San Jose, Calif. - San Jose State University concluded the 2007 season by shutting the visiting Wolf Pack out during the second half while rallying from a 24-10 deficit, to defeat the University of Nevada, 27-24, in Western Athletic Conference football action at Spartan Stadium on Saturday, November 24.
With the victory, San Jose State finishes the season at 5-7 overall and 4-4 in the WAC. Nevada drops to 5-6 overall and 3-4 in league play with a home contest remaining with Louisiana Tech. The win snapped a five-game Spartan losing streak against the Wolf Pack dating back to 2001.
Seventeen seniors were recognized prior to their final game as Spartans.
One of those seniors, quarterback Adam Tafralis, completed 29 of 46 passes, two of them for touchdowns. His 353 yards of total offense and 342 yards of passing offense increased his school-record career marks to 8117 and 7548 yards, respectively, to finish his career. David Richmond caught nine passes for 143 yards, while fellow junior wideout Kevin Jurovich battled through several tough hits and an apparent injury, returning to finish with eight catches for 91 yards and a touchdown.
Waylon Prather, the Spartan punter and a senior captain, triggered a thrilling finish as his fourth kick of the day sailed 48 yards to the Nevada eight with time winding down and San Jose State nursing a 27-24 lead, but Wolf Pack senior Alex Rosenblum produced a 56-yard return, with Prather tackling him out of bounds at the SJSU 36 with 1:04 left. Colin Kaepernick started the drive by finding Kyle Sammons for 14 yards to the 22, but an incomplete pass intended for Marko Mitchell on third and seven brought Nevada placekicker Brett Jaekle on for a 37-yard attempt. Jaekle’s boot hit the left upright and came off as the Spartan faithful on hand went wild and 24 ticks remained. Tafralis’ knee ended matters.
San Jose State took the opening kickoff, and after a pair of short third-down conversions, were eventually forced to punt.
On the first play of the next Spartan possession, Tafralis found Jalal Beauchman up the middle for 27 yards to get across midfield. Five plays later, Tafralis hooked up with his favorite target this season, Jurovich, for 33 yards for the first score of the afternoon at 6:13.
Nevada wasted little time in striking back, with Kaepernick, its redshirt freshman quarterback, hitting a wide-open Mitchell down the right sideline for a 64-yard game-tying touchdown just 2:38 later, after the Wolf Pack had narrowly converted on a third-and-one play through a one-yard plunge by Luke Lippincott to the Nevada 34.
Two possessions later, Nevada went 85 yards in 13 plays and 5:39 to take its first lead, the drive culminating in a nine-yard Brandon Fragger touchdown run around the right side with 9:14 to go in the half. Key plays included Kaepernick throws to Sammons of 14 yards on second and seven to the SJSU 44, to Fragger of 15 yards on third and 15 to the SJSU 34 and Sammons again of 12 yards on second and 11 to the SJSU 23. Mike McCoy also made a nifty sideline catch for 14 yards at the SJSU 9.
Jaekle’s ensuing kickoff, an onside kick attempt, failed to go 10 yards, with the Spartans gaining possession in great field position at the Wolf Pack 39. Tafralis immediately hit Jurovich for 20 yards, again up the middle, to the 19. Moments later, just prior to a third-and-nine play, a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against the visitors gave San Jose State first and goal at the nine. The Spartans were eventually forced to settle for a 20-yard Jared Strubeck to make it a 14-10 game with 6:29 showing on the clock.
Strubeck and San Jose State then showed Nevada the right way to run an onside kick, recovering at their own 44. On the second play, Tafralis was intercepted by Nevada linebacker Ezra Butler, but Butler was stripped of the ball by Spartan tight end Brian Elledge, with Elledge also recovering the fumble to regain possession for SJSU in Nevada territory at the 49. The drive ended in a Waylon Prather punt to the 13-yard line.
With the ball back, Kaepernick ran a 20-yard keeper around the left side on third and two to the Nevada 41, before connecting with an open Mitchell again, this time for 59 yards, into the endzone. Jaekle’s point after made it a 21-10 scoreline with 3:21 left to go before intermission.
