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San Jose State’s Nick Nash enters Friday’s regular-season finale at home against Stanford with a national-best 96 catches.

The Cardinal may have to start three freshmen in the secondary after injuries ravaged their depth during last Saturday’s 24-21 Big Game loss to California.

Stanford coach Troy Taylor, finishing his second year on the job, is hopeful experiences like last week’s and the one his team may endure this week will strengthen his defensive backs room in years to come.

“You gain stuff from experience,” Taylor said. “These (freshmen defensive backs) went through trial by fire. Maybe a little more seasoning would’ve been in their best interest but they knew they had to step up because of injuries.”

Those fresh faces may have to endure their toughest on-the-job training yet.

Nash, a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award given to the nation’s best wide receiver, caught a touchdown pass in the team’s first 10 games. He was kept out of the end zone during last week’s 27-16 loss by a combination of good UNLV defense and horrific weather that made throwing a sub-optimal option.

Nash has 1,291 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns, one shy of the school’s single-season record for receivers. He leads FBS in catches and touchdowns while ranking second in yardage. The former quarterback still appears to have plenty of ceiling, too, as he’s only played receiver for two years.

“I think I’m an underdog,” he said. “I wasn’t majorly recruited and then seeing where I am now and always believing in myself. … I worked so hard to get to this point.”

Nash’s work has helped the Spartans (6-5) qualify for a bowl in coach Ken Niumatalolo’s first season. Meanwhile, the Cardinal (3-8) can only hope to jump into the offseason with a win that would snap a stretch of seven losses in eight games.

Stanford leads the teams’ all-time series 52-14-1, although they haven’t played since the Cardinal’s 34-13 victory in 2013. This will be the first time San Jose State has hosted this game since 2006.

–Field Level Media