WR Kelvin Dickens is nationally ranked No. 5 in reception yards and is No. 1 in the MEAC.
SETTING THE SCENE
The Bears had another barn-burner in Hughes Stadium, but this time they came out on the losing end to visiting Big South opponent Gardner-Webb. With the loss against the Bulldogs, Morgan State now turns its attention to Western Athletic Conference opponent San Jose State. The 1-1 Bears and the 0-1 Spartans meet Saturday at 2:00 p.m. (PDT) in Spartan Stadium, where the teams will meet for just the first time in history.
TELEVISION COVERAGE
COMCAST BAY AREA will broadcast the game live. Dave Cox calls the play-by-play. Darren Arbet, head coach of the two-time champion Arena Football League champion San Jose SaberCats, will provide commentary. Kierstin Fairchilds and Alda Leu will work as sideline reporters. The live telecast begins at 1:30 p.m. (PDT). There are no satellite coordinates for the telecast.
HEAD COACH FITZ HILL
In his fourth season as the head coach at San Jose State. Overall, he is 12-25 as a major college head coach, all with the Spartans. Hill is one of five African-Americans who is a head coach at a NCAA Division-A football program. (Tyrone Willingham of Notre Dame, Tony Samuel of New Mexico State, Karl Dorrell of UCLA and Sylvester Croom of Mississippi State are the other African-American head coaches of Division I-A programs.) Hill, Ed.D. and Mike Leach of Texas Tech, J.D., are the two NCAA Division I-A head football coaches with a doctoral degree. Hill has a 2-1 coaching record in home openers.
WHO TO WATCH
MORGAN STATE - QB Bradshaw Littlejohn; RB Craig Nelson; WR Tommy Manus; WR Kelvin Dickens, WR Rodrick Wolfe; LB Vincent Brown; DT Aaris Johnson; SS Larry Davis ("Choo Choo").
SAN JOSE STATE - QB Dale Rogers, DT Tony Ficklin, OL William Obeng; PK Jeff Carr, SS Eric Wilson; FS Josh Powell.
SCOUTING SAN JOSE STATE
San Jose State lost its season opener at Stanford, 43-3, on September 4th. SJSU quarterback Dale Rogers completed 12-of-14 passes for 115 yards, including a 46 yard completion to WR John Broussard. Standford’s offense racked-up 465 total yards (333 passing yards), while the Bulldogs managed 268. Wideout James Jones had a solid night for the Spartans as he hauled in 5 catches for 60 yards and Broussard finished with 3 catches for 55 yards . Standout safety Josh Powell collected 6 solo tackles. Defensive end Tony Ficklin collected his first sack of the season with 5 tackles.
SPECIAL K
Kelvin Dickens returns to the Bears receiving corps as a continuous long-ball threat. Dickens had a very special night as he torched Gardner-Webb’s secondary for 145 yards on 5 receptions, including a 63-yard bomb from QB Bradshaw Littlejohn. Dickens has the goods to become one of the most dominant receivers in the league and will definitely be an All-MEAC candidate. Dickens will test his 4.3 speed when the Bears square-off with San Jose State’s defense. Dickens is currently ranked No. 5 nationally for reception yards (142.0/game)…5th in total receiving yards…30th in scoring (9.0/game)…MEAC: 1st in reception yards.
THE READ-2-LEAD CLASSIC
The Morgan State-San Jose State football game concludes “Read-2-Lead Week” activities. San Jose State University has teamed with Comcast, radio station KBLX 102.9 FM and CityFlight Network for the 2004 Read-2-Lead Classic. The game’s mission is to “leverage the appeal of college athletics to promote literacy and academic achievement.” Boyz II Men, the four-time Grammy Award-winnig quartet that has sold over 60-million albums over 13 years, will perform the national anthem. The "Morgan State Magnificent Marching Machine" will perform at halftime and after the game.
