Spartan Daily Vol. 161 No. 4

San Jose community shows Pride

By Irene Adeline Milanez NEWS EDITOR

Concluding a week filled with events, from a flag raising at City Hall to Queer Night at the Movies, the largest pride celebration in the South Bay marched through Downtown San Jose on Sunday morning.

Silicon Valley Pride celebrates the LGBTQ+ community and its allies in the last week of August and has held parades since 1977 according to its site.

Businesses, organizations and associations passed through the intersection of Julian and Market Street and ended at the Pride festival in Plaza de Cesar Chavez Park.

Catinni P. Vandon, a drag queen hostess at Splash, said they appreciate the San Jose community having a second month to celebrate Pride.

They said Splash is one of the largest of the three local gay bars in the San Jose area that hosts daily drag shows.

“Of course we celebrate all together in June during world

Pride, but I think every town, every county should have their own separate pride to celebrate the individuals in their own community,” Vandon said.

Samantha Quiñones, a teaching assistant for students with learning disabilities, said she grew up in San Jose and has been coming to Pride since she was 15-years-old.

Genevie DeLeon, music technology freshman and San Jose State color guard member, said this was the first Pride she has performed in as an SJSU student. “I love it,” DeLeon said. “I’m pansexual, so being able to be out there and everyone being so supportive of my sexuality, it’s nice to see it being celebrated.”

community outreach, helps with policy reform and leads training for diversity topics.

She also said it felt good to represent both the queer community and the police department, and that she was in uniform for the first San Jose-based Pride event she ever attended.

“The first Pride I ever

policies that reinforced that,” Alvarez said. “I always see it as a representation of progress, and how we can all come together and celebrate something beautiful.”

Izabelle Kokkat, Notre Dame High School junior and SV Pride volunteer, also said it’s good to remind people that Pride is not limited to June.

“I feel like a lot of people, especially companies, kind of forget about Pride after June,” Kokkat said.

Rogue Mermaid, dancer at Splash Video Dance Bar, said she loves staggering Pride throughout the year especially for artists and performers.

Catinni P. Vandon Drag Queen

“I personally noticed it’s definitely gotten a lot bigger,” Quiñones said. “There’s a lot more companies participating, a lot more communities participating. I’ve also seen a lot more indigenous communities, a lot more diversity.”

While Vandon and Quiñones are no strangers to SV Pride, others were attending pride for the first time.

Melia Means, forensic science freshman and SJSU color guard member, said this was also her first SV Pride parade she has participated in. The parade hosted various companies and organizations, including the San Jose Police Department (SJPD).

Denise Alvarez, LGBTQ+ community liaison for the SJPD, said she coordinates

went to here in San Jose was in uniform,” Alvarez said. “So it feels good to be able to represent, you know, both sides of policing and being part of the community as well.” She said the relationship with police and the queer community has not been the most positive historically.

“There’s been a lot of discrimination and a lot of

“It keeps the energy going throughout this summer, which I don’t think should be quantified into just one month or one weekend,” she said.

ALINA TA | SPARTAN DAILY

Attendees gather to celebrate Silicon Valley Pride with a variety of floats and performances during a parade in downtown San Jose on Sunday morning.

ALINA TA | SPARTAN DAILY

ALINA TA | SPARTAN DAILY

ALINA TA | SPARTAN DAILY

IRENE ADELINE MILANEZ | SPARTAN DAILY

ALINA TA | SPARTAN DAILY

Of course we celebrate all together in June during world Pride, but I think every town, every county should have their own separate pride to celebrate the individuals in their own community.

Vietnamese community gathers

By Alina Ta ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

A large group from San Jose’s Vietnamese community gathered to eat and watch live stage performances to reconnect with their culture on Saturday morning at the Vietnamese American Cultural Center.

Between the vendors tabling on the green lawn behind the cultural center, some of the visitors wore aó dài and spoke in Vietnamese with different vendors.

An aó dài is a garment with long sleeves and long panels of fabric attached to both the front and the back of the top. The garment is worn by both men and women in Vietnam and in English, aó dài translates to “long dress,” according to a June 30 article from Elle Magazine.

Lynnette Truong, a freshman from Evergreen Valley College, said her mom discovered the event on Facebook and decided to bring the whole family.

“It’s just an event for all these Vietnamese people around the area,” Truong said. “They just come together and do activities together.”

Truong said her favorite part of the event was the food.

