Utah State at San Jose State: Keys to a Spartans Win, How to Watch, Odds, Prediction

Both teams looking for crucial second in-conference win on Saturday night

Expect a high-scoring game, but who will win?

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Utah State at San Jose State: Keys to a Spartans Win, How to Watch, Odds, Prediction

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WEEK 8: Utah State Aggies at San Jose State Spartans

WHERE: CEFCU Stadium, San Jose, California

WHEN: Saturday, October 21, 2023 – 7:00pm EST (4:00pm PST)

TV: The game will be televised live on CBS Sports Network

STREAMING: Fans can sign up to receive a free one-week trial of Fubo, by following this link.

RADIO: ESPN 1100AM & 100.9 FM

SERIES RECORD: This will be the forty-second meeting between San Jose State and Utah State. Both teams currently have an identical record of 20-20-1.

WEBSITES: sjsuspartans.com is the San Jose State University Athletics official website | utahstateaggies.com is the official Utah State Athletics website.

GAME NOTES (PDF): San Jose State | Utah State

ODDS: San Jose State Spartans by -4.0

PARKER FLEMING PROJECTION:

For San Jose State, the Spartans picked up a crucial win last week on the road against New Mexico, 52-24. A lot of things went right in that game, particularly for quarterback Chevan Cordeiro and running back Kairee Robinson, and now there are more winnable contests on the schedule remaining.

San Jose State can quickly turn their attention to the Aggies, with an eye towards continuing to get in the win column. The Aggies are a tough team, but thus far have given up 28 of 32 scores in the red zone when opponents have made it to their 20-yard line.

With both teams looking for another in-conference win, the Spartans and Aggies will be looking to get on a winning path and keeping an outside chance at a bowl game alive. Also of note is that the Aggies will be headed into a bye week after this matchup with the Spartans, with two weeks to prepare for the San Diego State Aztecs on November 4th.

Much of the statistical analysis tends to favor the Aggies, or shows both teams in similarly comparable rankings, but what also needs merit are statistics like strength of schedule. In this case, various resources rank San Jose State’s schedule ranks 50th; Utah State’s is ranked 67th. That difference in schedule should reveal an advantage to the Spartans who have played the stronger schedule thus far, but still offer a favorable expectation for the Spartans to be the stronger team on Saturday night.

HERE IS WHY THE SPARTANS WILL WIN AGAINST THE AGGIES

Coming into this game after a win over New Mexico, the Spartans should be in a positive state of mind and ready to go for this contest. Having lost their last two matchups against the Aggies in recent years, there should also be a measure of revenge for the Spartans, who will be anxious to unleash quarterback Chevan Cordeiro against an Aggies defense currently ranked 103rd in Passing Yards Allowed.

However, before San Jose State gets too excited, both teams have had trouble with their rush defense (each with a game versus rushing powerhouse Air Force already in hand), where the Spartans and Aggies are ranked 127th and 98th in rushing defense respectively. But the Spartans’ Kairee Robinson is coming off an incredible four-touchdown performance versus New Mexico and could very well look to be called on once again.

Will the Spartans look to score through the air or on the ground? There should be opportunities for both teams to score as both scoring defenses rank 112th (San Jose State) and 113th (Utah State).

Prediction

Based on the statistics, expect Chevan Cordeiro to be busy on the ground and through the air against an overwhelmed Aggies defense. Utah State will look to attack the rushing defense of San Jose State, but with the Aggies themselves ranked in the bottom third of passing yards allowed, the yardage should be there for Cordeiro and company in what looks to be a high-scoring affair.

San Jose State 37, Utah State 27[lawrence-auto-related count=1 category=1360 tag=16543673]

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