2004 San Jose State Spartans football team

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2004 San Jose State Spartans football
ConferenceWestern Athletic Conference
Record2–9 (1–7 WAC)
Head coach
Co-offensive coordinatorBarry Lunney Jr. (2nd season)
Defensive coordinatorKeith Burns (1st season)
Home stadiumSpartan Stadium
Seasons
← 2003
2005 →
2004 Western Athletic Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team   W   L     W   L  
No. 12 Boise State $   8 0     11 1  
UTEP   6 2     8 4  
No. 22 Fresno State   5 3     9 3  
Louisiana Tech   5 3     6 6  
Hawaii   4 4     8 5  
Nevada   3 5     5 7  
Tulsa   3 5     4 8  
SMU   3 5     3 8  
Rice   2 6     3 8  
San Jose State   1 7     2 9  
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 2004 San Jose State Spartans football team represented San Jose State University in the 2004 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team played their home games at Spartan Stadium in San Jose, California. They participated as members of the Western Athletic Conference. They were coached by head coach Fitz Hill, who resigned after the end of the season to become a "Visiting Scholar" position at the University of Central Florida’s DeVos Sports Business Management Program.[1]

The Spartans' 70-63 win over Rice on October 2 set an NCAA record for overall points scored by both teams in regulation.[2]

Attendance issues and possible cancellation of football[edit]

The San Jose Mercury News reported in March 2004 that budget cuts led some faculty members at San Jose State to advocate removing the SJSU football program from Division IA athletics.[3] Locally there was much speculation that San Jose State would drop football due to poor attendance and student-athlete graduation rates.[4]

Read-2-Lead Classic[edit]

The "Read-2-Lead Classic" was an attempt to help the football team achieve average attendance of 15,000 to retain NCAA Division I-A status. With an emphasis on literacy, the university hosted a series of events in September 2004, including a conversation with comedian Bill Cosby and a concert by Boyz II Men.[5][6][7][8] The game sold just 11,360 tickets. In contrast, the 2003 Read-2-Lead Classic had an official attendance of over 31,000.[9][10]

Schedule[edit]

DateTimeOpponentSiteTVResultAttendance
September 47:00 pmat Stanford*KRONL 3–4339,750
September 182:00 pmMorgan State*
CSNW 47–2810,411
September 255:00 pmat SMUL 13–3617,841
October 26:00 pmRice
  • Spartan Stadium
  • San Jose, CA
W 70–634,467
October 912:30 pmat Washington*L 6–2165,816
October 239:05 pmat HawaiiL 28–4636,264
October 302:00 pmNo. 24 UTEP
  • Spartan Stadium
  • San Jose, CA
KRONL 20–385,968
November 66:05 pmat NevadaKRONL 24–4215,902
November 139:00 amNo. 10 Boise State
  • Spartan Stadium
  • San Jose, CA
ESPN2L 49–56 2OT5,028
November 2012:00 pmat TulsaL 24–3415,784
November 272:00 pmFresno State
  • Spartan Stadium
  • San Jose, CA (rivalry)
KRON, ESPN GamePlanL 28–626,521
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Pacific time

[11][12]

Game summaries[edit]

At Stanford[edit]

1 2 3 4 Total
Spartans 0 0 0 3 3
Cardinal 7 8 21 7 43

Morgan State[edit]

1 2 3 4 Total
Bears 7 7 0 14 28
Spartans 7 17 16 7 47

At SMU[edit]

1 2 3 4 Total
Spartans 0 6 0 7 13
Mustangs 14 8 7 7 36

Rice[edit]

1 2 3 4 Total
Owls 21 13 15 14 63
Spartans 7 21 14 28 70

At Washington[edit]

1 2 3 4 Total
Spartans 0 3 0 3 6
Huskies 7 0 7 7 21

At Hawaii[edit]

1 2 3 4 Total
Spartans 7 7 0 14 28
Warriors 0 24 10 12 46

No. 24 UTEP[edit]

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 24 Miners 14 0 10 14 38
Spartans 7 0 0 13 20

At Nevada[edit]

1 2 3 4 Total
Spartans 0 0 10 14 24
Wolf Pack 7 7 14 14 42

No. 10 Boise State (2OT)[edit]

1 2 3 4OT Total
No. 10 Broncos 7 21 14 014 56
Spartans 14 7 14 77 49

At Tulsa[edit]

1 2 3 4 Total
Spartans 0 21 3 0 24
Golden Hurricane 10 14 3 7 34

Fresno State[edit]

1 2 3 4 Total
Bulldogs 14 27 7 14 62
Spartans 7 7 7 7 28

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Fitz Hill to join the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida". San Jose State Athletics. November 22, 2004. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved November 29, 2013.
  2. ^ "Rice vs. San Jose State - Game Recap - October 2, 2004 - ESPN".
  3. ^ Bartindale, Becky (March 29, 2004). "SJSU football targeted". San Jose Mercury News. Archived from the original on December 5, 2004.
  4. ^ Kawakami, Tim (October 26, 2004). "Still searching for reason to keep program alive". San Jose Mercury News. Archived from the original on October 28, 2004.
  5. ^ Hamm, Andrew F. (September 14, 2004). "More entertainment stars support San Jose's football classic". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Retrieved November 29, 2013.
  6. ^ McGrane, Mick (September 23, 2005). "Losing links Spartans, Aztecs". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved November 29, 2013.
  7. ^ Hamm, Andrew F. (September 13, 2004). "SJSU football gets help from comedian". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Retrieved November 29, 2013.
  8. ^ Gomez, Mark (September 15, 2004). "SJSU makes a good read with classic". San Jose Mercury News. Archived from the original on October 9, 2004.
  9. ^ Curtis, Jake (September 17, 2004). "Extra fan revenue is music to SJSU's ears". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved November 29, 2013.
  10. ^ Curtis, Jake (September 19, 2004). "Spartans top Morgan State / Hill, though, still not thrilled". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved November 29, 2013.
  11. ^ "San José State Spartans Schedule 2004". ESPN. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
  12. ^ "2004 San Jose State Football" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 16, 2016.