At the back of the event, volunteers from Arise Generation Church served sweet rice with jackfruit, rice paper mixed with young papaya and cups of sugar cane juice.

Arise Generation Church is a Christian church in San Jose, according to its website.

At another table at the event, Hung Vo, the owner of a company that imports rice from Vietnam, displayed different rice products.

Vo said he decided to have his company table at the event a second time because he wants to expose more of his products to the Vietnamese community.

“We want to be a bridge of the different product[s] from Vietnam to America,” Vo said.

He said it is important to have Vietnamese products available to the community, but it is very difficult to buy products from their home country because many manufacturers in Vietnam don’t follow FDA standards.

to bring the community together.

She also said her favorite part of the event was the singing and dancing.

“Like what’s been going on stage was kind of crazy,” Lam said.

On stage, hosts from the community gave away prizes and young children performed dances and plays on stage.

as a famous representative for the Vietnamese community, she does feel she represents women’s empowerment in the community.

“I think a big part of why I’m here is to represent women empowerment and just being strong in the face of it all,” Lam said.

He said his Vietnamese was limited when he was young, but he learned how to speak more of his native-tongue as he started being more involved with the Vietnamese community.

Bien Doan District 7 Councilmember

Quynline Lam, Miss Vietnam San Francisco, said she thinks it’s great

At the beginning of the event Samantha Tran, a sophomore student at Oceana High School in Northern Pacifica and one of the singers on stage, also sang anthems of the U.S. and Vietnam.

Lam said although she does not see herself

Councilmember of District 7 Bien Doan said he is proud to be both Vietnamese and American and is honored to represent the community at City Hall.

Doan said he immigrated to America in 1975 when he was ten-years-old.

Doan said the whole Vietnamese community has been working hard to support the younger generation, but have issues resonating with the youth.

“It is our responsibility as Vietnamese to learn about our culture, learn about our language,” Doan said. “Not only it will help you understand who you are, which direction you go in, and

how you can help the community if you don’t know who you are, then you can’t really help, right?” Doan said. Doan said the Vietnamese community is an economic power, but it still needs more representation.

“We need our voice to be heard,” Doan said. “We need to change [policies] that affect our community.”

EDITORIAL

Samantha Tran (left) and Katherine Tran (right) sing “Stand By Me” by Ben E. King at the Vietnamese American Cultural Center in San Jose on Saturday morning.

ALINA TA | SPARTAN DAILY

ALINA TA | SPARTAN DAILY

A volunteer from Arise Generation Church plates a sweet rice with jackfruit dessert at a community gathering.

It is our responsibility as Vietnamese to learn about our culture, learn about our language.

SJSU alumna’s home catches fire

By Alina Ta ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

A fire burned the front of a Victorian-style home two blocks away from San Jose State around 10 a.m. on Friday.

Across the street, witnesses saw a green house with the front completely charred from the fire on the corner of Reed Street and Ninth Street.

Jo Pink, an alumna from SJSU and one of the tenants renting a space on the property, ran into a gray and smoky living room after hearing a fire alarm go-off.

Pink said she only managed to grab her phone and her dog before running out of the house.

Once outside, Pink said she had to resuscitate her dog because she was not breathing.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe I saved her,” Pink said. “She’s the most important thing in my life.”

“It’s just, it’s very sad. I just remodeled the

place too,” Pink said with charcoaled fingers from the smoke. “I lived here for 16 years.”

Pink said she spent $25,000 on the renovations.

Beth Mondry, who lives one block away from the house, said she heard an explosion in the morning and ran outside.

“When I came outside, there were fire trucks and I ran to the corner because my friend lives in this house,” Mondry said.

Brett Maas, battalion one incident commander for the San Jose Fire Department, said the fire department first started receiving reports about the fire at 10:30 a.m.

“We were getting reports [that] smoke was showing from some of our in-route units before they got here,” Maas said.

Maas said the fire department contained and defused the fire within 20 minutes and are still determining the origin of the fire.

He also said the fire damaged the entire structure, but there were no fatalities or victims

trapped inside when the building was burning.

“They went in and knocked out the fire on the first floor and also searched and did not find anybody inside… no victims,” Maas said. “One occupant of the house was able to exit the building prior to our arrival.”

Pink said she couldn’t hear the fire alarm go off when the door to the laundry room was closed. She said when she opened the door she heard the alarm, started running to the front door and saw there was already a small little fire inside one of the rooms.

