After going 1-3 in a four-game non-conference stretch against the FCS runner-up, an SEC team, a traditionally strong MAC team and currently the No. 3 team in the country, Colorado State begins the Mountain West Conference schedule against the Spartans of San Jose State on Homecoming Saturday.

The Spartans know better than to take the Rams’ record at face value.

“Goodness gracious, they’re dang good,” San Jose State coach Brent Brennan said during his weekly press conference. “They took Vandy to the wire. We need to be honest about that. They beat Toledo on the road. We’re looking at a good football team here.”

San Jose State went 7-0 during the previous pandemic-shortened season to capture its first conference championship since moving up to FBS ranks in 1996. With all of their seniors returning, the Spartans finished their nonconference schedule 2-2, including wins against Southern Utah and New Mexico State blowout losses at Southern California and Western Michigan.

SJSU is 1-0 in Mountain West play and the conference has gotten much better this year and have even closed the gap with the neighboring Power Five conference, compiling a 5-4 record against the Pac-12.

“Our league is quite talented this year,” CSU coach Steve Addazio said during his weekly press conference. “A lot of teams a loaded. Because of COVID they got a lot of repeat players, so I think our league is a legitimate league.”

The Spartans passed a road test at Hawaii, a place where Fresno State failed the week after and fell from No. 18 to completely out of rankings.

“I’m a firm believer in it’s one week at a time around here,” Addazio said. “It’s natural to want to look at games and compare because I do it too. That’s natural. I’ll watch Iowa play Maryland and you’re just shaking your head. It’s a dangerous thing to do and it seems like more now than ever, and I don’t have the answer for this, every week’s a new week. You just don’t know what you’re going to get and you got to be ready to bring it every week.”

The matchup to look at will be between the Spartans’ passing offense against the Rams’ defensive secondary. With its senior laden front seven, stopping the run is Colorado State’s strength. The Rams allow 105.3 rushing yards per game and have allowed a combined 75 yards in their previous two games.

SJSU averages 241 yards through the air, which is more than any of the Rams’ FBS opponents.

Senior quarterback Nick Starkel led the Spartans to their MWC title run last year. He was injured during the Spartans’ 23-3 loss at Western Michigan and Nick Nash filled in to throw for three touchdowns in a 37-31 win over New Mexico State last week. Nash will likely start for SJSU against CSU on Saturday.

For the first time since their season opener, the Rams are favored to win, given a 70.8% chance by ESPN’s Football Power Index.