10.29.09 Spartan Sports Preview

New Spartan quarterback coach a mistake

Last year, the Spartans’ offense struggled from a lack of balance. SJSU could not run the ball, ranking 115th in rushing offense. It seemed like the Spartan offense stopped trying to run the ball toward the end of the season, making offense worse.
Since Marcus Arroyo started calling plays in 2007, the run game has disappeared. Now that Arroyo is gone, I was hoping the Spartans would go back to the balanced offense that was in place during the 2006 season that led us to a New Mexico Bowl victory.

Beyond the Game: NFL Legend gone for good?

Wednesday Brett Favre informed the New York Jets that he was retiring from the NFL. Favre’s decision comes after one of the worst stretches of his career — he threw two touchdowns and nine interceptions in the last five games of the regular season.

So, with that in mind, I think he will actually stay retired this time.

QB situation will decide SJSU’s fate against Fresno

Coach Tomey discusses this upcoming Friday

The Spartans need to win Friday in order to be assured a bowl berth, and most likely, the Bulldogs do too. SJSU may win, it may not. Injuries have plagued the Spartans for the past few weeks (Kyle Reed, Yonus Davis, Carl Ihenacho and Jeff Schweiger, to name a few). When I asked Coach Tomey on Monday what the Spartans’ quarterback situation would be come game day after starting quarterback Kyle Reed got injured last week, he said a game-time decision would determine who would start. I asked Tomey if Reed would be healthy enough to play if the game were to be played Tuesday and he said, “The game isn’t tomorrow!” I got the impression that Reed may not be playing this week (or Tomey is trying to make the Bulldogs second guess who the starter indeed is). If Reed doesn’t start, I’m not expecting the Spartans to win. If Reed does play, however, I’ll side with the Spartans.

Thoughts from Friday’s 33-16 loss to Boise State

Honestly, it could have been much worse.

If Boise State running back Ian Johnson hadn’t fumbled into the end zone in the second quarter, the Spartans could have been looking at a 40-16 final instead of the 33-16 outcome SJSU was treated to.

The defense did its part, as it always has this season. But the seventh largest crowd in Spartan Stadium history and an ESPN2 audience were treated to more of the same from the SJSU offense.

Spartan quarterback Kyle Reed threw for only 105 yards and the Spartans finished with just nine first downs.

The Bronco offense passed for two scores and ran for two more. The Spartans lone offensive touchdown was a 60-yard run by freshman Brandon Rutley, which came on one of his only two carries on the night.

The longest scoring play of any kind for SJSU was linebacker Justin Cole’s 62-yard interception return in the first quarter.

I have a hard time, however, putting the bulk of the blame on the Spartan players. SJSU has had some injuries for sure: Kevin Jurovich, Jalal Beauchman, the entire offensive line at times. But regardless of who is sent onto the field to play for the SJSU offense, the playcalling has been conservative and predictable: screen pass for minimal gain, out route for three yards, draw play for maybe a yard, followed by a Philip Zavala punt.

Repeat if desired.

These conservative plays have worked against bottom-of-the-poll teams like San Diego State and Utah State, but the SJSU offensive coaches (notably Marcus Arroyo) need to change their strategy if the Spartans are going secure a bowl bid before season’s end. Six wins in the WAC would cut it via a miracle.

- Mark Powell, Spartan Daily sports editor

5 things SJSU can do to beat Hawaii

1. Kyle Reed completes his first 20 passes, increasing his No.1 pass completion percentage.

2. Spartans’ No. 23 rush defense completely shuts down the Warriors’ rushing attack, which averages just 88.3 yards per game. 

3. Freshman Brandon Rutley, who leads the team in kick return yards, returns at least two kickoffs for touchdowns. 

4. Yonus Davis rushes for 150.7 yards, the amount the Hawaii defense is giving up per game.

5. Kicker Jared Strubeck makes all of his field goals, increasing his 37.5 percent success rate for the year.

- Matthew Kimel, Staff Writer

Talking to ESPN Radio about SJSU vs. Hawaii this weekend

I had the opportunity to be a guest on ESPN Radio 1420-Honolulu’s “The Animals” last Thursday from 5 p.m. to about 5:15 p.m. (California time) to discuss this Saturday’s SJSU (2-2) vs. Hawaii (1-2) football game at Aloha Stadium.

It was my first experience on talk radio and I’d like to think I did a halfway decent job relaying facts and opinions about SJSU football in a relevant and, most importantly, intelligible manner.

