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San José State

Spartans · Mountain West

Head coach Ken Niumatalolo Year 3 with San José State

Year-3 HCs (2015-2024) averaged -0.10 W vs. preseason expectation

Season Projection · 2026 W0

10,000 sims
4.5
Expected wins
4-9
Proj record
1 to 8
Win range (90%)
#119 (97–133)
Final rank (90%)
0%
Make playoff
1%
Win conference

Path to Glory

Tap a win or a loss on each pivotal game to see how the playoff probability shifts. Leave any game unset to average across both outcomes.

Make the playoff

0%

Baseline projection.

  • vs Cal Poly
    Home · Sep 12
  • at UTEP
    Away · Oct 17

Pivotal games are the 5 with the largest playoff-probability swing, ranked by the model. Math: chained Bayesian log-odds update from the conditional simulation set; gets the directionally right answer but won't perfectly capture cross-game correlations until the full Monte Carlo pipeline lands.

Returning production · 2026

56 score
  • Quarterback 13% (4/5 )
  • Offensive line 85% (28/33 players)
  • Skill (RB/WR/TE) 31% (21/25 )
  • Front 7 (DL/LB) 100% (18/18 )
  • Secondary 90% (15/16 )
  • Special teams 100% (6/6 )

Share of last season's production each unit returns. Higher means more continuity: 70%+ is healthy, 45–70% a normal rebuild, under 45% a major turnover.

Portal additions · 2026

-0.9 rating

22 proven transfers in, carrying the production below from their prior school.

  • Jordan Anderson WR ← Sacramento State 66 impact
  • Luke Weaver QB ← Hawai'i 29 impact
  • Isaiah Buxton CB ← San Diego State 21 impact
  • Brian Dukes Jr. S ← Cal Poly 18 impact
  • Aizik Mahuka LB ← Weber State 12 impact
  • Dominique McKenzie WR ← BYU 7 impact

Impact scores offensive skill additions (QB/RB/WR/TE) — prior-season production normalized within position (100 ≈ a 90th-percentile producer at that spot) and discounted for non-FBS competition, so a top back counts alongside a top quarterback. Defensive and O-line additions count as transfers but aren't box-score measurable, so they carry no impact score. The rating figure is this class's portal contribution vs. the FBS average, capped at ±2.5.

If QB1 is out (Walker Eget)

GIE projects a -2.7 rating drop and a -10.8pp shift in playoff probability if San José State loses its QB1 for an extended stretch. (n=1 historical samples; pooled across recent seasons.)

Situational efficiency · 2025

FBS percentile rank
  • 3rd-down conversion 40.6% 73th — strong
  • Red-zone TD rate 14.5% 48th — average
  • 4th-down aggression 44.2% 83th — strong
  • Late & close 4.3 yds/play 26th — below avg

Percentile is across all FBS teams with play-by-play data for the season. "Late & close" is yards per play in Q4+ with a one-score margin — a proxy for clutch offensive performance.

Schedule

Full 2026 slate. Tap a row for the matchup breakdown.

Latest Stories

  • Recap

    San José State: 2025 Week 16 recap

    San José State sits at 3–9 with a rating of –14.3, ranked 118th by GIE. The Spartans' most recent outing was a lopsided 41–14 home loss to Fresno State in Week 14, a result that underscores the offensive and defensive struggles that have…

More coming

Per-team pages get the full treatment in Phase 3: current rating, season projection histogram, schedule with win probabilities, and live overlays on Pylon stream days. For now, this page exists so stories and news have a permanent home as content rolls in.