“Then it just went so quickly, so huge,” Pink said. “I opened the window and the door, and it just went very quickly.”

After the fire, a neighbor guided Pink to the front of her house and gave her a bag of food and a cup of cranberry juice.

“Everyone is asking me if [there’s] anything I need, they’re very supportive,” Pink said. “It’s been really heartwarming support from the neighbor and my friend.”

Pink said she has known the owner for 20 years.

SJSU alumni, Larry Lundberg, said he felt sick after hearing about the fire over the phone.

“It’s the first house I ever owned,” Lundberg said. “I lived there for five years.”

Lundberg said he’s owned the house since 1971 and that it has a fond spot in his heart because his deceased nephew painted the house.

Pink said she said the house was very beautiful before the fire and is now sad.

“There’s no more beautiful place but they said [they] can make it even more beautiful,” Pink said.

Lundberg said he is unsure when he will finish remodeling and repairing the house, but he is estimating repairs will take between six to seven months.

Hurricane inconveniences SoCal locals

By Nikita Bankar STAFF WRITER

While labeled as a recordbreaking Category 4 hurricane, Hilary slowly faded into a tropical storm by the time it reached Southern California on Aug. 20.

Hilary came to life on the coast of Mexico, with highspeed winds, flooding and heavy rainfall. Many residents were left with varying levels of inconvenience, but no deaths

hit Southern California in 84 years, according to Fox 5 News.

According to an article by the San Diego Tribune, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) reported that approximately 39,000 residents did not have power, but within an hour it was restored.

While the destruction of trees, roads and buildings was significant, the city was able to escape utter disaster.

Gissel Lopez, San Diego resident and undergrad journalism student at Azusa Pacific University said when the hurricane hit, she and her family were camping in Jamul, Calif.

“There was intense rain, a hurricane warning, and super intense fog,” Lopez said.

Lopez said that a family friend even got a tornado warning and was told to shelter in their basements.

home, our home was fine and had some rain but not enough to do damage.”

San Jose State alumni and Los Angeles resident Noelia Gamboa said the news of the hurricane left her feeling unsure about how her city would be affected.

“I wasn’t sure what to expect or how to react to the situation given that there hasn’t been a hurricane in the LA area for over 80-plus years,” Gamboa said.

“I feel as though we have bigger issues to worry about up here in San Jose like earthquakes and fires,” she said. “It definitely is not a good feeling to know that back home in places like San Diego is flooding but I do not think major damage is being done.”

San Jose has quite a high earthquake risk, as there have been 5,180 earthquakes in San Jose since 1931, reported in the United States Geological Survey (USGS) database.

no

“The issue with that is that no one in San Diego has a

After experiencing Hilary, Gamboa said that it was not as bad as many news sources were claiming it to be.

“In my neighborhood we didn’t experience anything too catastrophic,” she said. “Minor flooding and some tree branches fell, things that typically happen when there’s rainstorms.”

LA resident Inaiya Giles, graduated from SJSU at the end of the 2023 spring semester.

She said that the hurricane was expected to be deadly and destructive, yet this was not at all the case in her city.

“Honestly the hurricane was not that bad, it really was just a tropical storm,” Giles said. “I believe that many people were so busy trying to over prepare themselves that they did not watch the news.”

Giles also said that there are more crucial issues for San Jose to focus on rather than the hurricane, since it was not as detrimental as reported.

In the San Jose Fire Incidents data set (2015 to present), there have been 1,000-1,200 fires per year.

Alexa Romero, San Diego resident and junior at Helix Charter High School, said Hilary did not feel too impactful since she didn’t personally experience overly flooded roads or hard rain.

“It honestly seemed just like any other day during the fall or winter season,” she said. “It would look gloomy and be sprinkling outside and the weather temperature would remain really hot, but that was it.”

ALINA TA | SPARTAN DAILY

were rep orted, accordi ng to a Times of San Die go article. The hurricane was the first tropical storm to

one in San Di eg o has a basement,” she said. “When we arrived

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San Jose firefighters assess burn damages to SJSU alumna Jo Pink’s Victorian-style home on the corner of Reed and Ninth Street near SJSU on Friday morning.

Japantown cheers with sake

By Angel Santiago STAFF WRITER

Japantown hosted a sake and beer walk on Saturday held at three locations where San Jose residents got a literal taste of Japanese culture.

