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FACTS & STATS: Site: LaVell Edwards Stadium (63,725) -- Provo, Utah. Television: ESPN U. Home Record: SJSU 1-1, BYU 2-1. Away Record: SJSU 1-2, BYU 1-1. Neutral Record: SJSU 0-0, BYU 0-0. Conference Record: SJSU 1-1, BYU 0-0. Series Record: San Jose State leads, 9-5.

GAME NOTES: Winners of back-to-back games for the first time since the 2008 season, the San Jose State Spartans try to ring up their third consecutive victory this weekend when they tangle with the BYU Cougars in non-conference action at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo.

San Jose State, which as recently as September 23 owned the nation's longest losing streak at the Football Bowl Subdivision level at 13 in a row, snapped that drought with a 34-24 win over Western Athletic Conference foe New Mexico State. Last Saturday, the Spartans also took down Colorado State, 38-31, on the road which means the team is shooting for three in a row for the first time since 2008. In addition, with a win this weekend SJSU would also have back-to-back road wins over non-conference opponents for the first time since 1982 when the program opened the campaign with victories at Oregon, Stanford and Oregon State.

As for the Cougars, now recognized as an Independent in football after spending so many years as a member of the Mountain West Conference, they locked up their second straight win last Friday night and the third on the season overall with a 27-24 comeback victory versus Utah State in front of the home crowd. As well as the Cougars have played in recent weeks, it is still tough to erase the memory of September 17 when the squad was squashed by Utah at home, 54-10.

The Spartans own a 9-5 edge in the all-time series dating back to 1946, but the Cougars won the most recent meeting in 1998 by a score of 46-43. In fact, BYU has taken five of the last six encounters, the last victory for SJSU being a 25-21 decision at home in 1968.

San Jose State moved out to a 10-0 lead against the Rams in the first quarter of their meeting last Saturday, but the Spartans needed a 38-yard TD pass from Matt Faulkner to Jabari Carr in the final minute of regulation in order to solidify the seven-point road win. The first road victory for the program against a non-conference opponent in nearly a decade, Faulkner finished the outing 25-of-38 for 313 yards and two touchdowns while shaking off three sacks and an interception. Brandon Rutley contributed as well with 131 yards and a pair of scores on the ground on 23 carries. Rutley, who had just 12 net rushing yards in the opener versus Stanford, has come alive the last two weeks with a combined 340 yards and four TDs on the ground, making him one of the more feared running backs in the WAC. However, even with Rutley the team is averaging just 146.8 ypg on the ground which is 62nd in the country entering play this week.

The Spartans got off to a fast start against CSU thanks mostly to the offense, but that also goes hand-in-hand with the fact that the SJSU offense spent just 4:13 on the field in the first quarter and was bound to have stored up energy later in the meeting when it counted the most. The Rams were limited to just 71 yards rushing on 26 attempts, which is quite a step up from the other efforts the Spartans have managed in that area so far this season. After five games SJSU is still giving up a hefty 186.0 ypg on the ground, sixth in the WAC and 95th nationally, so you can imagine how much worse it was just a week earlier. Peyton Thompson and Travis Johnson both came up with sack and Duke Ihenacho returned a fumble 20 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter to spark the SJSU defense. The two sacks for the Spartans were unexpected, given that the team failed to record even one through the first three games of the season and had just one such takedown versus New Mexico State.

Jake Heaps started the game at quarterback for the Cougars against Utah State last week, but once it became obvious that he was getting the job done, BYU called on backup Riley Nelson who stepped in and completed the comeback bid for the hosts. Nelson, who finished with a team-best 62 yards rushing on 11 attempts and kept late drives going for the Cougars, hit on 10-of-14 passes for 144 yards and two TDs for the squad as well. Heaps did account for one rushing touchdown for the unit, but his 11-of-25 as a passer for just 107 yards was rather uninspiring. Heaps is still listed at the top of the depth chart heading into this week as well, but you can be sure that after seeing the results the Nelson put up, head coach Bronco Mendenhall won't hesitate to make a switch if he deems it necessary. Punching up the offense is a must for the Cougars because at this juncture they are ranked 109th in the country in rushing with just 94.4 ypg and 106th in overall scoring with a mere 18.2 ppg as well.

Take away the opening touchdown run of 80 yards by Utah State's Robert Turbin on the first play from scrimmage last week and the BYU defense wasn't all that bad. Granted, the pass defense did allow a couple of passing scores, but at the same time limited the Aggies to a mere 122 yards through the air, so nothing came easy for the USU offense. The Cougars weren't able to get to USU signal-caller Chuckie Keeton in the backfield, but they were able to log six tackles for loss overall. Hebron Fangupo was credit with 1.5 sacks for the hosts on just five tackles overall. Unfortunately, through the first five games the Cougars really haven't shown much intensity at the line of scrimmage and further up the field, averaging just 4.8 TFLs per game to rank 95th in the country and producing a mere 0.80 sacks per outing which is 109th entering this week.

Being on a roll, at least by their recent standards, the Spartans have to be feeling good about themselves, but invading Provo and stealing one away from BYU will still be quite a stretch for SJSU this weekend.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: BYU 31, San Jose State 20