2010 San Jose State Spartans Football Preview

2009 Results: 2-10, No Bowl

Head Coach: Mike McIntyre (1st year @ SJSU, No Previous Head Coaching Experience)

Home Venue: Spartan Stadium (30,456) San Jose, CA

The final season of Dick Tomey’s long coaching career was a real dud, as San Jose State only won one game against a D-1A opponent amidst a miserable 2-10 year. His retirement brings on Mike McIntyre, who was the 2009 American Football Coaches’ Association Assistant Coach of the Year as Duke’s Defensive Coordinator. Can McIntyre use his knowledge to fix a SJSU defense that allowed nearly 35 points per game last season?

OFFENSE

Things didn’t begin smoothly for McIntyre on the offensive side of the football, as his original offensive coordinator bolted soon after arrival. Former D-1AA coach Tim Landis is now the man calling plays and he has one heck of a rebuilding job ahead as the Spartans barely mustered over 13 points per game last season.

The good news is that there is a lot of experience on hand with eight returning starters. Senior QB Jordan LaSecla (1,926 yards, 10 TDs, 11 INT) wasn’t terrible in eight starts last year and should be better this fall. With seniors Marquis Avery (42 catches, 465 yards, 6 TDs) and Jalal Beaucheman (35 catches, 378 yards, 4 TDs) to throw to, the Spartans might have a decent passing attack.

However, the passing game has not been the issue in the past three seasons for SJSU: their complete lack of a rushing attack has been the primary concern. After putting up only 77 yards per game as a team last year, senior Lamon Muldrow (592 yards, 3 TDs in 8 starts) will be relied upon to get the Spartans moving on the ground again behind an experienced but nondescript line. Improving their running game is the biggest concern for this offense to even return to the land of respectability in 2010.

DEFENSE

McIntyre also has a lot of work to do on defense after inheriting the WAC’s worst run defense. The combination of allowing opponents nearly 260 yards per game on the ground coupled with the rebuilding job on hand up front makes this a daunting task, to say the least. SJSU only has three starters back from the front seven but they really can’t get much worse than last year so a new scheme should be an upgrade, even if it is a very slight one.

The good news is that the top three tacklers from last season return, led by one of the league’s better safety tandems in senior Duke Ihenacho (89 tackles) and junior Tanner Burns (96 tackles, 2 INT). There is also more good news in the secondary as all four starters are back. But then there’s the flip side of the coin: Those same four starters oversaw a pass defense that allowed 190 aerial yards per game despite most opponents’ ability to run the ball literally at will.

Needless to say, there is a big question mark in the talent department for the Spartans. While a new scheme is going to help improve the run defense, SJSU is more likely to be burned in the passing game with questionable cover corners and a pair of safeties that is much more effective in run support.

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SCHEDULE

San Jose State travels to Hawai’i this season, giving them 13 games on the schedule. The Spartan administrators also learned from last season’s success against D-1AA teams, as there are TWO on the schedule in the early going. Luckily, this brazen grab for wins is offset by visits to Alabama, Wisconsin and Utah in the early going. The Spartans also have to host Boise State and Fresno State in back to back weeks and the first eight games of the year are going to be killer as they have to visit Nevada in that span as well! A vicious non-conference slate coupled with their most difficult league games right of the bat doesn’t give me a lot of confidence that the Spartans can manage this schedule with much success.

OUTLOOK

San Jose State is in for a rebuilding year. Their offense and defense are both in need of some serious tweaking, their biggest liability from last year (run defense) has to be plugged with a group of inexperienced players and their non-conference schedule is brutal. Were it not for those two early games against D-1AA teams, SJSU’s future probably would have shown a winless year until Halloween! As it is, the last five games represent their only realistic options to beat any WAC opponents and that might get a lot tougher if they run into injury troubles as they maneuver through their brutal opening stretch. It is going to be a long year for San Jose State.

PREDICTED RESULT: 4-9 (2-6 WAC)