San Jose, Calif. - James T. Callier ran for 93 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 31 carries to lead San Jose State University to a 28-20 victory over Western Athletic Conference foe University of Idaho in its 2007 Homecoming Game at Spartan Stadium on Saturday, October 6.
In front of an announced paid Homecoming crowd of 16,289, San Jose State evened its overall record at 3-3 with its third straight win, and improved to a perfect 2-0 in the WAC. Idaho dropped to 1-5 overall and 0-2 in league play.
Adam Tafralis had another stellar day, as did his junior starting wide receiver tandem of Kevin Jurovich and David Richmond. The senior signal-caller eclipsed the 300-yard passing mark for a third consecutive game, finishing with 302 yards on 22-of-30 completions, two touchdowns and one interception. Jurovich turned in game highs of 161 yards on 10 catches, one of them for a touchdown. The yards were a new career high as he topped 100 for a second straight week, while the receptions matched his previous best. Richmond grabbed four balls for 76 yards.
Idaho’s Dewey Hale fumbled the opening kickoff, though the Vandals maintained possession. Redshirt freshman running back Deonte Jackson began what turned out to be a productive first half of rushing for the visitors, with runs of 12 and 19 yards on the first two plays, ahead of an eight-yard reception from quarterback Brian Nooy, only for the drive to stall.
On San Jose State’s first possession, Tafralis hit Terrance Williams for 12 yards on a third-and-seven play to the Idaho 35, but going for it on fourth and seven at the 32, the Spartans managed just a three-yard gain and relinquished the ball.
The Vandals were first to score at 4:31 on a 34-yard field goal by Tino Amancio, concluding a nine-play, 54-yard drive that took up 3:50 and featured a 37-yard run by Brian Flowers.
San Jose State responded quickly with a five-play, 61-yard drive that took just 1:44, producing a lead it would keep for the duration of the afternoon at 7-3 with 2:47 left in the first period on a two-yard plunge up the middle by Callier. It was the first rushing touchdown of the season by a Spartan. Following a 21-yard kickoff return by David Marrero to the Spartan 39, the key play was a 48-yard hook-up between Tafralis and Richmond. Wide open on the flat for the catch, Richmond’s effective post-catch move to elude a defender sprung the junior down the left sideline to the Idaho 13.
The next Idaho drive went into the second quarter and resulted in a second Amancio field goal, this time from 27 yards, to make it a 7-6 game. Jackson had rushes of 12 yards to midfield and 10 to the SJSU 32 for first downs. He also collected a screen pass that went for 27 yards to the SJSU 6. Two plays later, Spartan linebacker Matt Castelo tackled Flowers for a four-yard loss to help force the field goal attempt. The senior captain would add another tackle-for-loss of one yard on Jackson on a third-and-three play from the Idaho 41 to force a Vandal punt.
The Spartans extended their advantage to 14-6 with just over five minutes left in the half on a one-yard touchdown run by Callier to cap a nine-play, 80-yard drive in 3:32. Tafralis found Richmond and Jurovich on passes of eight and 20 yards, respectively, to give the Spartans first and goal at the Idaho six before Callier ran five yards to set up his own score.
A second 80-yard drive gave San Jose State a 21-6 bulge heading into the halftime break, as Tafralis and Jurovich teamed up for a 33-yard touchdown pass-and-catch down the left sideline with 33 seconds showing on the clock. That drive took 3:09 on 11 plays. Key plays included a 15-yard Jurovich catch to the SJSU 38 and a seven-yard Tafralis run on third and four to the Idaho 49.
The Spartans tacked on a fourth score on a 13-yard pass on fourth and two from Tafralis to tight end Jeff Clark, his first major college touchdown, to make it 28-6 early in the fourth quarter after a pair of missed field goals in the third. Will Johnson provided his second point-after of the season.
Idaho plugged away in an attempt to get back into the game, first getting a blocked punt by Joseph Dickson at 9:13, with Maurice Shaw recovering it in the end zone for 28-13. On the following Spartan possession, Eric Hunter picked off Tafralis at the SJSU 48, and the Vandals capitalized with a 19-yard touchdown run down the left side by Flowers at 5:27. The drive included a four-yard run by Jackson on fourth and two to the SJSU 36.
Still ahead 28-20, San Jose State fended off the threat thanks to some wizardry by Tafralis, an exceptional punting display by senior captain Waylon Prather, and a pair of late interceptions.
Facing third and 11 on their next possession, Tafralis scrambled all the way to his right and found Jacob French on the sideline for the first down and more valuable time off the clock. When the drive faltered, Prather knocked his punt 38 yards to the Idaho 3-yard line.
On the first play of the Idaho drive, Nooy lofted a pass down the middle that was picked off by Jonathan Harris, marking the junior safety’s third straight game with an interception. The Spartans were forced to punt, and Prather stepped up again and hit it 27 yards to the Vandal 5. Dominique Hunsucker’s first career interception sealed the result for good with five ticks left.
Nooy wound up 8-of-15 for 68 yards and the two miscues, though Quin Ashley also took several snaps at the quarterback spot. Jackson and Flowers finished with 94 and 86 yards rushing, respectively, but were held to a combined 54 yards on the ground in the second half. Jackson added team highs of three catches for 33 yards.
Defensively for the Spartans, linebacker Demetrius Jones turned in his fourth straight game with a double-digit tackle total, with a team-high 10. Harris and Castelo added nine and eight, respectively. The Spartans won the turnover battle with Idaho, 2-1. The Vandals had entered the day with 18 takeaways on the season to lead all teams in the WAC and rank in a tie for second in the nation.
San Jose State next concludes a stretch of three straight home games over 13 days in a nationally-televised match-up with 16th-ranked University of Hawai’i (6-0, 3-0 WAC) on Friday, October 12. Kick-off at Spartan Stadium is slated for 5:00 p.m., with ESPN providing live television coverage.