AUBURN — As Auburn (1-0) and Bryan Harsin take the field on Saturday, it will be against a familiar opponent for the second-year head coach.
In his first matchup with the Mountain West Conference on the Plains, Harsin will face off with San Jose State (1-0) and head coach Brent Brennan for the third time in his career. Harsin is 1-1 against the sixth-year head coach.
"Coach Brennan does a great job getting his guys prepared. They do a really good job of game planning. That's one thing, and they're always physical, and their guys play hard. So no doubt about it. That's exactly what we'll get," Harsin said.
Brennan was hired as the coach of the Spartans ahead of the 2017 season after six seasons as the wide receiver coach at Oregon State.
Brennan did not face Harsin during his first two seasons in San Jose State, as Brennan was attempting to rebuild the Spartans, winning just three of his first 25 games.
The first time these coaches met, Harsin's Broncos traveled to CEFCU Stadium to take on San Jose State as the Spartans fought for bowl eligibility. The Broncos were victorious on their way to another Mountain West Championship, defeating the Spartans 52-42.
The following year, the two teams met again at Sam Boyd Stadium in the Mountain West Championship game. Brennan had completed his rebuilding of the program and had the Spartans undefeated and No. 24 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, looking for their first conference championship in almost 30 years.
The Spartans defense held the Boise State offense to just 224 yards of offense and one offensive touchdown, while the San Jose offense exploded for 498 yards, including 453 through the air. Brennan's team jumped out to a 19-6 lead at halftime and held on to win its first Mountain West championship, 34-20.
The next year was a down year for Brennan and the Spartans, missing a bowl game and finishing the year with a 5-7 record.
This season, the Spartans are 1-0, but the first game of the year was a rough start for Brennan and company, as the team struggled to beat Portland State, a mediocre team from the FCS division.
Despite this rocky start and the Spartans' 0-2 record inside Jordan-Hare Stadium, head coach Bryan Harsin is not underestimating this team and Brennan.
"This team will come in here prepared and ready, and they will have a plan to try to attack us," Harsin said. "We just have to make sure that we're ready, and we focus on the things we have to do to get ourselves prepared to play our best football."
Auburn and San Jose State are set to kick off inside Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CST. The Tigers hope to be 2-0 ahead of a crucial non-conference matchup with Penn State (1-0).
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