The three businesses taking part in the event were Jack’s, 7Bamboo and Jtown Pizza Co. The locations were all one block away from each other, giving guests the opportunity to spend time at all venues. On the serving table, there were different liquors labeled with their respective names, flavors and some facts

about each one.

Guests had the opportunity to get a small glass cup and a wristband to get to taste an array of beers and sake.

Sake is a Japanese beverage made out of fermented rice, according to a Britannica article.

Event server Jim Pollak who has worked in the beer industry for more than 30 years said he’s always had a love for Japanese culture.

“We could study wherever we wanted, and I love Japan and then got into Asia in general,” Pollak said.

Event attendee Bonnie Turner said she found out about the Sake Walk through

her friend and came in her kimono dress. “Since I was a really little girl, probably from like four years old, I’ve been really just fascinated with Japanese culture,” Turner said.

A kimono is a robe worn in Japan and is commonly used in festivals or weddings but has also become commonly worn outside of those occasions. The kimono robe also symbolizes long life and good fortune.

Turner said the art, culture and history of Japan has been a longstanding interest of hers.

to put them on and then events like this, I like to bring the team on and wear them just to make people smile and have something nice.”

Follow the Spartan Daily on X (formerly Twitter) @SpartanDaily have a few,” Turner said. “I learned

“I started [a] kimo collection, now I have quite a few,” Turner said. “I learned

ANGEL SANTIAGO | SPARTAN DAILY

Servers at the Sake Walk pour different types of sake and beer distributed by local breweries in the South Bay area as attendees taste each individual drink.

Ranking Demi, Miley and Ariana’s singles

By Vanessa Real STAFF WRITER

Former Nickelodeon and Disney Channel stars Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato all released new music last Friday.

These girls have been holding my childhood in a chokehold since appearing in late 2000s television shows such as Hannah Montana, Victorious and As the Bell Rings. Throughout the years I’ve seen all 3 girls branch out to start record breaking music careers.

Following her breakout role in 2010s Victorious, Ariana Grande won multiple awards and starred in her own spin off show Sam and Cat. Ariana’s debut album “Yours Truly” was released in 2013 and launched her music career with having over 138,000 units sold in its first week of release.

Demi Lovato won over 60 different music awards over her career, and her debut album “Don’t Forget,” released in 2008, reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

Miley Cyrus’s debut album “Meet Miley Cyrus” was released in 2007 and reached No.1 on the Billboard 200.

Since her rise to fame she has won multiple awards including four American Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, one Billboard Music Award and more.

I have seen Ariana Grande grow up and become famous in front of my eyes.

While watching Victorious as a child I just knew that Ariana Grande would be the one to branch off from the show and become a pop success.

Anytime there’s a new song from her I’m quite excited and prepared to listen.

me, it’s the idea of getting older and not being seen as valuable because you aren’t young, fun and hot enough anymore once you get to a certain age.

I read the lyrics as a beautiful concept about starting to get older and more mature, and to leave relationships where people do not celebrate growth with you.

I feel a certain level of comfort hearing Cyrus affirm and defend herself by saying that even though she doesn’t act or dress the same as her younger-self did, that doesn’t mean there isn’t any more fun in her life.

During the chorus a lyric says, “That’s fine, I’ve had a good run,” clarifying that she acknowledges the fun and wild stages in her life, but with age doesn’t need to continue with her past actions.

as a single last March. After listening to “Heart Attack,” “Confident,” “Sorry Not Sorry,” and “Cool for the Summer,” I can proudly say that I will be anticipating the rest of the album.

Listening to her songs being turned into rock songs made my age rewind for a second. It put me into my tween era again, but now I’m bobbing my head up and down and playing air guitar, which I never did to the originals.

I am more than ready for Sept. 15 to hear all that Lovato has in store for us, because when I listen to these songs it feels like she was waiting to make them into rock songs.

with her re-releasing “Yours Truly.”

I had to download all the Live from London versions of “Honeymoon Avenue,” “Baby I,” “Tattooed Heart,” “Right There,” and “The Way,” because hearing Ariana use different melodies, notes, and riffs in these versions of the songs makes you appreciate her talent even more.

Having to rate these old Nickelodeon and Disney Channel stars based off of the music they have all recently released, I am going to start with Ariana Grande in third.

I am a big fan of her and while I love and appreciate her anniversary release I can’t help but want to see a newly released single from her.

