Posted by SJSdude on 8/30/2007, 7:16 am San Jose State's coaching staff has dug deep into the archives to prepare for Saturday's opener at Arizona State. It wasn't difficult to locate footage from last season to evaluate the Sun Devils' returning players. But the plays and schemes those players ran are essentially useless. When Dennis Erickson was hired last winter to replace Dirk Koetter he brought new coordinators and a new philosophy with him. The Spartans got a first-hand look at Erickson's style last November when they defeated his Idaho Vandals 28-13. But the personnel Erickson inherited at ASU is much more in line with the talent he had at Miami, Oregon State and Washington State. "Schematically, we've had to look way back into Dennis' past," Coach Dick Tomey said. It turned out that the SJSU staff had a nearly 20-year retrospective of Erickson's coaching career stashed away. Many of those tapes are classics. He left Oregon State for the 49ers' head coaching job in 2002. His last season at Miami was 1994. It was 1988 when he bolted from the Palouse to South Beach. The staff also reviewed tapes that might provide clues about the tendencies shown by defensive coordinator Craig Bray and offensive coordinator Rich Olson. Bray held the same position under Erickson at Oregon State, but was at the University of Minnesota last season after a two-year stint at Colorado. Olson was the offensive coordinator at the University of Miami last season, and as well as under Erickson in the early 1990s. But from 1995-2005 he coached in the NFL, including in 2004 with the 49ers. • This will be the 11th time that Tomey and Erickson, an SJSU assistant in 1979-81, will face each other as head coaches. Erickson has a 5-4 edge in regular season games, but Tomey won the 1995 East-West Shrine Game. The only previous meeting at Sun Devil Stadium was a big one. Tomey's Arizona Wildcats routed Erickson's Miami Hurricanes 29-0 in the 1994 Fiesta Bowl. "That's probably why I'm still not there," Erickson said. • Tomey said Adam Tafralis probably won't play the entire game regardless of how he performs. But that doesn't mean Tafralis, the unquestioned No. 1 for the first time in four years, needs to worry about his status. Tomey wants backup Sean Flynn to play early in the season to gain experience. Flynn played only one meaningful series last season because of injury. "Whether it is three plays or six, I don't know, but you have to play the backup in the first game," Tomey said. • Tomey on Saturday will become the 25th person in college football history to coach 300 games. Penn State's Joe Paterno (487), Florida State's Bobby Bowden (483) and Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer (307) are the only ones who have more experience among active coaches.
Link: http://www.mercurynews.com/collegesports/ci_6757981
198.246.227.2
Spartans seek old movies to get a view of new ASU
By Laurence Miedema
Mercury News
"We tried to look at all the past tape we could to see what they may be doing, but I also told the players our success is going to depend on how well we adjust," Tomey said. "They may do something we haven't even seen."
Message Thread:
« Back to thread