2015 Record- SJS 6-7 (received Cure Bowl bid with 5-7 regular season record -beat Georgia St 27-16) - 10th Bowl alltime
TU - 6-7 (Lost to Va Tech 55-52) - 20th Bowl alltime

Common Opponent - New Mexico Lobos) -
SJS won 31-21 in San Jose - 8th game of the season.
TU won 40-21 at NM in 2nd game of season

Place - HA Chapman Stadium (Tulsa Sept 3, 2016)

Starters Returning (Including kickers) - TU =16 (Includes QB)
-------------------------------------------SJS = 16 (Includes QB)
Stats -2015 average

San Jose St-

Offense - 27.9 PPG
Yds - 405 YPG

Defense - 27.2 PPG (allowed)
Yds - 359 YPG

TU -

Offense -37.2 PPG
Yds - 507 YPG

Defense - 39.8 PPG
Yds - 537 YPG

Alltime Record - 3-3 Members of WAC until 2004

More Later

IMO the game offensively comes down to the play of the QBs - how accurate they play and skill of performance. So here is my observation of what "may" happen come Sept 3.

SJS QB - Kenny Potter 6-2 208 - From his stats, I assume he is a dual threat QB who relies heavily on his feet. As far as passing is concerned, he has a high percentage of completes (67%) but not a lot of yards to show for it (1,984) with 15 TDs, but 7 INTs. So I think we see a lot of running and play action passing from him which puts pressure on our LBers. The RB they had last year, that was their leader, graduated, Tyler Erwin, who had over 1,600 yds and 13 TDs. They return 3 of their top 4 receivers (so do we) and seem to rely a lot on smaller receivers than us for the most part or more of the wide body TE types. But again, the QB will probably have a lot of run attempts imo. So I think their run game will be a bit suspect with a new starter at RB and may rely on the QB to make up for the loss. They also have 4 0f 5 OLinemen back, so they should be solid there.

With Dane, it will be a contrast in styles, Dane will be the pass first guy with the big play in his back pocket. Dane completed 63% last year for over 4,300 yds and 25 TDs. So he has well over double the pass yards as the SJS QB, but was a dismal -9yds in net rushing. We also return 3 of our top receivers who obviously accounted for more yards and our top RB (Brewer) with over 850 yds. Our OLine returns 3 of 5 from last year, but get Belcher back from an injury after starting the year before. The lines are probably a wash experiencewise.

So I think TU has the edge here as far as the stats are concerned. But IMO the SJS QB has to be contained and forced to stay in the pocket. SJS should do the opposite and force Dane out of the pocket.

More Later.

I believe SJSU will be without one of their top wr due to injury.

Thanks. I hope we are at full strength.

The skill positions are always the most important dynamic in the game IMO. So here is a brief breakdown on that. I will use returning possible/probable starters. Again I am using Phil Steeles magazine for the stats.

QB - Potter (SJS) - Rush yds net = 415 and Pass yds net = 1,984yds ======2,399 total net yds
Evans (TU) - Rush yds net = -9 and Pass yds net = 4,332yds======4,323 total

RB - Tucker (SJS) - Rush yds ====== 159 net
Brewer (TU) - Rush yds ====== 854 net

Rec - Freeman (SJS) 48 receptions and 586 yds/ Crawley 39 for 424/Winston 35 for 368 ====== 122 recpts for 1,378yds
Atkinson (TU) 76 receptions and 1,071 yds/ Hobbs 32 for 551/Lucas 26 for 409========134 recpts for 2,031yds

More Later.

Looking at last years 2015 schedule, there are some things that stand out and show the similarities between the two teams. Here is a little about that:

San Jose St played 7 bowl teams - Air Force, Auburn, San Diego St, New Mexico, BYU, Nevada and Boise St. None of those teams were ranked when they met. Their only win was versus New Mexico. This gives credence to the fact they made a bowl (Cure) with a 5-7 record.

