Revenge games come with a built-in assumption. The people who got hurt remember it and the people who did the hurting have to answer for it.<\/p>\n
That assumption mostly belongs to the rest of us. Coaches rarely say the word. It\u2019s really the press, the fans and the comment sections who say it for them.<\/p>\n
San Jose State and Nevada showed up to Mackay Stadium on Saturday as two different teams. New quarterbacks. A new Spartan defensive coordinator. A Wolf Pack defense that returned two starters.<\/p>\n
So what exactly carries over from one November afternoon last season to one October afternoon this season when most of the names have changed? More than anyone wants to admit. Less than the headlines will claim.<\/p>\n
Different names, same Reno<\/p>\n
Last year, Nevada\u2019s Ky Woods ran a kickoff back 99 yards in a 55-10 rout.<\/p>\n
Saturday, with San Jose State finally alive after a fourth-quarter touchdown cut it to 21-10, Woods fielded the kickoff and went 90 yards. One play later, Nevada scored again. For a moment, it was last November all over again.<\/p>\n
Games and rivalries like this start to take on a life of their own. Nevada coach Jeff Choate didn\u2019t pretend otherwise.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s certain organizations sometimes that you kind of have their number,\u201d said Choate, crediting defensive coordinator Kane Ioane. \u201cWe kind of had their number today.\u201d<\/p>\n
The numbers back him up. San Jose State converted 1 of 14 third downs, punted 11 times and ran for 65 yards. Choate called the first half \u201cthree and out, three and out, three and out, three and out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know that I\u2019ve ever seen anything like that,\u201d said Choate.<\/p>\n
Nobody on either sideline was playing last year\u2019s game. Reno just replayed it anyway.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s where the revenge narrative falls apart, in a useful way. The score didn\u2019t tell the truth about San Jose State. The details did.<\/p>\n
The Spartan defense, rebuilt under first-year coordinator Bojay Filimoeatu, held Nevada to 324 yards and kept it 7-3 at halftime despite spending more than 38 minutes on the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe played well enough on defense to win,\u201d said SJS head coach Ken Niumatalolo. \u201cYou got to generate more offense.\u201d<\/p>\n
The offense is the other half of the identity and it\u2019s still searching. Daniel Rolovich, last week\u2019s full-circle story, started but was hurt and \u201ccouldn\u2019t move.\u201d Robert McDaniel followed. Luke Weaver came off the bench in the fourth quarter and led the only touchdown drive.<\/p>\n
\u201cLuke is Luke,\u201d said Niumatalolo. \u201cHe\u2019s a gamer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Overall, three quarterbacks and no rhythm. That\u2019s not a grudge match. That\u2019s a team figuring out who it is half way into the season.<\/p>\n
The players took it the right way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe came out and got hit in the mouth,\u201d said SJS running back Jabari Bates.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first thing we got to do is look in the mirror,\u201d said SJS linebacker Naseri Danielson. \u201cThe season is far from over.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not judged by the worst day<\/p>\n
The best line of the afternoon came from the winning coach and it wasn\u2019t about revenge at all.<\/p>\n
Nevada started Luke Duncan, the UCLA transfer who lost the starting job in camp and struggled in an emergency start against Montana State. Choate\u2019s message to him this week was simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve all had bad days and we don\u2019t want to be judged by our worst moments,\u201d said Choate. \u201cYou want to rise up and get redemption. This is your opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Duncan threw for 178 yards and two touchdowns.<\/p>\n
So, a game of two Lukes. One got his redemption from the start. The other got his in a fourth-quarter cameo after being sent to the bench. Both stayed ready.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you stay ready, you don\u2019t have to get ready,\u201d said Choate.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a lesson that reaches well beyond football. Last year\u2019s 55-10 loss doesn\u2019t define this San Jose State team and Saturday\u2019s 28-13 loss won\u2019t either. In anyone\u2019s book, a bad day is a chapter, not the book.<\/p>\n
Niumatalolo said as much, pointing out how fast college football turns from one week to the next.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this game, you just got to move on,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got no alternative. The only alternative is just to keep fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n
San Jose State (4-4, 2-2) doesn\u2019t get time to sulk. Mountain West leader New Mexico comes to CEFCU Stadium next.<\/p>\n
Revenge games, it turns out, don\u2019t settle old scores. They just show you who you are right now.<\/p>\n
For San Jose State, the answer is a defense that travels and an offense still looking for its own name. Reno will be there next time. So will the memory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Revenge games come with a built-in assumption. The people who got hurt remember it and the people who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[33350,88,90,89,9393],"class_list":["post-507548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-nevada-football","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-state-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}