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How and what to watch for Nevada vs. San Jose State

The Wolf Pack will be trying to give San Jose State their first loss on the season Friday night in the Mountain West game of the year.

San Jose State Spartans quarterback Nick Starkel (17) passes the football during the first quarter against the UNLV Rebels at CEFCU Stadium. Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports

The Nevada Wolf Pack will be trying to end the San Jose State Spartans’ undefeated season when they play Friday night at 10:00 p.m. ET in Las Vegas, and there are plenty of Mountain West Championship Game implications on the line.

The Wolf Pack (6-1) are coming into this highly anticipated Mountain West matchup following a 37-26 win last week over the Fresno State Bulldogs. Nevada quarterback Carson Strong out-dueled Fresno quarterback Jake Haener, completing 23-of-39 passes for 354 yards, five touchdowns, and two interceptions. Haener completed 41-of-65 passes for 485 yards and two touchdowns.

Three of Strong’s touchdown passes went to wide receiver Tory Horton, which were a part of his five receptions for 148 yards. This season, the Wolf Pack is scoring 31.3 points and averaging 334.4 passing yards per game. Defensively, Nevada allowed 114 yards on the ground and two touchdowns, along with the 485 yards through the air. They will need to clean up on that as they are facing a SJSU offense that averages 12.9 yards per completion.

As for San Jose State (5-0), they have been one of the great under the radar stories in college football this season. Last week the Spartans defeated Hawai’i on the road 35-24 during their first game in three weeks.

San Jose State’s running game led by Tyler Nevins and Kairee Robinson were the MVPs of the game. Nevins ran for a game-high 152 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns, while Robinson had 111 yards on 17 carries and a touchdown. The Spartans are hoping to replicate this performance against a solid Nevada run defense, which is only allowing 125.4 yards per game.

Game Time/TV Channel/Streaming

You can watch Nevada vs. San Jose State on Friday, December 11th at 10:00 p.m. ET on CBSSN, or you can stream it via the CBS Sports App with a cable or streaming service login.

Point Spread, Totals, Odds, Trends

Point spread: Nevada (+3) vs. San Jose State (-3)
Point Total: O/U 58.5
Money line: Nevada (+120) San Jose State (-148)

  • Dating back to last season, the Nevada Wolf Pack have a record of 9-3 against the spread in its last 12 games.
  • The point total went over in four of Nevada’s last six games.
  • This season, San Jose State has a record of 4-0-1 against the spread in its last five games.
  • However, the Spartans are undefeated straight up with a record of 6-0 and the point total went under in five of their last six games.

The Best Bet

Looking at this matchup on paper, both of these Mountain West squads are pretty even. It is hard to say which team is supremely better than the other because the Wolfpack’s only loss this season came against Hawai’i, who San Jose State just beat last week. Additionally both teams’ defenses are solid as they don’t give up a ton of yards on the ground, and the quarterback play is solid too.

Pick: Nevada (+3)

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