TU played 6 bowl teams - New Mexico, OU#16 (final four), Houston, Memphis(#18), Cincinnati, Navy(#19). TU's only win among those was against New Mexico.

Georgia St, SJS's opponent in the Cure Bowl, was playing in their first ever bowl while VT, TU's opponent, was playing in their 29th Bowl for legendary coach Frank Beamer. Thus the opponents were a contrast in motivations for that outcome.

Both teams going to a bowl allowed them to have the extra bowl practices then and shouldn't make a lot of difference come the opener this year in Tulsa.

More Later.

The kicking game is a part of football most folks don't really figure into the winning of a game, but has immense importance because of field position and the possibility of miscues along the way that create points. So lets take a quick look at that. If the game is close, the kick game may decide the winner imo.

I can't predict how well the teams cover, snappers snap and blockers protect the kickers, but we have stats on the kickers themselves, so here is a little about that:

SJS has one of the better punters in the nation as far as punting yardage is concerned. Michael Carrizosa averaged 47.5 ypp last year and that shows he has a huge leg. It also can mean he has the possibility of overkicking his coverge if we do a good job holding up the coverage, so we'll see how that works out. But when all is said and done, they have a talented punter that can cause us a lot of headaches. Our punter is also a very good one, Dalton Parks, who is adept at controlling his punting distance (41.2ypp). By that I mean he can punt high if he chooses, long if he wants and also does a good job placing punts inside the 20 if needed which cuts down on his yardage numbers. We ARE breaking in a new snapper, but from what I saw in the scrimmage, he looks just fine.

The place kicker for SJS is a new one, but has some experience - Bryce Crawford who is 6-7 in XPT attempts, but has no FGA over 39 yards, so I assume he was a short FG kicking specialist. The long "booter", Austin Lopez, has graduated and took the majority of kicks and was good at it (10-17) with a longest at 43yds. He was also 36-38 in XPTs.

TU has Redford Jones back who started and has a good set of stats - 58 of 60 on XPTs and 17 0f 25 on FGs with the longest of 46 yards. So there is probably a slight advantage in the FG/XPT game to us.

Next Up - The Deciding Factor - Defense.

Looking at the defense, the key in my mind are the returning tacklers. So looking at our opponent - SJS has 6 of their top 10 tacklers returning this year, including the top 3. (They also have 3 of the 4 starting linemen, 2 of 3 starting LBers, one starting corner and one starting safety back.) Of those top tacklers I mentioned, they accounted for 419 total tackles, but only 3 INTs. That could definitely hurt them against our passing game. 2 of the three were LBers and the other a safety. None of the leading tacklers were linemen which could mean they have a subpar pass rush, but we'll see come Saturday. Of their 5 wins, four teams scored above 20 points, while the other was a DI-AA opponent, New Hampshire. So they seem to be vulnerable to points scored against them. In all their losses except one, they allowed over 30 points.

TU has 7 starters back (2 linemen, all three LBers and two DBs) not including a couple who have starting experience the year before. We return 7 of the top 10 tacklers and of those, we intercepted 6 passes total and accounted for 468 total tackles. So we have the experience, total tackle and forced turnover edge.

My guess is that TU probably played teams who relied on the passing game more than SJS and that created a bit more opportunities for INTs. But of course, TU allowed more points which is a major problem for us.

Defensively, the two teams gave away a lot of points last year, but TU returns a bit more experience. So that may give us a slight edge Saturday.

Defensive success will probably decide the game IMO and its the biggest question mark right now. But there is a slight advantage for TU in experience and stats, but TU had the farthest to go to improve in that area.

So that is my "Brief Scouting Report".

Its game week folks! LETS GET TO IT!!! Go TU!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Jose_California

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Jose_State_University



BTW if anyone is interested, the SJS men's basketball coaches name is "Wojcik" (Dave). Its Doug's brother and he was on the staff at TU for a while.