San Jose, Calif. - San Jose State University was outlasted by 16th-ranked University of Hawai’i, 42-35 in overtime, in a Western Athletic Conference football thriller at Spartan Stadium on Friday, October 12.
In front of a season-high 20,473 and a national television audience under the night lights on ESPN, the Spartans fell to 3-4 overall and 2-1 in the WAC. They had entered on a three-game win streak. Hawai’i remains perfect at 7-0 overall and 4-0 in conference play. It marked the second time this season that UH has pulled out an overtime WAC victory on the road.
Following a Colt Brennan-to-Jason Rivers touchdown from nine yards and a Dan Kelly extra point to begin the first overtime session, cornerback Myron Newberry’s interception in the end zone won it for the visiting Warriors. Fale Laeli sacked Spartan quarterback Adam Tafralis to begin the San Jose State possession, back to the SJSU 30, before Tafralis’ throw on the next play with David Richmond the intended receiver.
Tafralis finished 27-of-47 for 302 yards, his fourth 300-plus yard passing game in a row, with two touchdowns and three interceptions. Kevin Jurovich caught seven passes, including both touchdowns from Tafralis, for 117 yards for his third straight 100-plus yard receiving game.
Brennan was 44-of-75 passing, both totals all-time highs for a Spartan opponent, for 545 yards, with four touchdowns in the air, one on the ground and four interceptions. The San Jose State defense had entered the day with 11 interceptions, tops in the WAC and tied for fifth in the nation.
Dominique Hunsucker took the opening kickoff of the game 27 yards to the Spartan 36. A shovel pass from Tafralis to Jacob French netted 15 yards on the opening play of scrimmage to get San Jose State across midfield. Two plays later, Tafralis rolled to his left on an option keeper for 11 yards and another first down at the 38. Another two plays after that, however, Tafralis’ pass went off the hands of junior wideout Kyle Flynn and into the arms of Rainbow linebacker Adam Leonard for the interception, Leonard returning it 28 yards to the SJSU 35.
Brennan, the Hawai’i senior Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback, took over for the first time. On a third-and-12 play, he found Davone Bess for 15 yards and a first down at the SJSU 6. On second and goal, running back Keolaha Pilares took a pitch from Brennan and ran six yards to the right for the evening’s first score at 11:18.
Two possessions later, following four incompletions in a row, Brennan hit Ryan Grice-Mullen for 39 yards to the Spartan 48-yard line. Following a six-yard rush on third and seven, Brennan ran for three yards on a second straight keeper to convert on fourth down. On fourth and five at the 31, Hawai’i went for it again. Jarron Gilbert forced Brennan to fumble, with Pilares falling on it for a five-yard loss and change of possession.
On the ensuing Spartan drive, Tafralis found French for 15 yards over the middle on third and 11 to the 50, and then scrambled and flipped another shovel pass to Jalal Beauchman to convert on a third-and-three play to the UH 37. The drive ended with a Spartan score, however, as Will Johnson’s first major college field-goal attempt went wide to the right from 47 yards.
Junior safety Andrew Ryan produced his first major college interception on the first play of the Hawai’i possession, getting his hands on Brennan’s throw over the middle and taking it 15 yards to the UH 43, but the Spartans went three plays and out.
The Warriors then went 86 yards in 12 plays and 4:32, taking a 14-0 lead on a Brennan-to-Grice-Mullen touchdown hook-up of 16 yards with 8:23 left in the half. Brennan hit Rivers for 21 yards on third and five, and again for 11 yards, before finding Grice-Mullen and Bess for 13 yards each ahead of his 17th touchdown toss of the season.
All-American Spartan cornerback Dwight Lowery was closest to Grice-Mullen on the touchdown, and was visibly upset with himself for not being able to make a play on the ball. The senior wasted little time in making up for it later in the quarter, however, fielding a Tim Grasso punt, finding the left sideline and sprinting 84 yards for his first major college touchdown to bring the crowd to its feet. Johnson’s extra point brought SJSU to within seven at 14-7 with 1:21 left.
Kelly missed a 48-yard field goal wide to the left for UH as time expired before intermission.
