SJSU off to great start, but still has plenty to prove
San Jose – Don’t even try and get San Jose State University football coach Dick Tomey caught up in the “line” game.
Tell him his 3-1 Spartans were a 2 1/2-point underdog at home to winless San Diego State, and he just shrugs. Tell him SJSU is a 13 1/2-point favorite over Utah State this weekend, and he gets more animated.
“Utah State arguably had the best win in college football last week,” Tomey said of the previously winless Aggies shocking 27 1/2-point favorite Fresno State, 13-12. “They beat us soundly last year in Logan. What they did last week was a great performance for their football team. We have to feel our backs are firmly against the wall when we are playing anybody. If we stray from that, we can’t beat anybody.”
The Spartans are off to their best start in 16 years when they opened 3-1-1 en route to a 9-2-1 season under Terry Shea. They haven’t had a winning record since going 7-5 in 2000, and haven’t been to a bowl game since the old California Raisin Bowl in 1990.
But that’s getting way ahead of things as far as Tomey is concerned. Utah State (1-5 overall, 1-1 in WAC) caught his attention with its turnover-free performance against Fresno State, led by true freshman quarterback Riley Nelson. Thus, Tomey is more focused over Utah State than the pundits who pick SJSU to open 4-1 for the first time in 19 years.
“We have no control over that (oddsmakers),” said Tomey, seeking his 165th collegiate victory. “The only thing we can control is how we play. We can’t worry about what we can’t control.”
SJSU can control how it starts the Western Athletic Conference schedule. The Spartans are the last WAC school to open conference play.
Their only loss during the preseason slate was against much improved Washington. SJSU has allowed just two touchdowns in its last 10 quarters and has scored more than 30 points in three of four games.
Junior quarterback Adam Tafralis is 79-of-103, or 76.70 percent, to lead the nation in completion percentage.
“He’s made extraordinary progress,” Tomey said of the 6-2, 215-pounder. “He needed to lose weight to get quicker, and he dropped 20, 25 pounds. He’s made as much progress to this point as any quarterback I’ve been around. I’m proud of what he’s done.”
As to what the Spartans have done, Tomey still takes a show-me approach. He’s happy that a team that went 3-8 last season has already equaled that win total this season. And yet he knows that this team will ultimately be remembered not by the first four games of this season but what occurs over the next eight games.
“We realize we’ll be evaluated by what happens from this point on,” Tomey said, “not what we’ve done. We’ve got to play every conference game as a championship game. These guys are believing in themselves and each other. But we’ve got to play our next eight games as if our backs are against the wall.”
