BOISE, Idaho — San Jose State coach Brent Brennan seemed loose at the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl press conference Monday, smiling and laughing as he talked about the good times in the midst of a challenging season.

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.”