San Jose State knew it would have to play a nearly flawless game to have a chance at No. 7-ranked Texas on Saturday morning.
Four turnovers in the first half took care of that in SJSU’s 38-7 loss in Austin, Texas.
The Spartans (0-2 overall) entered the game as 36.5 point underdogs against the Longhorns (1-1) and were coming off a disappointing season-opening 16-14 loss against Central Michigan that saw SJSU commit three turnovers.
“I would just love to see where we would be without those turnovers,” head coach Ken Niumatalolo said on his radio postgame interview on KTRB. “I thought early on we were in it.”
The Spartans had a promising start in front of more than 100,000 fans at Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium. SJSU held Texas, the preseason No. 1 team in the nation, to a three-and-out on its first possession, including a pass by Heisman Trophy hopeful Arch Manning (Eli and Peyton’s nephew) that was almost intercepted by freshman cornerback Jaylen Thomas. The Longhorns would punt again on the second drive, they totaled only 14 yards on the first two drives.
Then the Spartans’ turnovers got in the way.
Following SJSU’s first fumble, Manning hit Parker Livingstone for an 83-yard touchdown on the third drive of the series. The Longhorns would never look back.
Texas went on a 28-0 run during a stretch that saw the Spartans commit three more turnovers (one interception and two fumbles).
These turnovers set up the Longhorns on short fields, allowing them to score quickly.
The Spartans drove to the Longhorns’ 23 yard-line on their first drive of the game, setting up a third and four. But quarterback Walker Eget rolled out instead of throwing the ball away, losing six yards. Niumtalolo could be seen yelling at the top of his lungs at Eget on the sideline after the play.
Moments later, kicker Dennis Lynch missed a 47-yard field goal attempt. Lynch also missed a 50-yard attempt just before halftime. Lynch also missed two attempts in the opener, both in the final 90 seconds of that loss.
Eget passed for with 118 yards, one interception and a completion percentage of 50%.
SJSU was on the wrong side of Manning’s first big performance of the 2025 season.
Manning passed for 295 yards and four touchdowns with one interception. He also had a 20-yard touchdown run.
Eget put together a good scoring drive in the second quarter with 72 passing yards, 41 of them going to wide receiver Kyri Shoels. The drive was capped off with a 4-yard rushing touchdown by Jabari Bates.
With the Longhorns double-teaming Danny Scudero (who had nine catches for 189 yards against Central Michigan) a majority of the game, the game opened up for Shoels, who had eight receptions, 73 yards.
Despite the extra defensive attention, Scudero still grabbed seven passes for 66 yards.
The Spartans have a bye next week. Their next game will be at CEFCU stadium against Idaho (0-1, 0-0 Big Sky) on Sept. 20 at 2 p.m.