career highs in tackles (65) and sacks (9, second in MW) during the regular season and is the conference’s leader with 18.5 tackles for loss (fourth nationally).

Joining Fehoko on the first team were defensive end Cade Hall — the 2020 MW defensive player of the year — wide receiver Elijah Cooks and linebacker Kyle Harmon.

Hall, a graduate student, is sixth in the conference with 7.5 sacks and eighth with 12 tackles for loss, while Cooks, a graduate transfer from Nevada, leads the Mountain West with a career-high 10 touchdown catches (11th nationally). Harmon, a graduate student, is the Spartans’ leading tackler

This is the third consecutive first-team all-conference selection for Fehoko and Harmon, and Hall was on the 2020 first team. The trio of defenders are all Bay Area products: Fehoko is from East Palo Alto and attended St. Francis, Hall is a Bellarmine Prep product from Morgan Hill and Harmon is a Freedom graduate out of Antioch.

Quarterback Chevan Cordeiro, a junior transfer from Hawaii, was the Spartans’ lone representative on the second team after scoring career highs in passing touchdowns (28) and rushing scores (8) while throwing only four interceptions.

The Spartans who earned honorable mention are senior safety Tre Jenkins, sophomore receiver Justin Lockhart, junior tight end Dominick Mazotti, graduate cornerback Nehemiah Shelton and redshirt junior safety Chase Williams.

Only San Diego State had more first-teamers than San Jose State, while West Division champion Fresno State matched the Spartans with four. Undefeated Mountain Division champion Boise State only had two players named to the first team.

Fresno State and Boise State will meet Saturday for the conference title game, while San Jose State is awaiting an invite to a bowl game.

Cooks caught a career-best 10 passes for 121 yards and two first-half touchdowns and the Spartans snapped a two-game losing streak with a 27-14 victory over Hawaii on Saturday afternoon in front of 15,012 fans at CEFCU Stadium.

SJSU (7-4, 5-3 Mountain West), having already clinched bowl eligibility, enhanced its chances of being chosen to play in the postseason for the second time in three seasons.

Informed his team posted the program’s first 6-0 home record since 1978, coach Brent Brennan smiled and said, “That’s cool. We’re all about changing history.”

Cordeiro completed 17 of 26 attempts for 208 yards against his former school, with his touchdowns of 5 and 7 yards going to Cooks, a graduate transfer from Nevada.

“We just clicked toward the end of the season,” said Cooks, who had as many as 50 family members at the final home game of his career. “As the season goes on, the quarterback believes in somebody more. He believes in me.”

Cooks now has a career-best and MWC-leading 10 TD catches this season. Over the past six games, he has 40 receptions for 575 yards and seven scores.

“He makes my job easy,” Cordeiro said of his roommate. “We have that connection, we have that chemistry.”

When the Spartans needed to convert a fourth-and-4 play from the Hawaii 34-yard line, Cordeiro went downfield to the 6-foot-4 Cooks, who made a diving catch for a first down at the 5. That set up a field goal that stretched the lead to 27-14 with 7:08 to play.

“It came down to winning the matchup. We trust Elijah,” Cordeiro said of the fourth-down play. “I just had to drop the ball in there and let him run it down.”

Cooks had a productive career at Nevada but his 2020 and ’21 seasons were cut short by injuries. He has played every game this season and has 63 catches for 983 yards.

“I’ve had a lot of ups and downs. There’s nothing better than the ups in football,” he said. “When I’m out there on the field I’m the happiest I ever am.”

Hawaii (3-10, 2-6) reached the SJSU 2-yard line in the final 3 minutes before the Spartans’ defense twice made tackles for loss before linebacker Viliami Fehoko sacked Brayden Shager on fourth down to end the threat.

The Rainbow Warriors crossed midfield seven times but managed just two scores, thanks to clutch plays by the Spartans’ defense.

“I don’t care if they don’t get across the 50 as long as they don’t get in the end zone,” Brennan said. “Our defense came through.”

The game was meaningful for Cordeiro, who grew up on the islands and played four seasons for the Rainbow Warriors before transferring to SJSU.

Actually, he called the experience of facing his old defensive teammates “weird.”

“I used to play them in practice and they couldn’t touch me,” he said. “They were trying to get in my head the whole game. I was there for four years so they’re still my brothers. After the game we were all hugging.”

The Spartans gave themselves some breathing room at 21-6 with a 10-play, 75-yard drive to open the second half. Senior Kairee Robinson bouncing outside to the left to score on a 1-yard run with 9:46 left in the third quarter. Robinson, a De La Salle High product, wound up with a career-best 148 rushing yards.

A 27-yard field goal by Schive two plays into the fourth quarter boosted the Spartans’ lead to 24-6.

NOTE: An athletic department spokesperson confirmed the Spartans will not play a makeup game against New Mexico State before the bowl game. The game, originally set for Oct. 22, was postponed indefinitely after the death of SJSU freshman running back Camdan McWright, killed in a traffic accident the day before.

There are 73 other teams that also have met the bowl-eligible criteria for the 41 games scheduled, leaving eight slots open heading into Week 12 of the season.

The Spartans (6-4 overall, 4-3 Mountain West) will have to wait to see if they are going bowling — they won six games and didn’t get picked to play in a game as recently as 2013 — and a win at home against Hawai’i (2-5, 3-9 MW) undoubtedly will help their cause.

Mountain West teams have automatic tie-ins with five bowls, but also could end up with at-large berths. Seven MW teams are bowl eligible.