Demi Lovato had to be first when it comes to this ranking simply because of my excitement level for the rest of her “REVAMPED” album. I had never considered myself to be a big fan of rock, but knowing that Lovato has an incredibly talented voice, and myself being a fan of the original pop versions of “Heart Attack” and “Confident,” I couldn’t help but listen.

I have never given Miley Cyrus’s music a chance since I started hearing her pop music on the radio. Her song “Flowers” was catchy but just not my type, so I started to stray away from the idea of listening to Cyrus’s new music.

With “Used it be Young” coming out last Friday, Cyrus seemed like she really wanted her audience to relate to her. The song tells the story of people telling her that she’s lost her wildness and fun, and how time has changed her personality.

In her song she talks about her experience of people comparing her to her younger self. She explains that those times of being fun and crazy were for when she was young. “I say I used to be young,” and “That’s ‘cause I used to be young,’’ are lyrics that are repeated multiple times in the chorus.

Cyrus being 31-years-old doesn’t make this relatable to

This song made me realize I need to give her music more of a chance, and that even if it isn’t a song I can listen to on shuffle over and over again throughout the day, that doesn’t mean I can’t like and appreciate this song. I think I will listen to her upcoming album.

It has officially been 10 years since Ariana Grande released her album “Yours Truly.” She has since given her fans a 10th anniversary edition of her album, where some specialties have been added to older songs and adding some songs she had performed live in London onto the album as well.

I have already been a fan of “Yours Truly,” there was no new surprise factor to the album, even though it was very enjoyable. Miley Cyrus’s ‘Used to be Young’ has to be second.

I am just shocked at myself for how much I genuinely appreciated and enjoyed this release since I am not her biggest fan when it comes to her other music.

She’s been teasing the songs since March of 2023, so she has kept me on my toes for months now. Hearing their older music turned rock, is the most right feeling ever, especially because Lovato has a voice made for rock, it is beyond fitting for her Being as difficult as it was to rate each of the Nickelodeon and Disney girl’s newly released music, it’s still easy to say that Lovato has convinced me with these song releases that I need to watch and listen to her more. With her teasing a couple of the rock versions of her songs before the rest of the album comes out, she has lured me into what else “REVAMPED” can and will be, and why I should be excited.

Demi Lovato has dropped yet another single of a rock version of her song “Confident” on Friday.

Lovato has scheduled to release the full album, “REVAMPED,” on Sept. 15, having each song of hers on the album being the rock remakes of previously released songs.

I was already a fan of Lovato’s music when she released “Heart Attack (Rock Version)”

As a pretty big fan of hers, I was anticipating her to release some newer music. There’s currently an unreleased song of hers floating around the internet called “Fantasize” that a lot of social media, especially TikTok, have shed light to and made a hit.

Any friend of mine that is an Ariana Grande fan and has TikTok has heard “Fantasize” by now, and fans have been anticipating an official release. With that being said though, I am definitely not disappointed

She deserves second ranking because listening to this song has made me realize I need to get on the Cyrus train and give more of her music a chance.

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Correction

On Wednesday, Aug. 23, the Spartan Daily misrepresented two members of the Vietnamese Student Association. The Spartan Daily regrets this error.

ILLUSTRATION BY JOANNA CHAVEZ | SPARTAN DAILY

SJSU volleyball takes two of three

By Aaliyah Roman Maya Benmokhtar and Angel Santiago STAFF WRITERS

Friday

The San Jose State University women’s volleyball team kicked off their season with a win against California State University, Northridge in the San Jose State/Santa Clara Tournament on Friday.

The two schools battled to five sets with the Spartans winning 3-2 and out-scoring the Matadors 84-52 at the Spartan Gym.

“I’m just so fired up to be on the court. I’m ready to get after every single point, every single game. I’m just ready to take this team to the tournament,” Freshman outside hitter Nayeli Ti’a said.

Ti’a led SJSU with 24 kills and had 6 assists.

“The standard that we’re trying to create and hold for Spartan volleyball is in the making,” Ti’a said. “We’re trying to reach that every day whether it’s in practice, whether it’s off the court [or] in a game. I think this game tonight was just like the first building block.”

The Spartans dominated the third set of the game (25-10) and concluded it with a block by senior middle blocker Jiana Lawson that would set up the game winning point for Ti’a.

Lawson led SJSU with 8 blocks including 3 in the first set.

