CBS Sports says Auburn football Week 2 foe San Jose State ‘not a cakewalk’
Auburn football, as we all know, will be partaking in one of college football’s most grueling schedules of any school in the country. The Tigers will be visiting the reigning SEC Champion Alabama in late November and will be between the hedges in Athens, Georgia taking on the defending national champion Bulldogs the second week of October.
Besides that, SEC West risers Ole Miss and Arkansas will be looking to build upon strong 2021 seasons, and Mississippi State is no slouch in Starkville either. LSU is in disarray, but Brian Kelly has had one losing season at the Power Five level since 2010. His Notre Dame teams were a combined 115-39 since he took over back and even led the Fighting Irish to two College Football Playoffs. Missouri has low expectations, but Eli Drinkwitz’ squad still stunned Florida and South Carolina last year, albeit at home, and has momentum coming off of their highest-ranked recruiting class of all time.
We haven’t even gotten to the Week 3 Penn State matchup that Paul Finebaum considers to be the ‘bellwether‘ for how the 2022 Auburn football season will end up shaking out. Are you convinced yet that the Tigers will be tested every week from mid-September on?
Well, you should know that the Mercer and Western Kentucky games will be the only reprieves AU gets all season. San Jose State, as CBS Sports’ Bud Elliot says, is ‘not a cakewalk’:
"“Auburn better start hot, because their closing here is very difficult. They start Mercer and San Jose State…San Jose State is probably pretty good within that league (Mountain West). That’s not a cakewalk. They’re not gonna beat Auburn, but if Auburn is looking ahead to Penn State, they could give Auburn some trouble. You better start 4-1 there…”"
What Auburn football will be dealing with against San Jose State
The San Jose State Spartans won the Mountain West during the 2020 pandemic-stricken college football season — a year in which many players chose to sit out to avoid possible side effects of COVID-19 on themselves and their families. Last year, SJSU lost five of their last seven games (sound familiar?) and finished 5-7.
Former Hawaii signal-caller Chevan Cordeiro will take over San Jose State’s offense under center in 2022 after amassing 7,250 total yards and 58 touchdowns during his four year career with the Rainbow Warriors. The immediately eligible grad transfer takes over for fellow mobile QB Nick Nash, who went 3-2 as the Spartans starter in 2021.
With a sturdy OL and a QB that could make plays through the air and with his feet, AU’s defensive front needs to stay on its toes and not allow Cordeiro time in the pocket to punish them by any means. The Spartans will be returning much of their defense from last year, so continuity could be key to improvement from a year ago, when they gave up at least 30 points five different times — with four of those outings being losses.