“The Animals” first asked me why SJSU’s attendance has grown over the past couple seasons. The past couple seasons, SJSU has drawn 15,000-20,000 fans on several occasions, up from the 4,000-5,000 or so that showed up during the 2004 campaign (the last of the Fitz Hill era). I said that the hiring of head coach Dick Tomey and the invention of Spartan Squad in 2005 were two major factors that led to an attendance increase at SJSU home games. A bowl win in 2006 didn’t hurt either.

Another question regarded the revival of the SJSU running game. In 2007, the Spartans finished near the bottom in national rushing yardage, and “The Animals” wanted to know what the reason was (though I could hear one of them in the background mutter “Yonus Davis.” I agreed, saying that the return of Davis, who was injured for all but three carries in 2007, but looks to have returned to form in 2008. Though the coaching staff seems to have limited his carries early on this season, if you don’t count SJSU’s win over San Diego State. I added that freshman running back Brandon Rutley has shown himself to be a more-than-capable backup. “The Animals” didn’t want to hear that, as they said they dreaded playing another team that had a chance to run them over again. Hawaii has suffered two blowout losses in three games this year — 56-10 to Florida, and 45-7 to Oregon State.

When asked about SJSU’s receivers, I mentioned that Kevin Jurovich was “under the weather” and instead enlightened them on the journey of David Richmond — who is in only his fourth year of playing football. A basketball player at Santa Ana College in southern California, Richmond was recruited by the football program and eventually became a junior college standout before coming to SJSU. I added that Jalal Beauchman has made some improvements in his transition from tight end to receiver, and remaining tight ends Jeff Clark and Brian Elledge have satisfactorily served the offense (Clark actually led SJSU in receptions in a 23-10 loss at Stanford).

Their last question caught me somewhat unprepared. They mentioned that people at Hawaii have “facilities envy” and asked how nice SJSU’s facilities are. I joked and asked if June Jones was listening in, but the hosts made clear they weren’t being sarcastic. Had I remembered Colt Brennan’s comments about facilities on the island, I would have said something better than “the Jeff Garcia Hall of Champions has a nice gym. I never see regular students in there, but I guess that’s why it’s kept so nice.”

SJSU has had an up-and-down season so far and things look somewhat bleak for Hawaii early on. At the beginning of the season, I said the Warriors would defeat the Spartans 38-24. I’m four of four on preseason predictions so far, and as great as the SJSU defense has been, I won’t alter the outcome, just the score.

Hawaii 24, SJSU 23.

– Mark Powell, Sports Editor

Spartan rushing defense will get first test at Stanford

Last year, Stanford halfback Toby Gerhart tore up the Spartan running defense before he tore up his knee in the same game, accumulating 140 yards and averaging more than a 11 yards per run before ending his season with a torn ACL in the third quarter.

This year could be different.

San Jose State’s run defense is ranked 10th nationally after three games, a stat that is a combination of reality and aberration. The team’s two starting defensive ends – senior USC transfer Jeff Schweiger and junior Carl Ihenacho – have filled in the gaping hole the Spartans’ defense had last year with run defense (which ranked 77th in 2007 and 108th in tackles for loss of yards), and pass rush (96th in sacks.)

Ihenacho is already close to tying all of his numbers from last year just three games into the season. Schweiger’s numbers are equally impressive this year. The two overmatched a bad Aztec offensive line.

Its defense will be put to the test by Gerhart and back up Anthony Kimble, who picked up an additional 80 yards on 19 carries for the Cardinal in last year’s game.

The big indicator that this defense is legitimate could be its performance against Nebraska. The Spartans held the Cornhuskers rushing attack to 99 yards total.

Nebraska put up 138 yards against Western Michigan the week before, and a week later would tally more than 300 rushing yards against New Mexico State the following week.

The doubt comes from the competition. UC Davis is an FCS team with a pass-centered attack. The team’s running back, Joe Trombetta, didn’t achieve 100 yards rushing for the season until the third week of the season.

San Diego State is also woeful. The team’s rushing attack is also weak, achieving just 98 yards in the season’s first two games on 38 rushing attempts. The Spartan defense was merely exploiting an already bad offense when it embarrassed the Aztecs on Sunday. There’s a reason San Diego State has been on ESPN’s Bottom 10 list every week this year.

This week will be the first challenge for the Spartans’ defense. Toby Gerhart is ranked in the top 50 nationally in average rushing yards. We will know whether or not the tenth overall ranking is earned.

— John Hornberg, Managing Editor