Spring Break
Hurricane Ferguson
Freshman runs wild as SJSU
pounds Tulsa for 2nd win
Mike Osegueda, Daily Senior Staff Writer
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The first-year head
When he settled down, Hill had his headset tangled up and his Spartans had a 28-13 lead, putting the game in the bag.
?I coach with a lot of emotion,? Hill said after the game, with a look of relief on his face after rebounding from a 0-5 start. ?I?ve drove home many a night, pulling out my hair.?
If any hair was getting pulled out Saturday, it was from Tulsa head coach Keith Burns, whose team couldn?t stop anything San Jose State University threw its way in its sixth straight loss.
?Somebody on the sidelines said we were playing like the (St. Louis) Rams: If you stop one guy, somebody else is going to make a play,? said wide receiver Edell Shepherd who had 10 catches for 125 yards and two touchdowns.
The Spartans were solid all-around, getting two 100-plus yard rushing performances, two receivers with more than 100 yards, a second consecutive impressive start from quarterback Clint Carlson and three interceptions from the defense.
It was enough to almost rewrite SJSU?s football record books:
? The 746 yards of total offense was the highest in school history.
? It was the highest point total since the Spartans scored 65 points in a win against Fresno State University in 1981.
? Julien?s four touchdowns matched a record he already shared with Deonce Whitaker.
? Shepherd broke the 100-mark for the third consecutive game, tying a school record. He also has accomplished it in four of the last five games.
Then there was true freshman Lamar Ferguson, who is his own record, standing a mere 5-foot-4 and weighing 143 pounds, making him the smallest player in Division I football this season. Ferguson had 196 yards rushing on 10 carries, including runs of 77 and 58 yards. He also had a 20-yard touchdown.
He got the call when Whitaker went down in the first quarter after re-aggravating a knee injury that kept him out of last week?s game.
Whitaker had already carried the ball four times for 59 yards when he was dragged to the ground and then helped off the field.
?I never expected this,? said the 18-year-old from Inglewood, Calif. ?Especially with Deonce coming back today. I didn?t expect much playing time.?
But when he got his chance, Ferguson was awe-inspiring. Nothing was more impressive than his fourth quarter 77-yard run.
He took a handoff from Carlson and tried to bounce outside on the right, but ran into a defender. After shaking away, Ferguson reversed direction and ran to the left, only to meet more Golden Hurricane defenders. He did another U-turn, running back to the right, hitting the sideline and taking off down the field. He weaved in and out, dodging defenders before finally being tackled at the 7-yard-line.
?I wanted to get us at least 10 yards and it ended up being about 70 extra yards,? Ferguson said.
On the next play, Julien cruised into the end zone from 7 yards out, for his fourth touchdown of the day. By that time, with about six minutes left, the game was well out of hand.
?We got a good running staff,? Julien said. ?We can put anybody on the field and they?re going to make plays.?
The Spartans put the game away in a four-minute spurt to start the second half. Already ahead 21-13, the team scored three times in four minutes.
Julien started the touchdown bonanza with his 80-yard run. Then, after the SJSU defense held Tulsa, Ferguson got the call and ran for 58 yards to set up a touchdown pass from Carlson to Shepherd.
On Tulsa?s ensuing series, makeshift linebacker Ethan Allen intercepted Golden Hurricane quarterback Tyler Gooch?s first pass and ran it back for a 69-yard touchdown.
?It?s great when the offense is out there putting up points,? said Allen, who was converted from tight end to linebacker after injuries. ?You feel like you can stop them every time.?
With the score 42-13, there wasn?t much Tulsa could do. The Hurricane answered with two touchdowns, but the tandem of Ferguson and Julien kept ramming down Tulsa?s throat with 292 yards rushing in the second half.
Saturday?s win put SJSU back in the thick of things in the Western Athletic Conference. While still having a 2-5 overall record, their 2-2 record in the conference play has the Spartans tied with Fresno State and Southern Methodist University
Prior to the game Saturday, Hill was stressing ?Operation 2-2? to his team, his own code name for trying to even the team?s record.
With that accomplished, a new goal was written on the white board in the team room where Hill meets with the team: ?Operation 3-2,? which means a win Saturday in Honolulu.
?I still don?t think we?ve reached our best,? Allen said. ?The engine has started. And now it gets harder and harder. We have to be on a roll right now.?
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