On Tuesday night, Alonzo Carter sat in a hotel room outside Las Vegas, surveying his three suitcases.
Carter, San Jose State's running backs coach and recruiting coordinator, isn't a light traveler, but an experienced one after he served as a backup dancer for MC Hammer during the "Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em" tour in 1990 and 1991.
"Everybody laughs when I come rolling out with my luggages and my suits," Carter said. "I pack three suits. They're like, 'Man, what you doing?' I'm like, 'You've gotta be prepared.' I've got a suit for each away game and a suit for the bowl game and a suit for the Mountain West championship game. Being somebody who's gone out on the road, making a home in a hotel doesn't bother me at all.
"It's been a while since I've done it, but hey man, I'm good."
Carter and the Spartans are packing heavy these days -- they left San Jose, California, last Thursday for Hawaii, and then landed in Las Vegas around 6 a.m. Sunday. Because of COVID-19 restrictions back home in Santa Clara County, San Jose State might not leave until at least next weekend.
And after the 6-0 Spartanss beat Nevada on Friday night at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas on Friday night, they clinched their first appearance in the Mountain West championship game, which will also be held at Sam Boyd on Dec. 19.
"It's not the Vegas trips I remember from my younger years," fourth-year coach Brent Brennan said, "but it's all good."
The Spartans will be the home team tonight in a stadium UNLV occupied from 1971 until last year, but one now outfitted with logos and signage for New Mexico, which has played its "home" games at Sam Boyd this fall and will host Fresno State there Saturday night. New Mexico, like San Jose State, has relocated operations to Las Vegas because of COVID-19 restrictions on football or other gatherings in its home state.
Thank you to our conference friends @UNMLoboFB and @unlvfootball for opening up their homes to us!
— San José State Football (@SanJoseStateFB) December 7, 2020
We are grateful to be here.
📍 Sam Boyd Stadium pic.twitter.com/HiU2CuQsmI
Friday night's setting was unique, but no college football team arguably is better equipped for the twists and turns of 2020. The Spartans' season began with them stranded on campus, then took them to the Redwood Forests of Northern California, the island of Oahu and now to the desert. They thought their season was over in August, and then again after returning home from a canceled game at Boise State.
But the Spartans are still climbing toward history after their first 6-0 start since 1939, when the team went 13-0 and had Pop Warner as an advisory coach.
San Jose State's successful navigation of a strange season, all while avoiding COVID-19, can be linked to an eternally optimistic coach, a diverse and attentive staff, and a veteran roster determined to break through. Brennan, in his fourth year at the helm, has applied his central philosophy to the 2020 team.
"I always think there's a way forward," he said. "That's fundamental for me. It's just a better way to live. I'm always going to choose to believe that we can find a way, the situation will improve, we can get it done."
The goal now is clear: Don't leave Las Vegas without a Mountain West championship.
Like all Mountain West teams, San Jose State celebrated the league's Sept. 25 announcement that a fall football season would happen. The Aug. 10 season postponement had been devastating, which made the revival special.
"It made us really appreciate the opportunity," said quarterback Nick Starkel, who transferred to SJSU from Arkansas in the spring. "Because we knew what it felt like to not have a season, so then to get one was really a great feeling."
The initial euphoria soon wore off as San Jose State faced another challenge, unique to some teams in California. Santa Clara County, where San Jose State is located, enforced restrictions that prohibited teams from practicing in groups larger than 12 people. As other Mountain West teams immediately began full-scale practices, the Spartans couldn't practice at home and adequately prepare for the season.
Several solutions outside the county were considered: high schools, junior colleges, four-year universities. On Monday, Sept. 28, arrangements were made for the team to practice at Scotts Valley High, just over the county line. Practice lines were drawn on the field ahead of an expected 10 a.m. practice on Tuesday, but the option fell through.
Then, an unlikely savior emerged. By Wednesday, San Jose State finalized an agreement to shift its base of operations 327 miles up the coast to Humboldt State University. A fellow California State University system campus, Humboldt State shuttered its 95-year-old football program after the 2018 season because of costs, but still had the necessary infrastructure to host San Jose State for as long as necessary.
Ben Thienes, the assistant athletic director for football operations, worked day and night to iron out the logistics.
"Conversations, Zoom calls, phone calls, contracts signed, buses, scissor lifts," Thienes said. "What do they have? How many rooms do we have? What food are we eating? How long did it take to get there? What does practice look like? ... How are we going to be interacting with COVID and the students that are there?
"You also have the human element that you have 102 18- to 22-year-olds and 44 22- to 55-year-olds that are uprooting their lives and moving 300 miles north. It's one thing to kind of dictate and demand and force it. Another part of it is how do we do this thing together so that we're all driving this the same way."
Several staff members have young families and other responsibilities that made the impromptu departure for Humboldt State challenging, especially since they didn't know when they would return. After coordinating the move, Thienes spent one night in Humboldt before returning early Sunday to San Jose, where his wife was set to give birth to their second child. Two days later, they welcomed daughter Colby.
"That night before my daughter was born was the last time I've really slept since this whole thing happened," Thienes said.
A bus carrying Brennan and about 20 others to Humboldt County broke down somewhere in the mountains. When everyone finally arrived, the fall semester was well underway, so days consisted of morning practices, afternoon virtual classes and study hall at night in the dorms. Because of COVID, the team was tethered to campus.
"The players, it wasn't like they could go downtown in Humboldt to get a burger," Brennan said.
The Spartans made the trip on Oct. 2, just 22 days before they would open the season against Air Force -- a team that opened its season Oct. 3 with a 40-7 win against Navy.
