Offense |
Defense |
Depth Chart |
Further Analysis
Now the program might have to start from scratch again, at least on
defense. Considering San Jose State has come up with one winning
season since 1992, any positive steps are great.
The team has to come up with wins over every mediocre team on the
schedule. It took care of New Mexico State and Idaho, but lost to
Utah State. San Jose State can't give away wins to anyone, and it
has to figure out how to pull off more close games after losing
three last season by a touchdown against Nevada, Utah State and
Hawaii. Swing two of those the other way, and all of a sudden the
Spartans are a solid 5-6 and the fan base will start to get into the
team more. And that's the biggest hurdle to overcome.
Head coach: Dick Tomey
2nd year: 3-8
26th year overall: 161-118-7
Returning Lettermen:
Off. 20, Def. 18, ST 2
Lettermen Lost: 18 |
Ten
Best Spartan Players
1. OT Mat Cantu, Sr.
2. LB Matt Castelo, Jr.
3. RB Yonus Davis, Jr.
4. P Waylon Prather, Jr.
5. WR John Broussard, Sr.
6. SS Christopher Vedder, Sr.
7. PK Jared Strubeck, Soph.
8. FS Christopher Owens, Soph.
9. DE Jarron Gilbert, Soph.
10. OG Marcel Burrough, Sr. |
|
2006
Schedule
CFN
Prediction: 2-10 |
|
9/2 |
at Washington |
| 9/9 |
Stanford |
| 9/23 |
Cal Poly |
|
9/30 |
San Diego State |
|
10/14 |
Utah State |
|
10/21 |
at Nevada |
| 10/28 |
Louisiana Tech |
| 11/4 |
at New Mexico State |
| 11/11 |
Boise State |
| 11/18 |
at Hawaii |
| 11/25 |
at Idaho |
| 12/2 |
Fresno State |
|
|
2005
Schedule
CFN
Prediction: 1-10
2005 Record: 3-8
Preview 2005 predicted wins |
| 9/3 |
E. Washington
W 35-24 |
| 9/10 |
at Illinois L 40-19 |
|
9/24 |
at San Diego St L 52-21 |
| 10/1 |
Nevada L 30-23 |
| 10/8 |
at Utah State L 24-17 |
| 10/15 |
at Boise State L 38-21 |
| 10/22 |
Hawaii L 45-38 |
| 10/29 |
at La Tech L 31-14 |
| 11/5 |
at Fresno State L 45-7 |
| 11/19 |
at N Mexico St W 27-10 |
| 11/26 |
Idaho W 26-18 |
|
Tomey has been a success
everywhere he has been, and he has a lot of work to do to change the
culture of San Jose State football to make it more competitive, more
exciting, and more relevant. Unfortunately, the lowest attendance of the
year for perennial road warriors were for the final two games, both
wins, and only more victories are going to bring fans out to Spartan
Stadium and get the excitement going.
In the WAC, you have to be prepared to get involved in some firefights,
and the Spartans are better equipped. The offense should be appreciably
better with one of the best lines the program has had in several years
along with a solid backfield with several good options. The quarterback
situation will work itself out and the receiving corps shouldn't be too
bad after a little bit of time.
The defense, well, the offense should be better. Only two starters
return from a D that did nothing against the pass but improved overall
with a senior dominated group. The linebacking corps might be the
smallest in America, and the line is going to be steamrolled over by
decent power running teams. It's a quick group that will fly around the
ball, just like Tomey likes, but it's going to need time to be halfway
decent.
It'll be another transition year to 2007 when the team will be loaded
with experience on both sides of the ball. Until then, any wins are good
wins.
The Schedule: San
Jose State has seven home games for the first time ever and no
absolute killers on the non-conference slate. Washington, Stanford,
Cal Poly and San Jose State is about as light as it can possibly get
before jumping into WAC play with an absolute must-win against Utah
State. Boise State and Fresno State have to come to San Jose, but
road trips to Nevada and Hawaii might mean another major struggle to
get out of the bottom four in the final conference standings.
Best
Offensive Player: Senior OT Matt Cantu. His move from center to
tackle in the middle of last year helped the ground game explode.
Now he'll be one of the best all-around blockers in the WAC leading
a strong line that has get the running game consistently moving.
Best
Defensive Player: Junior LB Matt Castelo. He might be woefully
undersized for a middle linebacker at 5-10 and 210 pounds, but he's
the WAC's leading returning tackler and one of the few returning
starters to the defense. He'll have to be all over the field
cleaning up messes until the rest of the linebacking corps gets a
little experienced.
Key
player to a successful season: Junior QBs Sean Flynn and Adam
Tafralis. Redshirt freshman Chad Bozzo is also in the mix. The
quarterbacks have to be much, much sharper at keeping the offense
moving and have to be far more accurate on third downs. The defense
is going to give up 30+ points a game way too often, and the
quarterbacks have to keep pace.
The
season will be a success if ... the Spartans win six games. It'll
take a few upsets and at least two roads wins, which is harder than
it sounds without an away victory since 2003. There can't be any
slip ups against teams like Utah State and Cal Poly and wins at New
Mexico State and Idaho are a must.
Key
game: Oct. 28 vs. Louisiana Tech. Beating Utah State at home won't
raise any eyebrows, but a stunner over Louisiana Tech would get the
Spartans in the WAC race early on going into a winnable game at New
Mexico State followed up with a home showdown with Boise State.
2005
Fun Stats:
- First half scoring: Opponents 228 - San Jose State 125
- Third down conversions: Opponents 81 for 179 (45%) - San Jose
State 47 for 167 (28%)
- Sacks: San Jose State: 27 for 185 yards - Opponents 14 for 86
yards
The Last Time San
Jose State…
…played in a bowl game…1990 (California Bowl vs. Central Michigan)
…missed a bowl game…2005
…pitched a shutout…2003 (Grambling)
…was shutout…1999 (TCU)
…scored 50 points…2004 (Rice)
…went undefeated…1939
…won a conference title…1990 (Big West)
…had a 3,000-yard passer…2003 (Scott Rislov)
…had a 1,000-yard rusher…2000 (Deonce Whitaker)
…had a 1,000-yard receiver…2001 (Edell Sheperd)
…had a first-round draft choice…1983 (DB Gill Byrd)
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