Photo credit: sjsuspartans.com

By Ana Kieu

As the bye week comes to an end, San Jose State football will return to action at Arkansas on Saturday. In preparation for the upcoming road game, SJSU has been watching tape and holding practices, but we’ll see how things pan out since this is the Spartans we’re talking about.

Anywho, here are the details on Saturday’s game.

Game #3
San Jose State at Arkansas
Saturday, September 21, 2019,
Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium
6:30 p.m. CT/4:30 p.m. PT, SEC Network

SJSU record: 1-1, 0-0 Mountain West. Most recently, the Spartans lost a non-conference contest to Tulsa, 34-16, on September 7.

Arkansas record: 2-1, 0-1 SEC. The Razorbacks downed Colorado State, 55-34, on September 14.

Series history: This will be the first meeting between these teams.

Play-by-play radio coverage: KKSF (910 AM, Oakland), RealTalk 910, is the new flagship radio station for San Jose State football. Justin Allegri calls the play-by-play. Tim Crawley provides commentary.

The Arkansas broadcast begins at 4:00 p.m. PT before game time with a pregame show.

Network affiliates: KION (1460 AM/101.1 FM, Salinas), KFIV (1360 AM, Modesto), KWSX (1280 AM, Stockton).

The SJSU-Arkansas broadcast with Allegri and Crawley calling the action also will be carried on www.siriusxm.com Channel 986.

Television: The SEC Network will provide broadcast coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m. CT/4;30 p.m. PT. Dave Neal calls the play-by-play. D.J. Shockley provides commentary. Dawn Davenport is the sideline reporter. The SEC Network is available on AT&T U-Verse Channel 607, Comcast Channel 421, DirecTV Channel 611, DISH Network Channel 404 and on Watch ESPN.

SJSU & Arkansas’ Super Bowl head coaching history: SJSU and Arkansas are two of the six colleges and universities claiming two alums as Super Bowl-winning head coaches.

For SJSU, Bill Walsh coached the San Francisco 49ers to victories in Super Bowls XVI (1982), XIX (1985) and XXIII (1989) and Dick Vermeil led the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV (2000).

For Arkansas, Jimmy Johnson coached the Dallas Cowboys to Super Bowl XXVII (1993) and XXVIII (1994) wins. Barry Switzer took over for Johnson and coached Dallas to a Super Bowl XXX (1996) title.

The other four schools with two alums coaching teams to Super Bowl victories are Dayton (Chuck Noll and Jon Gruden), Miami (Ohio) (Weeb Ewbank and John Harbaugh), Eastern Illinois (Mike Shanahan and Sean Payton) and the University of the Pacific, 70 miles east of SJSU and an institution that no longer has football (Tom Flores and Pete Carroll).

Arkansas ties: Current Arkansas assistant coach Barry Lunney, Jr., was SJSU’s quarterbacks coach during the 2003 and 2004 seasons and co-offensive coordinator in 2004. The Spartans’ starting quarterback in 2003 was Scott Rislov, who went on to play three seasons of ARENA and one season of ARENA2 football.

Lunney coached three different starting quarterbacks in 2004, all of whom played in the October 2 NCAA record-setting contest for most points scored by two teams in a regulation four-quarter game won by SJSU, 70-63, over Rice. The Spartans trailed, 34-7, and took their first lead of the game with their final touchdown in the fourth quarter. The FBS two-team scoring record for a regulation game lasted until Pitt defeated Syracuse, 76-61, on November 26, 2016.

Former Razorbacks assistant coach Dr. Fitz Hill (1992-00) was SJSU’s head coach for four seasons (2001-04). He compiled a win-loss head coaching record of 14-33. The Spartans’ best season was in 2002 with a 6-7 record playing 13 games, nine of them on the road, in 13 weeks.

Arkansas graduate Keith Burns was an assistant coach at SJSU during the 2004 through 2009 seasons primarily as the defensive coordinator.

Former Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson (2010-11) was a SJSU graduate assistant in 1979 coaching linebackers.

Aguayo has himself another week: For the second consecutive week, SJSU linebacker Ethan Aguayo is the FBS national leader in tackles per game at 17.0.

Aguayo opened the season matching a single-game career best 20 tackles in the Northern Colorado victory on August 29. He added a game-high 14 stops in the September 7 game vs. Tulsa.