"We were in the dorms, we were away from our families and our friends, there's all these things," said junior defensive lineman Cade Hall, who leads the team with 6.5 sacks. "But at the same time, we got to play football. So I know for me, and I think for a lot of other guys, too, it just made us really appreciate getting to play, something that we may have taken for granted before."
It showed during San Jose State's first prepractice stretch at the Redwood Bowl.
"There had been so much disappointment and disruption and separation," Brennan said. "So the absolute enthusiasm of that first stretch, it was emotional. Guys were hugging and tearing up and jumping around and dancing. I was like, 'Shoot, practice is over. We're not going to get 'em back.' From that moment, I thought, 'This team's so happy to be together. We have a good group here.'"
After 12 days at Humboldt State, the Spartans returned to San Jose, where they were again allowed to host somewhat normal practices.
"Our good friends at Humboldt [State], in a lot of ways, they saved our season, and we'll never forget it," athletic director Marie Tuite said. "They'll be our adopted school for a very, very long time."
When the season kicked off, San Jose State rolled to a 4-0 start, winning each game by double digits. A team that had three wins in Brennan's first two seasons combined and, last fall, lost three games by three points or fewer, was starting to figure it out.
Despite the cancellation of a Nov. 21 game because of COVID-19 issues within rival Fresno State's program, San Jose State arrived in Boise, Idaho, the following week feeling good.
Boise State remains in a class of its own in the Mountain West. The Spartans had never beaten the Broncos in 14 tries, although they led at halftime of last year's 52-42 loss. The game would air on Fox, marking the first time in 14 years San Jose State would appear on network TV.
"You wanted to be there, you wanted to get your team to that level," Carter said. "You were able to say, 'Hey, we want to be on the other side of that,' not the losing side."
San Jose State wouldn't get the chance. Brennan's game-day morning began normally, with some coffee and a run. Then, Tuite called: Boise State had to cancel because of an uptick in COVID-19 cases.
Brennan called a team meeting and broke the news.
"After the meeting, our left tackle, Jack Snyder, pulled Coach Brennan aside," Starkel recalled. "And he said, 'Hey, Coach Brennan, stop sending us texts that say team meeting in 15 minutes, because it's always just the worst news. Stop calling those emergency meetings and give us some good news.' That's how 2020 has been for us. Last second, 'Hey guys, pack your bags, we're going to Humboldt,' or 'Hey, pack your bags, going to Hawaii this week.' You got to roll with the punches and then you have to create some good out of it."
Instead of waiting around in Boise all day, Thienes arranged for 140-plus meals to be delivered earlier, the buses to depart for the airport sooner and the charter flight to move up its schedule to bring the team home.
A bad day got worse when the team landed at San Jose International Airport. While the Spartans were in the air, Santa Clara County imposed enhanced COVID-19 restrictions that banned contact sports for at least three weeks. Even the San Francisco 49ers could not stay and play.
Starkel was sitting next to kicker Matt Mercurio, who Starkel calls a "very logical thinker." Mercurio started gaming out possible scenarios. The order didn't go into effect until Sunday night, so they had more than 24 hours to get it figured out.
"We're just going through all the scenarios sitting next to each other of how we could play," Starkel said. "The next day we get that same text: 'Team meeting, 15 minutes.' And [Brennan] goes, 'It's good news, guys.'
"It wasn't too crazy because it was like the ninth punch we had been hit with this season."
The Spartans started the week practicing at Scotts Valley High -- the relationship from earlier in the year paid off -- before flying to Hawaii on Thursday. They wouldn't be allowed to return to San Jose to continue the season, so arrangements were made to head to Las Vegas, where they would follow New Mexico's model, setting up shop and practicing at Sam Boyd. An additional bus of players and staffers who didn't make the trip to Hawaii would meet them there.
On Saturday afternoon, the San Jose State-Hawaii game kicked off at a sweltering Aloha Stadium.
"On the turf it had to be over 100 degrees, high-level humidity," Brennan said. "We haven't been in that kind of weather in months. Even in Humboldt, the weather's cool."
The Spartans didn't flinch, scoring three first-quarter touchdowns in a 35-24 win. Then they flew to Las Vegas through the night.
San Jose State's ability to navigate a fluctuating fall started long before this season kicked off.
During the summer, team bonds strengthened during the demonstrations and discussion around social justice and police brutality. Players formed a group called P.O.C. -- People Of Change -- and designed warm-up T-shirts with a fist emerging from the Spartans helmet.
Family also has been a theme. Players haven't seen their families since July. Coaches are removed from theirs for the second extended period in three months.
"You want to celebrate Thanksgiving, and now possibly even missing Christmas because we'll be in a bowl game," Carter said. "You leave and two or three weeks later, the baby's crawling, or you come back and the baby's walking or talking."
Brennan watched his players grab a boxed meal on Thanksgiving and leave to eat alone in their dorms. San Jose State usually brings all the staff families in the day before Thanksgiving for a team feast.
The family environment Brennan fostered over his first three seasons proved even more important this fall. The team could have easily lost focus or written off the season as a glorified run of exhibitions, especially after experiencing so little recent success. Instead, the Spartans buckled down.
Now, they're on the brink of history.
"Coach Brennan and I both had an inkling that we had a special team," Tuite said. "I've been around college football a long time, this is probably the closest team as far as supporting each other, caring about each other, loving each other that I've been around."
The win over Nevada sets up San Jose State to play Boise State in Vegas next week.
The Spartans' preference, of course, is not to leave Las Vegas, one of their many homes away from home this year.
"It would be everything," Brennan said of a league title. "It's something we haven't done since we've been a part of the Mountain West Conference. A big chunk of our team was here through some really hard years with me and this coaching staff. We fought some really hard fights together, we lost a lot of close games together, we went through some really disappointing moments together. But through that struggle and through that pain, it also brought us all together."