San José State

2-1
San José State win total fell from 5.5 to 4.5 (-1 wins) between Jun 2026 and Jul 2026.our read

Mountain West · Ken Niumatalolo, year 3 (12-16) · CEFCU Stadium · 30,456 · 15,017 avg in 2026

The nationunrankedAP / Coaches
The model#109 CFB ZeitgeistSP+ #112 (-12.8) · FPI #116
The marketFresno State by 6.5vs Fresno State · our model 35% San José State · a number, not a pick

LastW 30–20 vs Cal Poly · Sat Sep 12 · Luke Weaver 238 pass yds, 3 TD, 44 rush yds

Nextvs Fresno State · Sat Sep 19 · 11 pm ET · CEFCU Stadium · Fresno State by 6.5 · series 31-39, lost the last 2 · Game preview

Updated Tue Sep 15 · through week 2

Zeitgeist statureRegional Program IV#160 all-time– holding
one line from Regional Program III
The era · 2014 through 2025

The CFP Era

12 seasons inside the CFP era, no bids yet — the era the program is still trying to break into.

Era record 57-86 12 seasons
Best season 7-0 2020
TRAJECTORY · quality-score line · AP rank dotted · CFP bids marked · coach regimes ribboned
Program Quality AP Rank (inverted) CFP Appearance
'14'16'18'20'22'24NOW
CHAPTERS · 12 seasons · tap to open the archive
'14 3-9 '15 6-7 '16 4-8 '17 2-11 '18 1-11 '19 5-7 '20 — '21 5-7 '22 7-5 '23 7-6 '24 7-6 '25 3-9

San José State's 2014–2025 record is 57-86. The era is still being written; the CFP line is the one the program is arguing for.

Era win %
.398
Ranked seasons (AP)
1/12
Best AP finish
#25

Program outlook

San José State won the Mountain West championship in 2020. The program plays in a valley where a startup IPO outdraws a Saturday kickoff. In 2025, Ken Niumatalolo's second year went 3-9 — even as the quarterback threw 275 passes without an interception.

Read the full essay — 3 more paragraphs

Bill Walsh played here. Dick Vermeil played here. Two Hall-of-Fame coaches who shaped the NFL's offensive evolution were Spartans before they were legends, which is the kind of fact that surprises people and shouldn't — San José State has always been a football school inside a region that doesn't particularly want one. The 2020 Mountain West title, won in an empty stadium during a COVID season with the team displaced out of state to practice, is the program's signature proof: the Spartans can win without a crowd, without support, without any of the things programs assume they need.

Brent Brennan left for Arizona in 2024, and Ken Niumatalolo — the winningest coach in Navy history — took over. His second year went 3-9 on late-game collapses and missed kicks, even with quarterback Walker Eget posting a 275-pass, zero-interception run that should have translated into more wins. The Mountain West is reshaping around the Pac-12 raid that took Boise State, San Diego State, Fresno State, and Colorado State away. San José State enters a smaller, changed league, with a coach under early pressure and a fanbase that is used to being the Bay Area's afterthought.

The 2026 question is whether Niumatalolo can build what he built at Navy — a disciplined, system-coherent program that wins through execution rather than recruiting rank — in a market where the program competes for attention against the most valuable real estate in the world. Walker Eget returning healthy and the defense cleaning up its late-game failures are the two levers that move the answer.

On the field

Scrappy and pass-leaning under the current staff — Walker Eget's zero-interception 2025 is the data point that defines the offensive identity: precise, conservative, and designed to protect possession. Niumatalolo's background is option and physical run-game football from his Navy years, and the system is being blended at SJSU; the 2026 scheme will tell more about which direction the program settles. Defensively, the late-game breakdowns of 2025 are the explicit correction target entering fall camp.

program outlook · as of 2026-06-14

All-time record · San José State

San José State has won 45% of its games since 1933 — 58% at home, 35% on the road.

398-476-15 all-time · 91 seasons · 1933–2026

Home 220-153-4
Away 172-315-11
Neutral 6-8
57% 1930s
56% 1940s
45% 1950s
37% 1960s
50% 1970s
59% 1980s
39% 1990s
39% 2000s
35% 2010s
52% 2020s

Coaching Era · San José State

Ken Niumatalolo

Ken Niumatalolo in year 3 of the rebuild. The methodology is taking shape.

