2004 San Jose State Spartans football team

2004 San Jose State Spartans football
Conference Western Athletic Conference
2004 record 29 (17 WAC)
Head coach Fitz Hill
Home stadium Spartan Stadium
(Capacity: 30,456)
2004 WAC football standings
Conf     Overall
Team   W   L         W   L  
#12 Boise State   8 0         11 1  
UTEP   6 2         8 4  
#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

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

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

Date Time Opponent Site TV Result Attendance
September 4 7:00 PM Stanford* Stanford StadiumStanford, CA (Rivalry) KRON L 343   39,750
September 18 2:00 PM Morgan State* Spartan Stadium • San Jose, CA (Read-2-Lead Classic) CSN W 4728   10,411
September 25 5:00 PM at SMU Gerald J. Ford StadiumUniversity Park, TX L 1336   17,841
October 2 6:00 PM Rice Spartan Stadium • San Jose, CA W 7063   4,467
October 9 12:30 PM at Washington* Husky Stadium • Seattle, WA L 621   65,816
October 23 9:05 PM at Hawaii Aloha StadiumHonolulu, HI L 2846   36,264
October 30 2:00 PM #24 UTEP Spartan Stadium • San Jose, CA KRON L 2038   5,968
November 6 6:05 PM at Nevada Mackay StadiumReno, NV KRON L 2442   15,902
November 13 9:00 AM #10 Boise State Spartan Stadium • San Jose, CA ESPN2 L 4956 2OT  5,028
November 20 12:00 Pm at Tulsa Skelly StadiumTulsa, OK L 2434   15,784
November 27 2:00 PM Fresno State Spartan Stadium • San Jose, CA (Rivalry) KRON, ESPN GamePlan L 2862   6,521
*Non-conference game. daggerHomecoming. #Rankings from AP Poll. All times are in Pacific Time.

[11]

References

  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. Retrieved November 29, 2013.
  2. http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=242760023
  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. 2004 San Jose State Football