Transfer QB-WR connection helps San Jose State beats Hawaii in final regular season game
SAN JOSE — The passing connection between Chevan Cordeiro and Elijah Cooks continues to click for the San Jose State football team.
Cooks caught a career-best 10 passes for 121 yards and two first-half touchdowns and the Spartans snapped a two-game losing streak with a 27-14 victory over Hawaii on Saturday afternoon in front of 15,012 fans at CEFCU Stadium.
SJSU (7-4, 5-3 Mountain West), having already clinched bowl eligibility, enhanced its chances of being chosen to play in the postseason for the second time in three seasons.
Informed his team posted the program’s first 6-0 home record since 1978, coach Brent Brennan smiled and said, “That’s cool. We’re all about changing history.”
Cordeiro completed 17 of 26 attempts for 208 yards against his former school, with his touchdowns of 5 and 7 yards going to Cooks, a graduate transfer from Nevada.
“We just clicked toward the end of the season,” said Cooks, who had as many as 50 family members at the final home game of his career. “As the season goes on, the quarterback believes in somebody more. He believes in me.”
Cooks now has a career-best and MWC-leading 10 TD catches this season. Over the past six games, he has 40 receptions for 575 yards and seven scores.
“He makes my job easy,” Cordeiro said of his roommate. “We have that connection, we have that chemistry.”
When the Spartans needed to convert a fourth-and-4 play from the Hawaii 34-yard line, Cordeiro went downfield to the 6-foot-4 Cooks, who made a diving catch for a first down at the 5. That set up a field goal that stretched the lead to 27-14 with 7:08 to play.
“It came down to winning the matchup. We trust Elijah,” Cordeiro said of the fourth-down play. “I just had to drop the ball in there and let him run it down.”
Cooks had a productive career at Nevada but his 2020 and ’21 seasons were cut short by injuries. He has played every game this season and has 63 catches for 983 yards.
“I’ve had a lot of ups and downs. There’s nothing better than the ups in football,” he said. “When I’m out there on the field I’m the happiest I ever am.”
Hawaii (3-10, 2-6) reached the SJSU 2-yard line in the final 3 minutes before the Spartans’ defense twice made tackles for loss before linebacker Viliami Fehoko sacked Brayden Shager on fourth down to end the threat.
The Rainbow Warriors crossed midfield seven times but managed just two scores, thanks to clutch plays by the Spartans’ defense.
“I don’t care if they don’t get across the 50 as long as they don’t get in the end zone,” Brennan said. “Our defense came through.”
The game was meaningful for Cordeiro, who grew up on the islands and played four seasons for the Rainbow Warriors before transferring to SJSU.
Actually, he called the experience of facing his old defensive teammates “weird.”
“I used to play them in practice and they couldn’t touch me,” he said. “They were trying to get in my head the whole game. I was there for four years so they’re still my brothers. After the game we were all hugging.”
The Spartans gave themselves some breathing room at 21-6 with a 10-play, 75-yard drive to open the second half. Senior Kairee Robinson bouncing outside to the left to score on a 1-yard run with 9:46 left in the third quarter. Robinson, a De La Salle High product, wound up with a career-best 148 rushing yards.
A 27-yard field goal by Schive two plays into the fourth quarter boosted the Spartans’ lead to 24-6.
NOTE: An athletic department spokesperson confirmed the Spartans will not play a makeup game against New Mexico State before the bowl game. The game, originally set for Oct. 22, was postponed indefinitely after the death of SJSU freshman running back Camdan McWright, killed in a traffic accident the day before.