The winner of the Mountain West championship game between Boise State and Fresno State will play Dec. 17 in the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl played at SoFi Stadium.

Bowl invitations go out Dec. 4. Here are the most likely bowl destinations for SJSU:

• New Mexico Bowl (Dec. 17 in Albuquerque, New Mexico)
• Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (Dec. 20 in Boise, Idaho)
• EasyPost Hawaii Bowl (Dec. 24 in Honolulu, Hawaii)
• Barstool Arizona Bowl (Dec. 30 in Tucson, Arizona)

Yahoo Sports, CollegeFootballNews.com and Action Network predict the Spartans will play in the Hawai’i Bowl. There could be a benefit for this game attendance-wise, since starting quarterback Chevan Cordeiro is from Hawaii and played for the Rainbow Warriors. SJSU also likes to do a lot of recruiting out of the islands.

Mountain West Connection and Bleacher Report choose the Spartans to play in the Barstool Arizona Bowl, which SJSU played in 2020 when it lost 34-13 to Ball State.

SJSU’s at-large destinations could include:

• Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl (Dec. 17 in Frisco, Texas)
• Cure Bowl RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl (Dec. 20 in Boca Raton, Florida)
• SERVPRO First Responder Bowl (Dec. 22 in University Park, Texas)

SJSU still has one more potential regular-season game remaining after Saturday at New Mexico State. The Oct. 22 non-conference game was postponed after the death of freshman running back Camdan McWright. Both teams have an open date on Dec. 3, but there is no official statement from the Aggies and Spartans on whether or not that game will be played.

Cordeiro misses his teammates, he said, even if they know why he transferred. He was one of more than a dozen Hawaii players who transferred last year during the hellish reign of former coach Todd Graham.

“It was a great decision,” Cordeiro said this week. “Last year, it was hard waking up and going to practice. I didn’t have a smile on my face. Now I love showing up to practice, watching film with (offensive coordinator Kevin) McGiven and (head coach Brent) Brennan. Just spending time with the team in the locker room. It’s positive vibes around here.”

Cordeiro, a Honolulu native, will play against the team he played four seasons with until he transferred to San Jose State nearly a year ago, joining a mass exodus of Hawaii football players in response to then-head coach Graham’s alleged mistreatment of players.

The 23-year-old announced on social media that he would transfer to San Jose State last December, a few weeks before Graham’s resignation, to find his love of the game again.

“Of course in the beginning I was sad. Leaving my home, leaving my teammates,” Cordeiro said. “Of course it was going to be hard. But there are no regrets. I love it here. This team is my new family now.”

The reunion at CEFCU Stadium (12:30 p.m., Spectrum Sports) serves as a harsh reminder for the Hawaii program of all the talent they lost. Cordeiro, who had just earned team captain status as the starting quarterback job as a junior, was one of 17 Hawaii players to enter the transfer portal starting in August of 2021 until Graham’s resignation on Jan. 15.

In the few days after Cordeiro’s announcement, his teammates started to speak out. On a live, public platform called “Spaces” on Twitter, an alum-hosted event turned into a forum for current players who described an unhealthy locker room and team culture Graham and his staff fostered.

A gutted Hawaii team is a dismal 2-8 this year. Timmy Chang, the NCAA’s second-ranked all-time in NCAA career passing yards and the most successful quarterback to emerge from UH, took over for Graham as head coach a few days after Graham resigned.

“My teammates back in Hawaii, now they love football,” Cordeiro said. “I love football again. Everyone that transferred is having fun. That was the goal of transferring, trying to make a change. I’ve grown up as a person outside of football and inside football. It was a great decision.”

But it was his upbringing in Hawaii that sharpened Cordeiro’s quarterback teeth. Until his senior year, he played backup quarterback to current Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa at Saint Louis School, where Atlanta Falcons quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota and Chang played, too.

The Rainbow Warriors’ loss has been the Spartans’ gain. Cordeiro beat out Nick Nash for the starting quarterback job and helped transform Brennan’s offense into an air raid.

Equipped with a rifle arm and plenty of moxie, Cordeiro has formed palpable chemistry with receivers such as graduate senior Elijah Cooks, Justin Lockhart and Isaiah Hamilton.

His 267.7 average passing yards per game leads the entire Mountain West Conference by 57 yards (UNLV’s Doug Brumfield is second with 210 yards per game), as does his 18 total touchdown passes. And his three total interceptions are tied for the fewest with Nevada’s Nate Cox.

Cordeiro has grown into a must-watch quarterback on a team earning more of the national spotlight. With a spark from Cordeiro, the Spartans are bowl eligible for the second time during Brennan’s six-year tenure.

For Brennan, Cordeiro’s smarts, arm and accuracy just touch the surface of what makes the quarterback fit in with the Spartans.

“He’s an awesome human being and an awesome player,” he said. “It’s been great to see how the team has just embraced him and how he’s embraced the team. It’s been a really neat thing. That’s one of the reasons he’s here. He had gotten good feedback on what our brotherhood was and what it felt like. To be part of this family. He dove right into it.”

The Spartans’ 6-4 record doesn’t show their recent struggles. They’ve lost two straight, three of their last five games, and slipped out of conference title game contention after becoming bowl eligible on Oct. 29. While San Jose State’s defense has been a strength this season, opposing teams are eking out wins by keeping Cordeiro on the sideline. They know he’s got the arm to get the Spartans back into games with just a handful of completions.

A visit from his struggling former team could help get the Spartans back on track before bowl season.