Ageecee
Ageecee
I know this is cut and pasted but it will give you some quality information. I want to take SJST -21 but the three books I have don't have it on the board for some dumb reason! Hopefully one of them will post it late! GL!!
FACTS & STATS: Site: Spartan Stadium (30,456) -- San Jose, California.
Television: ESPN2. Home Record: Grambling 0-0, San Jose 0-0. Away Record: Grambling 0-0, San Jose 0-0. Neutral Record: Grambling 0-0, San Jose 0-0.
Conference Record: Grambling 0-0, San Jose 0-0. Series Record: First-ever meeting.
GAME NOTES: For the very first NCAA football game of the 2003 campaign, the Grambling State Tigers head to the West Coast to contend with the San Jose State Spartans in the inaugural Martin Luther King Literacy Classic. Fitz Hill, in just his second season with the program, led the Spartans to an overall record of 6-7 and 4-4 Western Athletic Conference record in 2002.
While the team failed to reach the .500 level when all was said and done, there was still a lot for the team to be proud of, not the least of which was the fact that they earned that record by playing 13 straight weeks, with nine of the contests being on the road. A year earlier, Hill and his squad had just three wins in 12 contests. Grambling State, which is one of the more notable football schools at the I-AA level, finished atop the Southwestern Conference in 2002 with a record of 11-2, after defeating Alabama A&M, 31-19, in the final contest of the season. It was the third straight year that Grambling won the SWAC, not to mention the National Black Championship title.
The Tigers are under the direction of sixth-year head coach Doug Williams, a former Super Bowl MVP. Williams took over the program from the legendary Eddie Robinson, who led the school to 408 victories and eight national titles over the course of 57 years of service to the institution. The game marks the first-ever meeting between these two schools on the gridiron and is just part of a week-long series of events designed to raise funds for literacy programs and generate capital to fund regional programs. The last non-Division I-A team that the Spartans encountered was Southern Utah in 2000, a team that they defeated 47-7 at home. Grambling State ranked eighth in the Sports Network's Division I-AA preseason poll.
Although the rest of the nation doesn't get to hear or see much of the Tigers on a regular basis, the team is stocked with prime talent that is just waiting to be recognized. Now a junior, quarterback Bruce Eugene had one of the more remarkable sophomore seasons in recent memory, passing for 4,455 yards and 43 touchdowns. His outstanding numbers placed him on the All-SWAC First Team and turned him into the league's Offensive Player of the Year. In addition to earning All-Louisiana and All-American honors, Eugene finished third for the Walter Payton Award, given in recognition of the top offensive player at the I-AA level. Eugene had great numbers certainly, leading the conference in passing yardage and passing touchdowns, but he did have a little help from his receivers, many of whom are back to try and rewrite the record books at Grambling. Most notable is senior Tramon Douglas, who pulled in 92 balls for 1,704 yards and 18 scores, all of which led I-AA in 2002. Joining Douglas as more than competent outlets for Eugene will be Cory Brownfield, Calvin Coquitt, Moses Harris, Adrian Sezer and All-SWAC tight end Gershone Jessie.
The quintet accounted for a collective 100 catches, leading to 1,629 yards and 14 touchdowns a season ago. While the passing game is one of the best in the nation, the Tigers fail to have a complementary group of runners coming out of the backfield to take some of the heat and hits. A trio of sophomores (Henry Tolbert, Gideon Leonard and Michael O'Ree) are all in the mix for picking up carries, but how much they get used is anyone's guess. The offensive line lost three starters from last year, with All-Americans Brandon James and Terry Riley among them. But there is still optimism that the group can come together and become one of the most efficient in recent memory.
It's clear that the GSU offense can put points on the board with virtually no end in sight, so the real challenge for the Tigers is to see whether or not the defense can withstand being the biggest target on the team. The unit lost six starters from 2002, but coach Williams still believes that the men that he puts out on the field to stop opposing offenses will be more athletic than their predecessors. The defensive line will be missing the services of All- SWAC members Antwan Lawrence and Willie Gray at the end and tackle positions, respectively. Both end Calvin Arnold and tackle Jimmie Zachary will be back to reprise their roles, but unless some new faces planted on the inside of the line can make an impact, the Tigers might be in some serious trouble in that area. The linebacking corps also lost a couple of talented athletes in leading tackler Ron Johnson and Corey Baker. There are numerous names that can be inserted into the starting spots, and substitutes that can make their mark as well, but as of yet they are untested. Among them are Marcus Yanez, Antoine Smith, David Hicks, Demetrius Carter, Fred Wicker, David Robinson, and Tim Wilson. The secondary is perhaps the strongest on the unit, led by All- American candidate Octavius Bond at corner and safety Michael Daigre. However, they too will be trying to fill big shoes with the departures of All-SWAC members Chris Brown and Denmark Reed.
Week in and week out, the Spartans had to try their best not to get blown out by the better teams in the WAC and the tough non-conference foes that found their way onto their schedule in 2002. Except for a handful of games where the offense just failed to get moving in the right direction, San Jose State caused many teams to rethink how they were going to defend the coach Hill-led squad. Quarterback Scott Rislov, now a senior, took over for an ineffective Marcus Arroyo and made the most of his opportunities by ranking second in the league in pass efficiency, while setting three single-season school records and a pair of single-game marks. Rislov returns as the leader once again with senior wideouts Tuati Wooden and Jamall Broussard to throw the ball to. Broussard led the team in receptions with 62 and tied for the lead with five touchdowns, so there's little to worry about there. Running back Lamar Ferguson, who posted 634 yards and eight touchdowns last season to pace the Spartans, comes back again to be part of the rushing attack, but there's reason to believe that junior college transfer Tyson Thompson is in line for the bulk of the carries this time around. Senior lineman Joseph Hayes, one of four returning starters up front along with LaMons Walker, Justin Arrington and Jeff Gordon, has put himself among the elite in the conference by being placed on the Outland Trophy Watch List for this season, an award given to the nation's top interior lineman.
Defense is a relative term when talking about the Spartans. The team allowed opponents to score almost 36 ppg, one of the highest totals in college football, and that was because teams generated nearly 500 yards in total offense per contest for the second year in a row. With eight starters back from 2002, coach Hill and his associates are assuming that the numbers are going to get better this year. In the trenches, the squad is counting on senior defensive end Philip Perry, who tied for third in the nation with seven forced fumbles last year, while pacing the team in sacks (seven). Senior Steve Nash also reprises his role up front, along with sophomore Kinji Green. The linebacking corps is comprised of three seniors, with Paul Okumu and Onyeka Ossai returning as starters. Joining the pair will be Michael Smith who appeared in 13 games and finished with 40 stops in 2002. With respect to causing turnovers last season, SJSU was third in interceptions and fourth in turnovers gained, numbers that allowed the team to lead the WAC. The Spartans return their top three aerial thieves in senior Gerald Jones (8 interceptions), junior Josh Powell (4) and senior Melvin Cook (4) and also have sophomore Trestin George coming back, completing the secondary.
Coach Hill has got the Spartans believing that they can achieve just about anything, on or off the field. More importantly, he has given them all the respect and attention that they need to become successful in whatever they might do. Right now that's beating up on the Tigers at home. Although Grambling is an elite program at the I-AA level, the Tigers will struggle against the Spartans. Expect both teams to get the ball moving through the air, with little attention paid to their respective running games. The Spartans get the upperhand however, against a restructured Grambling defense.
