page_title: San Jose State Spartans
section_title: Football
hierarchical_section_title: San Jose State Spartans / Sports sponsored / Football
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of the California State Normal School at San Jose football team of 1910.
context_page_description: The San Jose State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent San José State University. SJSU sports teams compete in the Mountain West Conference at the NCAA Division I FBS level. San Jose State is one of seven universities in the state of California to participate in NCAA Division I FBS athletics, along with the University of California, Fresno State, San Diego State, Stanford, UCLA, and USC. SJSU has participated in athletics since it first fielded a baseball team in 1890.
  San José State University sports teams have won NCAA national titles in track and field, cross country, golf, boxing, fencing and tennis. As of 2018, SJSU has won 10 NCAA national Division 1 team championships and produced 50 NCAA national Division 1 individual champions. SJSU also has achieved an international reputation for its judo program, winning 51 National Collegiate Judo Association championships in 56 years.
  SJSU alumni have won 19 Olympic medals dating back to the first gold medal won by Willie Steele in track and field in the 1948 Olympics. Alumni also have won medals in swimming, judo and boxing.
context_section_description: San Jose State first fielded a football team in 1893 and has won 16 conference championships dating back to 1932. During the 1930s and 1940s, the Spartan football program was considered a powerhouse, winning eight conference championships over an 18-year span. The 1932 team finished 7-0-2 and the 1939 team finished 13-0, marking the only undefeated seasons in school history.
  Additional Football Facts
  The San Jose State Spartans football team served unexpectedly with the Honolulu Police Department during World War II. The team had just arrived in Honolulu to play the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in the Shrine Bowl, but was stranded on the islands after the Pearl Harbor attack.
  SJSU earned more Big West Conference football championship titles than any other team in the history of the Big West conference.
  The SJSU football team has made ten bowl appearances. Its most recent bowl appearance occurred in 2015 when the Spartans defeated the Georgia State Panthers in the Cure Bowl in Orlando, Florida.
  SJSU, the University of Dayton, Eastern Illinois University and the University of Arkansas are the only schools known to have produced two alumni who would go on to serve as head coaches of Super Bowl-winning teams.
  SJSU has produced over 70 All-America team members, including five first-team selections.
  As of 2018, SJSU has sent 132 football players to the NFL, including 116 draftees, six NFL Pro Bowl selections, seven first-round draft picks, two MVP award winners, and one NFL Rookie of the Year.
  As of 2018, 12 former SJSU Spartans are actively playing in the NFL.
  San Jose State has made 10 bowl appearances and the Spartans have an overall bowl game record of 7–3.
caption: The State Normal School at San Jose football team in 1910. Jerseys display a large "N" for "Normal."
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