2004 San Jose State Spartans football team

2004 San Jose State Spartans football
Conference	Western Athletic Conference
Record	2–9 (1–7 WAC)
Head coach	Fitz Hill (4th season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Barry Lunney Jr. (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator	Keith Burns (1st season)
Home stadium	Spartan Stadium
Seasons ←  2003 2005  →

2004 Western Athletic Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 12 Boise State $		8	–	0					11	–	1
UTEP		6	–	2					8	–	4
No. 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	at Stanford *	Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA (rivalry)	KRON	L 3–43	39,750
September 18	2:00 pm	Morgan State *	Spartan Stadium San Jose, CA (Read-2-Lead Classic)	CSN	W 47–28	10,411
September 25	5:00 pm	at SMU	Gerald J. Ford Stadium University Park, TX		L 13–36	17,841
October 2	6:00 pm	Rice	Spartan Stadium San Jose, CA		W 70–63	4,467
October 9	12:30 pm	at Washington *	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA		L 6–21	65,816
October 23	9:05 pm	at Hawaii	Aloha Stadium Halawa, HI (Dick Tomey Legacy Game)		L 28–46	36,264
October 30	2:00 pm	No. 24 UTEP	Spartan Stadium San Jose, CA	KRON	L 20–38	5,968
November 6	6:05 pm	at Nevada	Mackay Stadium Reno, NV	KRON	L 24–42	15,902
November 13	9:00 am	No. 10 Boise State	Spartan Stadium San Jose, CA	ESPN2	L 49–56 2OT	5,028
November 20	12:00 pm	at Tulsa	Skelly Stadium Tulsa, OK		L 24–34	15,784
November 27	2:00 pm	Fresno State	Spartan Stadium San Jose, CA (rivalry)	KRON, ESPN GamePlan	L 28–62	6,521
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

^{[11] [12]}

Game summaries

At Stanford

	1	2	3	4	Total
Spartans	0	0	0	3	3
Cardinal	7	8	21	7	43

See also: 2004 Stanford Cardinal football team and Bill Walsh Legacy Game

Morgan State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	7	7	0	14	28
Spartans	7	17	16	7	47

See also: 2004 Morgan State Bears football team

At SMU

	1	2	3	4	Total
Spartans	0	6	0	7	13
Mustangs	14	8	7	7	36

See also: 2004 SMU Mustangs football team

Rice

	1	2	3	4	Total
Owls	21	13	15	14	63
Spartans	7	21	14	28	70

See also: 2004 Rice Owls football team

At Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
Spartans	0	3	0	3	6
Huskies	7	0	7	7	21

See also: 2004 Washington Huskies football team

At Hawaii

	1	2	3	4	Total
Spartans	7	7	0	14	28
Warriors	0	24	10	12	46

See also: 2004 Hawaii Warriors football team

No. 24 UTEP

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 24 Miners	14	0	10	14	38
Spartans	7	0	0	13	20

See also: 2004 UTEP Miners football team

At Nevada

	1	2	3	4	Total
Spartans	0	0	10	14	24
Wolf Pack	7	7	14	14	42

See also: 2004 Nevada Wolf Pack football team

No. 10 Boise State (2OT)

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
No. 10 Broncos	7	21	14	0	14	56
Spartans	14	7	14	7	7	49

See also: 2004 Boise State Broncos football team

At Tulsa

	1	2	3	4	Total
Spartans	0	21	3	0	24
Golden Hurricane	10	14	3	7	34

See also: 2004 Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team

Fresno State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	14	27	7	14	62
Spartans	7	7	7	7	28

See also: 2004 Fresno State Bulldogs football team and Fresno State–San Jose State football rivalry

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. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved November 29, 2013.
2. "Rice vs. San Jose State - Game Recap - October 2, 2004 - ESPN".
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. "San José State Spartans Schedule 2004". ESPN . Retrieved August 27, 2023.
12. "2004 San Jose State Football" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 16, 2016.