By Ana Kieu | November 8, 2017 8:14 pm MT

Both San Jose State and Nevada have just one win this season

San Jose State has lost their last eight games

There are several important things about this matchup, but what are the most important out of all of them?

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Spartans (1-9, 0-5 Mountain West) take on the Wolf Pack (1-8, 1-4 Mountain West) at Mackay Stadium on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. PST on ESPN3.

Let’s get straight to the point. As you should already know, the Spartans need to create turnovers, force punts, and protect the football. They also need a better defensive performance in order to defeat the Wolf Pack.

Here are some other things that you probably want to know about the upcoming matchup.

Series History
The Wolf Pack leads the series, 19-19-2. The Spartans won last year’s meeting between these two teams, 14-10, at CEFCU Stadium. Nevada has wins against San Jose State in the last seven games played at Mackay Stadium, including a 37-34 overtime win on November 14, 2015.

The Spartans’ last win at Mackay Stadium was a 49-30 victory over the Wolf Pack on November 10, 2001. All seven of the San Jose State touchdowns were rushing touchdowns.

Twice the Amount
Both San Jose State coach Brent Brennan and Nevada Jay Norvell are in their first years as head coaches for their teams.

Brennan has a college football head coaching record of 1-9, all at San Jose State. This year, he returned to San Jose State after serving as a wide receivers coach for six seasons at Oregon State. He served as a Spartan assistant coach from 2005 to 2010.

Norvell is in his first season at Nevada. He has a coaching record of 1-8, all at Nevada. He served as a wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator at Arizona State. He also served as a wide receivers coach at Texas in 2015.

High Elevation
The Spartans will close out its road schedule with two more road games at high elevation: Nevada (4,506 feet) this Saturday and Colorado State (5,003 feet) on November 18. They’ve also played at Utah (4,226 feet) and BYU (4,551 feet).

The last time the Spartans played three games at 4,000 feet or higher in a single season was in 2011 with games at Colorado State, BYU, and Utah State.

Six Pack
After 10 games, just six Spartans started in every game. Chris Gonzalez and Troy Kowalski are the only two on offense. Andre Chachere, Frank Ginda, Maurice McKnight, and William Ossai are the only four on defense.

Fumble Recovery
Heading into the Nevada game, San Jose State is tied for 14th in the nation with nine fumble recoveries. In the San Diego State game, Tysyn Parker made it three consecutive games for the Spartan defense with a fumble recovery.

Utah State is the national leader with 14 fumble recoveries.

First to 100
Ginda is the first Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) player this season to be credited with 100 tackles. Ginda has 140 tackles in 10 games heading into the Nevada contest. He shares the national leader in total tackles and tackles per game and shares the national lead in unassisted tackles.