Reading the San Jose stories in the Mercury news or mountain west coverage they expect to dominate because FBS vs FCS
They think their defensive line, which was the weakest part of their defense last year, to be better because they say it will. Early in camp the idea was that their seniors would provide senior leadership, but help was coming from recruits.. Now suddenly those seniors are the strength of their defense.

They think they'll win because their schedule gets tougher so they have to not only win but dominate.
A lot of wishful thinking. I hope their players have that same mindset, thinking they will dominate us, because when they don't they'll feel the pressure,

The concern about our offensive line experience may be well placed.
From our depth chart, which I think isn't too reliable, at left offensive tackle we have a red shirt freshman, and the Sac CC transfer from last year who played defense at sac city college, and was recruited as an offensive lineman here. He added 50 lbs according to roster. So two guys who've never played.

In regard to offensive line weight, a comparison from our game notes, our smallest guy is listed twice:
UCD Offensive line
LT 290 285
LG 305 296
C 277 290
RG 277 300
RT 300 298

San Jose Offensive line
LT 307 287
LG 308 284
C 284 285
RG 303 280
RT 289 275

If we lose it will be due to better players not bigger players

odd that they were ranked 129 against the run even though they had two linebackers with prodigious numbers of tackles, both of whome either graduated our moved on to give pros a try.
Not saying they won’t be a challenge for us. Except for our last game everyone was. Hoping we continue the running success we had against Sac, although maybe that was partially due to their lead

Their QB probably left because he lost the job.
I checked San Jose OL size vs our last opponent Sac and Sac is bigger. Not to mention the really big guys in the Big Sky.
On defense we need to get the ball back somehow. Takeaways or punts.
Extrapolating from the move of a safety to linebacker and a linebacker to defensive end that we are trying to have more speed on defense.

I too have had high expectations that haven’t become reality.
This game will tell us a lot.
We have a lot of positive answers to questions most teams are struggling with, but we have a few things we need to prove:
Do we have some semblance of a running game? Do we have to throw the ball on third and three, or are we a threat with the run?
Can we get consistent stops on D? Is their punter going to make a regular appearance?

There is not a major difference in the size of the lines. They have one massive guy on defense and a couple of offensive linemen who outweigh ours by less than 10 lbs which is less than 3%. Their number two OL guys are smaller or the same size as ours, depending on who we start.
We are used to playing bigger teams than San Jose

re the Daily Democrat’s
http://www.dailydemocrat.com/sports/20180828/ucd-set-for-season-opener-thursday

concern about young offensive linemen; we do have a lot of redshirt freshmen and freshmen linemen plus a few sophomores. But on our two deep depth chart we’ve got 7 upperclassmen and we have returning starters at three of the five positions.
Author takes Hawkins literally on the twenty passes to Doss. He interprets that as completions. That’s tough to do if you run the normal number of plays but hopefully we’ll run more due to hurry up no huddle offense.
Plough/Speckman/Hawkins are not going to be one dimensional given the other ball handlers on our team.

It will be Maier for sure.
Dr Mike,and anyone else at the game...Give us a report of how the svelt version of Tehran looks from a running back perspective. It seems he added a lot of weight between high school and last year and has since dropped 15 lbs and is back near his HS weight

That’s so last year, give the new guy a shot

I agree with both of your points. We want to know what’s going on and some of us are some distance away. So we need to get info about football from the data sources, not just personal stories etc.
I do appreciate at least seeing who are candidates to start in the depth chart. Once the game starts we know who’s actually #1

I applaud the departments effort to have some in house reporting. Can’t count on the Enterprise, the Bee etc, as illustrated by this seasons coverage. But unfortunately Bruce’s work is full of fluff and not a lot can be learned from it, but beggars can’t be choosers.

On the depth chart issue I see where you are coming from. Gee, who do you think will start at quarterback?

They have the safeties and the corners mixed up

Mercury News thinks 2010 was not in the 21st century!
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mercurynews.com/2018/08/27/san-jose-state-football-game-by-game-predictions-2/amp/

For those who don’t remember, UCD 14 SJSU 13

They just don’t want a recording of their loss

So why a Thursday night? I assumed that was for TV.

yep. Kind of predictable. So Spencer probably full time receiver.
Also other redshirt players in depth chart. Pretty good 1st class for Hawkins when added to the freshmen who played last year, I think maybe some of this year’s freshmen will play a role this year, just not necessarily in first game.

from the link on the SJSU release to a pdf game notes
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/sjsu/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2018-19/release/release_20180827aaa.pdf

..
Interesting to note:
CJ Spencer is listed as starting wide receiver.
Darius Livingston is on the 2 deep depth chart wide receiver, we haven't seen him play
Luka Nixon is on the depth chart.at Defensive End, he redshirted last year.
Ulonzo Gilliam is listed behind Tehran at running back.
Montel Bland is on the depth chart at linebacker, a redshirt last year
Erron Duncan is listed as a starting corner. He redshirted last year
Redshirt freshman Devon King on depth chart at corner
Not that this is necessarily accurate, but I believe it reflects who's done well enough in camp to get some notice,

I wish we had last years depth chart to compare but the web site redesign lost those links..
I think Olave moved from corner to safety., Parenteau from safety to linebacker,

His HS coach
“His vision, athleticism, ability to pass protect and pass receive make him a great running back,” Scheidt said. “The way we run gave him the freedom to take an inside run and bounce it outside or take an outside run and cut up the field. He was a kick returner and punt returner. If he’s not the best, he’s one of the best open-field tacklers we’ve ever had”
Like a lot of guys at this level, an incredible high school career in both football and basketball

from a high school Speckman was once head coach at. I wonder if they still run Speckman’s fly offense

Finally a Davis Enterprise article about the game focused on our running backs. Interesting that Ulonzo Gilliam is in the mix.

“Gilliam, Thomas and Modise have all had good camps. And I don’t think any one tailback is going to take all the snaps in our system. We feel each one has a little bit different talent and different skillset,” believes Speckman, who like any good coach isn’t about to spill the beans on a game plan for Thursday.