“Get ready,” Lawson said. “Everybody starts off maybe not how they want to [but] I think we did exactly what we set out to do, which was come and get a win.”

The Spartans struggled out of the gate losing 26-24 with a total of 17 errors in their first set.

“Sometimes you might have to lose a set to realize we’re better than that and I think we did,” Lawson said. “We got the first nerves out and we just did what we know [and] what we’ve been doing in practice for almost two months now.”

The team recovered shortly after and won the following two sets 25-21 and 25-10.

“We couldn’t get the ball in play,” first year head volleyball

coach Todd Kress said. “We couldn’t serve the ball on the court, couldn’t hit the ball on the court. We were all over the place.”

Kress said he plans to improve on their performance and be more “cerebral on the court.”

“It’s always nice to win when you didn’t play your best and I know that our best is obviously well in front of us as we’re a very young team.” Kress said. “Even though we do have upperclassmen, there were only two people on the court tonight that played last year for this program.”

“We’re not gonna back down from any challenge.” Lawson said. “Teams should be afraid of us.”

Saturday

The San Jose State volleyball team took the court sweeping Jacksonville University 3-0 at the Spartan Gym on Saturday.

In their second game of the tournament the Spartans outscored the Dolphins 57-36 led by junior outside hitter Blaire Fleming with 15 kills.

“I think even though we have ups and downs, we do it as one which is one of our core values,” Fleming said. “No matter the score, we come together and we celebrate and I think that’s what we did today, we all performed.”

Junior setter Brooke Slusser led the team with 35 assists and 4 aces.

“Our team is definitely the type of people where we come in every day, practice and work our butts off and we do the same thing in a game,” Slusser said.

SJSU was in the lead during the 1st set, finishing with a score of 25-17, but came out slow facing a 4-0 deficit in the second set.

SJSU head coach Todd Kress said he talked to his team about coming out with a better focus.

“We got to come out stronger and more in tune with one another from the onset as opposed to waiting until it’s 4-0 or 7-0,” Kress said. “We’re down and then we turn it on. We’ve got to come out with a much better focus and tighten it up from the start.”

Fleming said the team has been training for months to prepare for the start of the

Spartans head to the bench after a huddle against CSUN on Friday.

season.

“I think everyone is competing at the highest level every single day and putting in the work and so I know whoever comes off the bench and goes off, I’ve trusted them and that they’re gonna do their job and help us,” Fleming said.

Sunday

In their final game over the weekend San Jose State women’s volleyball couldn’t continue their winning streak against Santa Clara.

The women’s volleyball team would have its worst game losing 3-0 while being outscored 47-35.

“I didn’t think we were ready to go from the first whistle,” head coach Todd Kress said. “A couple of our players who were out acknowledged that they weren’t ready to go from the first whistle [and] there wasn’t enough energy during our warmup.”

Junior hitter Blair Fleming led the Spartans with 9 kills including 5 in the second set.

“Obviously not the same turnout that we wanted but we’re 2-1 and that’s not bad for our first three games,” Fleming said.

Junior setter Brooke Slusser led the Spartans in their third consecutive game in assists with 20.

“Things didn’t go the way we wanted, but I’d rather have it now than later in the season,” Slusser said. “We can go in now

learning from this and learning how to bounce back.”

The Spartans will face off against the University of Portland at 10 a.m. on Sept. 1 for the Hornet Invitational in Sacramento.

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MAYA BENMOKHTAR | SPARTAN DAILY

San Jose State junior Brooke Slusser (left) sets up senior middle blocker Jiana Lawson (right) for a spike in a win against Jacksonville, Saturday at the Spartan Gym.

AALIYAH ROMAN | SPARTAN DAILY

AALIYAH ROMAN SPARTAN DAILY

Freshman Nayeli Ti’a leads SJSU with 31 kills over the series

No. 6 Trojans spear Spartans

By Nathan Canilao STAFF WRITER

Chevan Cordeiro threw for 198 yards and 3 touchdowns while also rushing for 52 yards, but it wasn’t enough to upset No. 6 USC at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday night as the Trojans defeated the Spartans 56-28.

Wide receiver Nick Nash completed the hat trick, hauling in 3 touchdowns passes while recording 89 yards.

“We didn’t make the plays we needed to stay in it and keep it close and that was disappointing,” said head coach Brent Brennan. “We had

a couple of breakdowns that really hurt us. But that’s football. I think we have a resilient team.”