Lowery wasn’t done. On the first play from scrimmage of the second half, he stepped right in front of a Warrior receiver on the right sideline and waltzed untouched into the end zone. Johnson’s point-after knotted the game at 14-14. It was Lowery’s third interception of the season and 12th of his two-year Spartan career.
Ryan added his second pick of the night at his own one-yard line on a first-and-10 play from the Spartan 24 on the next Hawai’i possession, returning it 16 yards to the 17, but San Jose State was not able to capitalize on that turnover. Brennan had strung together three successive completions for a total of 54 more yards prior to his third miscue of the night.
San Jose State drove 65 yards on five plays in 1:59 to take its first lead of the night with 5:25 remaining in the third quarter. Tafralis found Jurovich for 16 yards in the front right corner of the end zone. Jurovich made the tough grab falling on his back out of bounds, giving the junior wide receiver at least one touchdown in each of his last three games.
The drive had started after the Spartan defense stuffed Brennan on a fourth-and-one play, with Adonis Davis and Jerome Pulu gaining credit for the tackle at the SJSU 35. On the first play of the San Jose State drive, Tafralis connected with tight end Brian Elledge over the middle for 23 yards to the UH 42.
Jurovich, stuck at 15 yards on two catches at the halftime break, then latched onto a deep ball by Tafralis and broke a tackle to get himself back into the end zone on a 68-yard strike. It was the longest pass play of the season for the Spartans, with the previous long a 59-yarder, also a Tafralis-to-Jurovich touchdown.
The Warriors answered right back within 78 seconds off the clock, Brennan throwing a 34-yard touchdown to C.J. Hawthorne to make it a 28-21 Spartan lead with 1:14 to go in the third.
San Jose State extended its advantage back to 14 points at the conclusion of an eight-play, 65-yard drive that took the game into the fourth quarter. James T. Callier’s third rushing touchdown in two games, from eight yards out, made it 35-21. Callier, Richmond and Jacob French accounted for all 65 yards with 23, 26 and 16 yards, respectively, after French’s 32-yard kickoff return to the SJSU 35.
The game continued as a back-and-forth affair, as Malcolm Lane took the kickoff and rumbled 43 yards to midfield to jump-start the next UH possession. The drive eventually stalled, however, with Brennan unable to connect with Grice-Mullen on fourth and 13 from the SJSU 40.
The following Warrior drive was stopped when Brennan threw his fourth interception of the night, cornerback Christopher Owens nabbing his team-leading fourth of 2007 at the SJSU 48. When that Spartan drive stalled, senior team captain Waylon Prather put a 32-yard punt to the UH three, giving him three kicks within the opponent’s five-yard line in the fourth quarters of the last two games.
Taking advantage of 35 yards in penalties against the Spartans, Hawai’i moved down the field quickly in eight plays and 3:25, despite a loss of 11 yards on a Justin Willis sack of Brennan back to the SJSU 36. Brennan eventually hit Bess with an 11-yard touchdown to make it a one-possession game again at 35-28 with 3:53 to go.
With under three minutes remaining, Blaze Soares forced a Callier fumble at the SJSU 45. Eight plays later, Brennan kept it and ran for the two-yard touchdown. Kelly’s extra point tied the game at 35-35 with 31 seconds showing on the scoreboard and sent it into overtime.
Grice-Mullen caught a school-record 14 passes for 175 yards, while Bess (12-140), and Rivers (12-138) each also reached double figures in catches and 100 yards in receiving yards. All three players had a touchdown. Pilares wound up with 52 yards and one score on 10 carries.
French caught a team-high eight passes for 65 yards for the Spartans. Richmond added five catches for 49 yards.
Defensively, Ryan had seven total tackles, the two interceptions and a pair of pass break-ups. Owens had two break-ups to go along with his interception and a game-high 15 tackles, as Lowery (13) and senior linebacker Matt Castelo (12) also reached double figures. Carl Ihenacho had two of the four Spartan sacks.
Having now concluded a stretch of three straight home games over 13 days following a season-opening four-game road swing, San Jose State heads back on the road next week, at WAC rival Fresno State. Kick-off at Bulldog Stadium on Saturday, October 20, is slated for 2:00 p.m.