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(Photo by Terrell Lloyd, SJSU)SAN JOSE, CALIF. -- On paper it looked like San Jose State (0-1) got drubbed from start to finish by USC in its season opener, but Spartans' head coach Dick Tomey doesn't believe that is the whole story.
"I just hang my hat on those first 24 minutes because it was an even ball game against a very good program, but we need to be better than that," Tomey said. "We played very badly."
Tomey pointed out that the Trojans only led 7-3 midway through the second quarter, but then USC's "experience took over."
The Trojans scored four touchdowns on consecutive possessions to break the game wide open.
USC finished with 342 yards rushing and 620 yards in total offense.
The Spartans, which used two quarterbacks, ended up with a paltry 121 yards of total offense.
"Both quarterbacks did some good things, but not enough to separate from the other," Tomey said about Kyle Reed and Jordan La Secla. "We're still evaluating who will start against Utah. There's not much difference separating the two, right now. We want to have somebody that we separates themselves by the time we get into the conference."
San Jose State hosts 17 Utah (1-0) Saturday, September 12. Kickoff is set for 8:30 MT.
"I think we are going to bounce back. I still like our team. I like the people that we have," Tomey continued. "We just have to rebound from that disappointment and play against another outstanding team this week in Utah." Tomey understands who their opponent is this weekend, mentioning several times that the Utes have the longest winning streak in the nation (15 games).
"They are an outstanding team," Tomey said. "I think they have a very good quarterback in Terrance Cain who did a fabulous job against Utah State." He noted Cain's high completion percentage (20-30, 67%) against the Aggies and said he looked very poised.
"We are going to have to improve by leaps and bounds to be competitive, but I think we are going to have a great week of practice. I think our guys were embarrassed by the way that game [against USC] finished. [We're] encouraged by the way it started and we've got to come back and have a great week of practice for Utah.
"We have a lot of respect for their program. We know this is going to be a very, very challenging evening, but hopefully we can improve enough over last week we can make it challenging for them as well."
