This line fell to -3.5 from -4.5 on the news that San Jose State WR Nick Nash opted out of the Hawai’i Bowl. That -4.5 had that possibility already baked in. The crux of this handicap, though, is Spartans head coach Ken Niumatalolo. He took over a program feeling some abandonment and put together a 7-5 showing in his first season. Now he takes SJSU back to the same bowl it was in last season, but with the added emphasis of Niumatalolo being a native Hawaiian. Furthermore, his father passed away eight days before this game. If ever a team was going to be locked in for a bowl, it’s when returning to the site it enjoyed last year, under a first-year head coach with more emotion in his voice than ever.