Tafralis and Richmond hooked up for 19 yards on the left sideline on third and four on the next Spartan possession, but San Jose State was unable to convert on a fourth-and-three-play at the Nevada 47. The Wolf Pack went to work with 25 ticks left. Kaepernick hit Fragger for 18 yards and McCoy for 16 yards to set Jaekle up for a 36-yard field goal as time expired for 24-10.
On the opening possession of the second half, Nevada moved to the Spartan 39, but Carl Ihenacho sacked Kaepernick for a nine-yard loss on third and eight to force a Wolf Pack punt.
Richmond made a nice catch falling to the ground for 36 yards to give San Jose State first and goal at the Nevada four-yard line. On third and goal, Tafralis faked the handoff, rolled out to his right and hit Elledge for the three-yard touchdown pass to decrease the deficit in half. The drive, which took nine plays over 80 yards and 4:35, was spurred by Tafralis throws of 12 yards to Jacob French, 16 yards to Jurovich and 10 yards to Beauchman before Richmond’s haul.
The Spartans got the ball back after its linebacker tandem of senior captain Matt Castelo and junior Dimitrous Chattman combined on a pass break-up of Kaepernick and McCoy on third and five. Tafralis and Richmond connected for 19 yards to the SJSU 30 on third and 10, and then again for nine yards and another first down on third and nine to the Wolf Pack 45. In between, San Jose State also benefited from a 15-yard face mask penalty against Nevada. Tafralis hit Beauchman for 10 yards and the Spartans gained 15 more on a pass interference call to the 14.
The drive, which went for 14 plays, 67 yards and 5:24 off the clock, stalled at the start of the fourth quarter, with Strubeck’s 39-yard effort good for 24-20.
The San Jose State defense forced a three-and-out by the Wolf Pack offense, and Tafralis and his teammates went back to work on offense from their own 25. On second and four, Tafralis looked off receivers on the left and found Richmond down the right hash mark for 41 yards to the Wolf Pack 28. On third and 15, Tafralis hit Jurovich for a short gain, but a 15-yard personal foul face-mask penalty gave the Spartans a first down at the Nevada 13. French ran around the left side for the remaining 13 yards, with Strubeck’s extra point regaining a 27-24 advantage for the Spartans at 11:42. The drive took 1:58 as SJSU went 75 yards on seven plays.
Rosenblum fumbled the ensuing kickoff, forced by Castelo and recovered by Dominique Hunsucker at the Wolf Pack 32. Runs of seven yards by Tafralis, five and four yards by James T. Callier and five more by Myles Eden, who took a number of snaps at quarterback on the day, moved the ball to the Nevada 11, but the drive stalled and Strubeck pulled his 34-yard attempt wide to the left to keep the score at 27-24 with 8:42 left to play.
On second and 11 on Nevada’s next sequence, freshman safety Duke Ihenacho, the younger brother of Carl, broke up a Kaepernick pass attempt down the middle, and following another incompletion, the Wolf Pack had to punt.
An eight-yard throw from Tafralis to Jurovich on third and five gave the Spartans a first down at their own 18 and broke a pair of school marks. Tafralis surpassed Ed Luther in career pass completions with 601, while Jurovich broke Edell Shepherd’s single-season record of 83 receptions. After two more first downs on a two-yard run by Tafralis and an eight-yard run by French, the Spartans were forced to punt, setting up the final sequence.
In their final collegiate games, Castelo and fellow linebacker Demetrius Jones produced a game-high 13 and 12 total tackles, respectively, while All-American cornerback Dwight Lowery tallied three tackles, three pass break-ups and 12 yards on three punt returns. French handled the rushing load on offense, carrying a season-high 16 times for 62 yards. He also caught four passes for 33 yards and returned a pair of kickoffs for 43 yards. Beauchman added five receptions for 59 yards.
For Nevada, Kaepernick wound up 12-of-22 for 252 yards and two touchdowns in the air, with nine rushes for 72 yards on the ground. Mitchell had four catches, including the two scores, for 144 yards. Lippincott ran for 74 yards.