Era Ken Niumatalolo · 2024–presentPrev: Brent Brennan (2017–2023)OC: Craig StutzmannPrev OC: Kevin McGiven (2018–2023)DC: Bojay FilimoeatuPrev DC: Derrick Odum (2017–2025)
The full CFP-era story →The full coaching lineage →
3 years · era

Program memory

What this program never forgets

Most weeks vanish. These didn’t.

2020 Mountain West championship

An undersized, displaced (the team practiced out of state during COVID) San José State goes 7-1 and wins the conference — the program's signature triumph

The 2025 slide

Ken Niumatalolo's second year falls to 3-9 on late-game collapses and missed kicks, gutting the momentum of recent years

Wound

Moment of the season — so far · San José State · 2026

Lost 26-42 at USC

Week 1 of 2026. The early statement — the game this season gets measured from, for now.

Decisive Marginvs AP #14

NFL Draft Pipeline

2023–2023

San José State has sent 1 player to the NFL Draft since 2023 — none in the first round.

Thin. Roster development still maturing.

1 picks · 0 in round 1
#129 Viliami Fehoko Defensive End · 2023 · Dallas · #17/387 final season
#72 all-time · 6 first-round picksthe talent factory →

More in this tab

Ladder finishHow far up the ladder this season got.

Season standing · 2026 · 2-1

San José State is 2-1 and unranked in the season's first weeks.

Even or better through the season's first weeks. The resume is still forming.

Sub-FBSBuildingBowlRankedContenderPlayoff
Coaching historyEvery hire and departure on record, not just the current era.

Coaching history

  • Hired Ken Niumatalolo2024
  • Brent Brennan departs34-48, 7 seasons
  • Hired Brent Brennan2017
  • Ron Caragher departs19-30, 4 seasons
  • Hired Ron Caragher2013
  • Mike MacIntyre departs16-21, 3 seasons
  • Hired Mike MacIntyre2010
  • Dick Tomey departs25-35, 5 seasons
Coordinator lineageOffense and defense under each coordinator.

Unit lineage

San José State’s offense and defense, by coordinator

FBS-relative efficiency percentile per season (2014–2026), same population as the Coordinator Mirror board. Dashed vertical lines mark a coordinator change.

Offense2014–2026
2014201620182020202220242026
2014 · Jimmie Dougherty2015–2016 · Al Borges2017 · Andrew Sowder2018–2023 · Kevin McGiven2024–2026 · Craig Stutzmann
Defense2014–2026
2014201620182020202220242026
2014–2015 · Greg Robinson2016 · Ron English2017–2025 · Derrick Odum2026 · Bojay Filimoeatu
Elite (≥70th pct)AveragePoor (≤30th pct)
Gameday customsThe gameday customs unique to this program.

Rituals

Three gameday rituals — the ones outsiders never quite catch.

2020 COVID-Era Mountain West Championship

since 2020

more

Brent Brennan's 2020 7-1 + Mountain West championship + Arizona Bowl championship + #25 final AP — during the COVID-truncated season — was the program's modern peak. The Spartans played the majority of the season at a different stadium due to local-COVID-restrictions but still won the conference. The 2020 run is permanent program identity.

Silicon Valley Identity

since 1893

more

San José State sits in the heart of Silicon Valley — the Bay Area technology corridor + the regional academic identity + the modern recruiting reach into California. The Silicon Valley setting + the Spartans' historic 1893 founding make SJSU's institutional positioning unique among Mountain West programs.

Cultural identityWhat college football loses if this program didn't exist.
BowlsEvery bowl this program's played, and how it did.

Bowl / Postseason Ledger

Recent postseason (2015-2024): 1-4

Most recent: 2024 — loss 39-41 (home). Last 5 postseason: 1-4.

20242023202220202015
Reddit blowupsThe plays that blew up on r/CFB.

r/cfb moments

665
[Postgame Thread] USC Defeats San José State 56-28
Aug 2023 · r/cfb
246
[Postgame Thread] USC Defeats San José State 30-7
Sep 2021 · r/cfb
217
[Game Thread] San José State @ USC (8:00 PM ET)
Aug 2023 · r/cfb
153
[Postgame Thread] San José State Defeats Southern Utah 45-14
Aug 2021 · r/cfb

All-time top community posts · ranked by upvotes

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