COASTAL CAROLINA CHANTICLEERS NOTES:
A COASTAL WIN WOULD …
• give Coastal Carolina its second bowl win in program history; • give the Chanticleers at least eight wins for the fourth consecutive season; • be the Chants’ first victory ever over a program from the state of California; • make Tim Beck just the second coach in program history to win a postseason game in his first season; • give the Chants their first win in December since 2021;
A COASTAL LOSS WOULD …
• give the Chanticleers six losses in a season for the first time since 2019; • be Coastal’s second consecutive bowl loss;
COASTAL CAROLINA BY THE NUMBERS
4 – The number of times Coastal Carolina has earned a bowl berth.
7 – Coastal Carolina has reached the seven-win mark for the fourth consecutive season.
13 – The Chanticleers rank 13th nationally with three defensive touchdowns this season.
16 – Where the Chants are ranked nationally in completion percentage despite playing four different quarterbacks.
21 – Coastal Carolina has forced 21 turnovers this season, which ranks 20th nationally.
GOING BOWLING
• Coastal Carolina is looking to win its second bowl game as an FBS program. • The Chants are the first FBS team from the Palmetto State to play a game in Hawai’i since 1981. • Coastal is searching for its sixth postseason win in program history.
SCOUTING THE SPARTANS OF SAN JOSE STATE
• San Jose State is 7-5 this season and is coming off a 37-31 win at UNLV. • This season marks the first time in SJSU history that the Spartans have become bowl eligible after starting a season 1-5. • SJSU enters the Hawai’i Bowl on a six-game winning streak, the longest for the Spartans since winning seven consecutive games to begin the 2020 campaign. • San Jose State is bowling for the third time in four seasons, a first in program history. • Head coach Brent Brennan is the first head coach in Spartan history to lead San Jose State to three bowl games. • The Spartans have outscored their opponents 232-107 during their six-game winning streak, including a 125-46 advantage in the second half. • SJSU has lost only eight turnovers this season, good for seventh in the nation and best in the Mountain West. • San Jose State enters the game with a +13 turnover margin, which ranks third nationally and first in the conference. • The Spartans special teams have two blocked punts, including one for a touchdown, have returned a punt for a touchdown, have recovered three onside kicks, and have recovered two fumbles on kickoffs. • SJSU has run for at least 150 yards in every game during its current win streak and eight times overall this season. • San Jose State has run for 100 yards or more in 10 games this season, the most for the program in a single season since 2017. • Running back Kairee Robinson is tied for third in the country with 18 rushing touchdowns. • Quarterback Chevan Cordeiro is the Mountain West’s all-time leader in yardage gained with 13,537 yards. • Cordeiro is tied with Derek Carr for the fourth-most touchdown passes in conference history with 87, including 19 this season.
SAN JOSE STATE SPARTANS NOTES:
OPENING DRIVE
• The co-regular season Mountain West Champions head to their third bowl game in four years for the first time in SJSU history and it’s the first time since 1986-87 the Spartans have been to back-to-back bowl games as they look for their seventh consecutive win for the first time since 2020.
• This will be the first time the Spartans have been in Hawai’i in December since 1941 when SJSU was in Honolulu on December 7 when Pearl Harbor was attacked preparing for December 13 and December 16 games against Willamette College and Hawai’i.
• It is the first time in SJSU history they have become bowl eligible after starting a season 1-5.
• The Spartans worst loss this season was at 7-5 USC (.583).
• With the Spartans going to a bowl game, Head Coach Brent Brennan is the first head coach in SJSU history to lead the Spartans to three bowl games. Brennan has led the Spartans to back-to-back over .500 seasons for the first time since 1991-92 and the 14-10 record the last two seasons is the best two-year span for the Spartans since going 17-8 in 2012-13.
• It’s also the first time the Spartans have had seven or more wins in back-to-back seasons since 1987 and in three of four seasons since 1982.
• Since 2020, the Spartans have gone 26-18 (20-10 in conference) and are looking for their first eight win season since 2012. This is also the best four year span for the Spartans since winning 26 games from 2012-15.
• When the Spartans beat No. 25 Fresno State (11/11), it was the first Spartan win over a nationally-ranked opponent since November 29, 2013 when they defeated No. 16 Fresno State 62-52 and the win was the largest margin of victory over Fresno State since 1990 when the Spartans defeated the Bulldogs 42-7.
• Against Hawai’i (10/28), it was the first shutout win for the Spartans since Aug. 29, 2013 when they defeated Sacramento State 24-0 in their season opener. It was also the first FBS shutout and road shutout since the Spartans defeated Navy 12-0 on Sept. 29, 2012 and this was the first time Hawai’i had been shut out since 2017 and the first time they’ve been shut out at home since 1998.
• The Spartans have outscored their opponents 232-107 over the six game win streak including 125-46 in the second half.
• The Spartans have lost only eight turnovers this season which is good for seventh in the nation and tops in the Mountain West. Their +13 turnover margin is good for third in the country and first in the MW.
• The Spartans have two or more takeaways in seven games this season and have at least one takeaway in seven straight games. Only twice this season the Spartans have been on the wrong end of the turnover margin in their games. Their 21 takeaways rank 20th nationally and third in the Mountain West.
• The Spartans special teams have two blocked punts including one for a touchdown, have a punt return touchdown and have recovered three onside kicks this season, plus have three fumble recoveries on kickoffs this season. According to ESPN, the Spartans have the number two special teams unit in the country at 70.9 efficiency.
• The first five FBS teams the Spartans played this season prior to bowl games finished a combined 42-20 (USC 7-5, OSU 8-4, Toledo 11-2, Air Force 8-4, Boise State 8-5).
• The Spartans also played a very competitive MW schedule by playing the teams who finished 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th & 8th in the conference. The Spartans finished 2nd.
• SJSU had rushed for 200 plus yards in four straight games for the first time since 2000 prior to SDSU (11/18) and have run for 200 or more games six times this season which is the most since 2000 as well. The Spartans are 13-0 when rushing over 200 yards in a game under Brennan.
• The Spartans have run for 150 or more yards in every game during the win streak and eight times overall this season which is also the most since 2000.
• The Spartans have hit at least 100 yards rushing in 10 games this season which is the most since they also did it 10 times in 2017.
• It is the first time since 2006 where the Spartans have beaten Fresno State and San Diego State in the same season.
• SJSU ran for 313 yards against No. 25 Fresno St. (11/11) which was the most against an FBS opponent since Oct. 24, 2015 when they rushed for 317 yards against New Mexico.
• The Spartans rushed for 259 yards at UNM (10/14) and 251 yards against Utah State (10/21) and it’s the first time since 2006 the Spartans had back-to-back 250 plus rushing yard games.
• Senior Kairee Robinson ran for a career-high 200 yards against No. 25 Fresno St. (11/11) plus added two touchdowns on the way to his second Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week award this season (10/16, 11/13).
• Robinson is averaging 7.13 yards per carry this season which is tops in the MW and fourth in the country. Robinson has a career 2,646 rushing yards which is fourth all-time in SJSU history and had a streak of four straight 100 plus yard games plus has six total this season.
• Robinson is third in the country and first in the Mountain West with 18 rushing touchdowns.
• Robinson has a rushing touchdown in every game he’s played in this season (11, second longest streak in the country) and his 18 rushing touchdowns are an SJSU single-season record. Robinson also broke the SJSU record for most games with a rushing touchdown in a season with 11.
• Robinson has 36 career touchdowns (31 rushing, five receiving) which is tied with Deoncé Whitaker (1998-2001) (33 rushing, two receiving, one kick return) for the SJSU record.
