The 89th Battle for the Valley arrives with a different kind of weight this time. San Jose State and Fresno State are still meeting in one of the region’s most familiar rivalries, but Saturday night at CEFCU Stadium will be the first nonconference version of the game since 1994.
That shift matters because the schools’ history has always been wrapped in league play. Since their first meeting in 1921, a 14-2 San Jose State win, the Spartans and Bulldogs have crossed paths in a half-dozen conferences, including the Mountain West, the WAC, the Big West and the California Coast Conference. Now Fresno State’s move to the new-look Pac-12 has changed the setup, even if the rivalry itself has lost none of its edge.
San Jose State enters at 2-1, riding two straight wins after opening with a 42-26 loss at USC. Fresno State is 1-1 and coming off a win over Sacramento State.
After this game, the Spartans get a bye before opening conference play at Hawaii on Oct. 3.
“This is a huge game for us. It’s a rivalry game (and then) going into conference play we want to continue that positive trend that we’re going in,” Spartans head coach Ken Niumatalolo said. “I know it’s going to be hard, but I think this will be monumental for us for the rest of the season.”
Fresno State coach Matt Entz has only been on the job for two seasons, but he has already leaned into what this matchup means. He even had the Battle for the Valley trophy out during practice this week.
“Always excited,” Entz said, explaining that the trophy was there to “continually remind our kids what’s up for grabs. Winning bright, shiny objects is a cool thing in college football, so it’s our goal to be as competitive as we can and hopefully bring that thing home with us.”
San Jose State’s roster is almost unrecognizable from recent versions of the team, with 48 new players arriving before the season. That means a lot of Spartans are about to experience this rivalry for the first time. Fresno State still owns the all-time series lead, 46-39-3, and has won the last two meetings.
“We got a lot of new guys coming in their first time playing Fresno, and some of those guys don’t know what it means in this rivalry to hold that Valley Trophy,” SJSU veteran defensive lineman Justin Stearns said. “It’s really special. I think it’s going to be great winning as a team.”
Stearns is one of the few Spartans left from the 2023 team, the last San Jose State group to bring home the Valley Trophy.
On offense, the Spartans have found their rhythm on the ground behind Jabari Bates. Last week against Cal Poly, San Jose State finished with more rushing yards than passing yards in a game for the first time in the Niumatalolo era. Bates has 319 rushing yards, good for third in the nation, and he’s the first Spartan to post back-to-back 100-yard games since Kairee Robinson did it in four straight games during the 2023 season.
The passing game has also settled around two reliable options: Cooper Hoch and Carson Clark. Hoch leads the team with 216 receiving yards and three touchdowns, while Clark, a true freshman, has 213 receiving yards.
Hoch, a walk-on in 2023, is about to play Fresno State for the fourth time.
“I played them three times. I know there are a couple of dudes that haven’t seen them at all, and they don’t understand how big the game is and how much we don’t like them and they don’t like us,” Hoch said.
“Their fans don’t like us, and our fans don’t like them. It’s going to be a dogfight.”
The Spartans also know the first quarter has been a dead zone for both teams this season; neither side has scored in the opening period yet. That makes an early breakthrough especially valuable.
“You don’t want to make it that big of a deal, and then it becomes one of those glitches in your offense,” SJSU offensive coordinator Craig Stutzmann said. “I can say, in years past, we started off very fast, and we couldn’t finish. I’d rather take an offense that, when it’s crunch time, it finds a way to win.”
Both programs opened the season against USC at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and the results were stark. San Jose State fell 42-26 in Week 0 after being shut out in the first half before rallying late.
Fresno State was blanked 39-0 in its Week 1 game against the Trojans. The Spartans finished with 336 yards of offense in that game, while Fresno State managed 155, with quarterback Jayden Mandal making his first start after a season-ending injury last year.
The Bulldogs will bring a rushing attack that has to be accounted for. Bryson Donelson is averaging 6.1 yards per carry and has already scored three touchdowns, while Fresno State’s offense will try to test a San Jose State defense that has allowed just 3.84 yards per carry.
That Spartans defense has also produced an interception in every game so far this season.
Still, Niumatalolo knows his team has to be cleaner. San Jose State has been flagged 18 times for 155 yards over its past two games, and that kind of sloppiness is something he wants tightened up before rivalry night.
“I got to do a better job of getting us to play more disciplined, especially next week obviously, with a rivalry game incoming. We gotta be smarter, but I’m proud of our guys finding ways to win,” Niumatalolo said after the win last weekend.
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