Spartans' Defense Of Mountain West Football Championship Is Next

SAN José STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL FACT SHEET (Game #3)
San José State at Hawai'i
Saturday, September 18, 2021, 6:30 p.m. (HST) /9:30 p.m. (PDT)
Clarence T.C. Ching Complex, Honolulu, Hawai'i
FS1

2021 San José State record: 1-1, 0-0 Mountain West. The Spartans lost to No. 15/No. 14 USC, 30-7, on September 4. San José State has a bye week the weekend of September 11.

2021 Hawai'i record: 1-1, 0-0 Mountain West. The Rainbow Warriors evened their record for the season with a 49-35 win over Portland State in their first game playing on campus at the Clarence T.C. Ching Complex. Hawai'i travels to Oregon State for a September 11 game before hosting the Spartans.

Play-by-Play Radio Coverage: KTRB (860 AM, San Francisco) will broadcast the Hawai'i game. Justin Allegri calls the play-by-play. Kevin Richardson provides commentary. The Hawai'i broadcast begins at 9:00 p.m. (PT) with a pregame show. The broadcast also is available on the Varsity Network app.

Television:  FS1 will televise  the Hawai'i game.  Alex Faust calls the play-by-play. Petros Papadakis is the analyst. The FS1 telecast begins at 9:30 p.m. (PT)/6:30 p.m. (HT) and Sunday, September 19, 12:30 a.m. (ET).

FS1 is available on DirecTV Channel 219, DISH Network Channel 150, and  Comcast Cable/Xfinity Channel 408 in Northern California. Check local listings for additional outlets.

Series history: Hawai'i leads the series, 22-20-1 with one cancellation. The Spartans won last year's game, 35-24, at Aloha Stadium to end a string of four Hawai'i wins.  Originally, the 2020 game was scheduled for San Jose, but was moved to Honolulu due the COVID-19 issues.

• The teams are playing a conference game in Honolulu for the third consecutive calendar year to match a similar circumstance during the 2000 through 2002 seasons when the two teams were Western Athletic Conference (WAC) members. Prior to 2000, San Jose State played at Hawai'i in six consecutive contests between 1960 and 1975.

• Hawai'i's last win in the series was a 42-40 triumph in 2019 that marked the first time a NCAA Division I  Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) contest was played in which neither team punted. There were 17 possessions in the game with San Jose State scoring every time it had the ball. Hawai'i scored six touchdowns, fumbled once with a Spartan recovery and had the ball when time expired at the end of each half.  The only other NCAA Division I game on record without a punt was the Georgia Southern-James Madison contest on November 15, 1986.

• The 1941 game between these teams was canceled due to the start of World War II. San Jose State was in Honolulu on December 7 when Pearl Harbor was attacked preparing for December 13 and December 16 games against Willamette College and Hawai'i, respectively.

• The longest game in San Jose State history is Hawai'i's five-overtime win at CEFCU Stadium in San Jose, 44-41. Two of the Spartans' 10 overtime games in school history included the Rainbow Warriors as the opposing team.

Defending a Mountain West championship: San José State begins its defense of its 2020 Mountain West championship when it takes on Hawai'i in the first of eight regular season conference contests. The Spartans seek to become the first Mountain West program to successfully defend the conference championship in football since San Diego State won back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2016.

The five schools with consecutive Mountain West football titles are Fresno State, a co-champion in 2012 and the title winner in 2013; TCU in 2009, 2010 and 2011; BYU in 2006 and 2007; Utah in 2003 and 2004; and Colorado State, a co-champion in 1999 and the outright winner in 2000.
The last time San Jose State was a back-to-back conference champion was in 1990 and 1991 as a Big West Conference member. The Spartans swept through the Big West's regular season conference schedule in 1990 and shared the Big West championship with Fresno State in 1991.

Playing for the Dick Tomey Legacy Trophy: Though San Jose State and Hawai'i have faced each other in football since 1936, this year's game marks the fourth time the two schools are playing for the Dick Tomey Legacy Trophy, named after the late head coach of each team during a 29-year NCAA Division I head coaching career. He passed away on May 10, 2019 in Tucson, Ariz., at age 80.

Mr. Tomey's head coaching record was 183-145-7. His first head coaching position was at Hawai'i where his teams from 1977 through 1986 compiled a 63-46-3 win-loss record in 10 seasons. He departed Hawai'i for the University of Arizona where his Wildcat teams had a 95-64-4 win-loss record from 1987 through 2000. His third and final head coaching position was at San Jose State during the 2005 through 2009 seasons. The Spartans were 25-35 in those five seasons.

Mr. Tomey was the winningest head coach in Hawai'i football history at the time of his departure. When he retired from San Jose State, he had more coaching victories in five seasons than any of his predecessors since 1989.

In the San Jose State-Hawaii series as a head coach, he had a 2-5 win-loss record. The Rainbow Warriors were 1-1 against the Spartans in 1977 and 1978. The Spartans were 1-4 during he 2005 through 2009 seasons winning 20-17 at Aloha Stadium in 2008. He also was an assistant coach at Hawaii when San Jose State posted a 28-27 triumph in the 2011 game in San Jose.

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