San Jose State kept the game competitive through the first half. Nash caught a 28-yard touchdown pass from Cordeiro at the end of the first half to cut the Trojans’ lead to 21-14.

On the first drive of the third quarter, the Spartans had the Trojans in a fourthand-3 situation, but failed to turn the ball over on downs as Caleb Williams completed a 23-yard pass to wide receiver Mario Williams which set up USC in the red zone.

The Trojans later scored on that

drive and the next four after that as the Spartans’ defense could not stop the Trojans’ air raid. USC outscored SJSU 35-14 in the second half and the Spartans’ upset bid fell short.

“We just had missed opportunities,” Nash said. “I think we were doing well, we were driving the ball well. We just had a couple of missed opportunities. Those little things are what gets you beat by a good team like USC.”

The Spartans won’t get a break in their next game as they face No. 18 Oregon State at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday at CEFCU stadium.

SJSU will also get a look at

another highly-touted quarterback in DJ Uiagalelei, the former Clemson quarterback who transferred to Oregon State this past season.

“I think we’re going to be a little bit more prepared for Oregon State and what they have to bring for us defensively,” Nash said. “We’re excited to play them.”

SJSU defense fails to stop USC

By Nathan Canilao STAFF WRITER

Coming into the offseason, there were questions about whether San Jose State’s defense could replace the production of its defense from last season.

The Spartans lost all-conference players Junior Fehoko, Cade Hall, Kyle Harmon and Nehemiah Shelton to graduation and the NFL draft, leaving fans to wonder who will step in to fill those shoes.

Those questions seem to still be unanswered after SJSU’s 56-28 loss to No. 6 USC on Saturday in Los Angeles. The Spartans gave up 501 yards of total offense while giving up 35 second half points. Saturday’s defensive performance was the worst under the Brent Brennan era since SJSU lost to Utah State 62-24 in 2018.

“I think it falls back to the fact that we just need to make more plays, myself included,” said sophomore defensive lineman Tre

Smith. “We all just got to getgel together as a cohesive unit and start making plays.”

The Spartans were playing one of the best offenses in the country with 2022 Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams manning the USC offense, but SJSU still failed to put any significant pressure on Williams and were helpless in the run game. For a team that was ranked 30th in the nation in total defense in 2022, the Spartans recorded just 1.5 sacks and 3 tackles for a loss as a team. The Trojans averaged 4.7 yards per carry as a team to go along with 160 total yards rushing.

SJSU head coach Brent Brennan said that tackling was one of the issues that contributed to Saturday’s loss.

“Whenever you play those guys, the number one thing that you’re trying to do is keep Caleb [Williams] and the offense and all those skill players off the field,” Brennan said. “We missed some tackles today against good people. If you miss tackles against good people, they

end up making big plays. Trying to keep them off the field was the goal and those things really hurt us.”

The workload for the defense does not get any lighter in the next few weeks. SJSU will face No. 18 Oregon State, the University of Toledo, Air Force and Boise State in the next five weeks who all boast offenses that are dangerous in their own respects.

Oregon State, who the Spartans will face on Sunday in a nationally televised CBS game, presents a challenge similar to USC, also having a highly-touted quarterback under center to command its offense.

Former Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei transferred to Oregon State this past season and will look to have a bounce-back campaign after an underwhelming performance with the Tigers. Uiagalelei was brought into Clemson to replace former national championship winning quarterback Trevor Lawrence but could not bring the Tigers back to the

COURTESY

Chevan Cordeiro’s 3 touchdowns weren’t enough in loss against USC.

College Football Playoff.

Despite similarities in their talent, head coach Brent Brennan said the preparation for Uiagalelei will differ from how SJSU approached Williams.

“I don’t think DJ and Caleb are alike outside of the fact that they’re both heavily recruited kids,” Brennan said. “I think DJ is

a different kind of problem. He’s a much bigger man. A little bit more of a pure thrower. I mean he’s as big as a tree, so bringing him down will be hard also.”

Nick Nash (right) hugs Charles Ross (left) after cutting the Trojans lead 21-13 in the second quarter of the game on Saturday a t the Los Angeles Coliseum.

OF SJSU ATHLETICS

COURTESY OF SJSU ATHLETICS

Follow Nathan Canilao on X (formerly Twitter) @nathancanilao

Follow Nathan Canilao on X (formerly Twitter) @nathancanilao