Posted by valley spartan on 8/29/2007, 7:34 pm, in reply to "Per Idaho Statesman: Sports Network Game Prediction" --Previous Message--
76.103.146.116
: San Jose State (0-0) at Arizona State (0-0)
:
:
: By Sports Network - The Sports Network
: Edition Date: 08/29/07
:
:
: FACTS & STATS: Site: Sun Devil Stadium
: (71,706) -- Tempe, Arizona. Television:
: None. Home Record: SJSU 0-0, ASU 0-0. Away
: Record: SJSU 0-0, ASU 0-0. Neutral Record:
: SJSU 0-0, ASU 0-0. Conference Record: SJSU
: 0-0, ASU 0-0. Series Record: Arizona State
: leads, 18-11.
: GAME NOTES: Back in the Pac-10 Conference
: yet again, Dennis Erickson kicks off his
: newest campaign with Arizona State this
: weekend when the Sun Devils play host to the
: San Jose State Spartans. Erickson, who was a
: member of the coaching staff at SJSU from
: 1979 to 1981, had been out of football for a
: short spell before getting the urge and the
: call from Idaho to return to the gridiron in
: 2006. With the Vandals Erickson had some
: modest success with four wins over five
: games at one stretch, but by the middle of
: October the good times had ended for the
: coach who once led Miami-Florida to a couple
: of national titles. Five straight losses to
: Western Athletic Conference opponents to
: close out the campaign meant Erickson's time
: in Moscow was going to be short-lived with
: him eventually taking the job at ASU in
: early December. The matchup of Erickson and
: SJSU head man Dick Tomey accounts for two of
: the five active coaches in college football
: who have won at least nine games with three
: different programs, Erickson having turned
: the trick with Miami, Washington State and
: Oregon State while Tomey has done it at
: Arizona, Hawaii and now San Jose State. As
: for Tomey, he transformed the Spartans from
: WAC doormat to a serious competitor last
: season when he took the squad to a record of
: 9-4 overall and a 20-12 victory over New
: Mexico in the first-ever New Mexico Bowl.
: Not only was it the first winning season for
: the Spartans in six years, the plus-six rise
: in the win column was one of the best in the
: nation, accentuated by the team's first bowl
: appearance in 16 years. The triumph against
: the Lobos in the postseason was just the
: second for SJSU in the last half century.
: Dating back to 1936, this rivalry shows
: Arizona State in charge with 18 wins in 29
: tries versus the Spartans. The most recent
: meeting took place in 2001 at Sun Devil
: Stadium, with the home team recording an
: easy 53-15 triumph.
:
: Senior Adam Tafralis completed a
: school-record 65.6 percent of his pass
: attempts and finished with 21 touchdowns,
: against only seven interceptions for a team
: that has issues with its passing attack in
: recent years. Tafralis was also among the
: nation's best in terms of pass efficiency
: with a 155.13 mark over the span of 13
: games, a number that will be hard to match
: this season but is still a strong indication
: of just how good he can be when given the
: time. Despite the personal success of
: Tafralis a year ago, the passing attack for
: the Spartans still checked in third from the
: bottom in the conference and 83rd nationally
: with only 181.6 ypg. Taking much of the
: credit for the team's success on the ground
: was Yonus Davis produced 1,007 yards on the
: ground, third-most in the WAC. Along with
: Davis, the Spartans have another returning
: starter coming out of the backfield in James
: Callier. Clearly the running back situation
: is under control, which leaves the receiving
: spots the largest question mark for the
: program after both James Jones and John
: Broussard left and took their combined 122
: receptions and 17 touchdowns with them.
:
: An aggressive defensive unit, SJSU ranked
: third in the conference and 13th nationally
: in terms of turnover margin with a +9 a year
: ago. A huge part of that success was Dwight
: Lowery, the first player in SJSU history to
: be named a First Team All-American, who
: ranked second in the country in
: interceptions per game and tied for the
: overall lead and single-season team record
: with nine picks. Chris Owens also finished
: in the WAC's top-10 in that department with
: four INTs of his own. Add another four
: fumble recoveries between the two of them
: and they represent perhaps the best
: cornerback tandems in the WAC. Playing in
: front of the duo is the nation's top
: returning tackler in terms of career average
: with close to nine and a half stops per game
: in senior linebacker Matt Castelo. The
: all-conference performer was second in
: college football in total tackles with an
: amazing 165 in 2006. Not only did he share
: the team lead with four forced fumbles a
: year ago, he also posted two games with at
: least 20 stops overall. Fellow linebacker
: Demetrius Jones is more than capable of
: getting into the backfield, while defensive
: end Jarron Gilbert led the unit with five
: sacks.
:
: Erickson may be again starting over at a new
: school, but by no means is he having to
: start from scratch, what with junior
: quarterback Rudy Carpenter considered one of
: the best third-year signal-callers in the
: nation. With close to 4,800 yards passing in
: his first two seasons with the Sun Devils,
: Carpenter is already in a class by himself
: and will only get better with guidance from
: Erickson. Making it even easier on the
: quarterback is running back Ryan Torain, a
: former transfer from Butler C.C. who is
: coming back to follow up his 1,229 yards
: from a year ago. Not to be overlooked is
: junior ball carrier Keegan Herring who
: produced another 549 yards coming out of the
: backfield, giving ASU a tough one-two punch.
: Sophomore Kyle Williams is being penciled in
: as the starting wideout for the team even
: though he caught a total of just four passes
: a year ago. The top returning receiver is
: Michael Jones who grabbed 20 balls for an
: average of close to 16 yards per.
:
: With juniors and seniors dotting the
: starting lineup for the defense, perhaps the
: one player to really keep an eye on his
: sophomore defensive end Dexter Davis who
: blew up offenses a year ago with team highs
: of 10.5 tackles for loss and six sacks on
: just 40 stops. An all-conference performer
: right off the bat, Davis also led the Sun
: Devils with three forced fumbles resulting
: from his constant pressure. As a junior,
: defensive tackle Michael Marquardt was far
: from a slouch himself, producing 7.5 TFLs on
: just 25 total tackles, ranking third on the
: team with three and a half sacks as well.
: Mike Nixon appeared in all 13 games as a
: freshman and came away with eight TFLs,
: accounting for a quarter of all his tackles,
: and yet he is listed as a backup to begin
: this season behind senior Robert James who
: did not appear in the final five games of
: the season for Arizona State. Senior free
: safety Josh Barrett is the top returning
: tackler for the unit after posting 82 stops.
: Barrett also picked off a team-best three
: passes for the group.
:
: Erickson has been a success at every stop
: during his coaching career and there's no
: reason to think he won't continue that
: tradition in Tempe, especially with
: Carpenter, Torain and Herring to direct.
:
: Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Arizona
: State 23, San Jose State 14
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