Titans’ Meeting With San Jose State Could Be Frustrating Night for All

Tonight’s nationally televised Cal State Fullerton-San Jose State game (ESPN, 6 p.m.) may not offer much excitement for college football fans, but it might be an interesting study for psychology students concerned with how people deal with the frustrations of failure.

The Titans (0-3 overall and 0-0 in Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. play) and the Spartans (1-3, 1-1) have been struggling and the coaches--Fullerton’s Gene Murphy and San Jose State’s Claude Gilbert--have been struggling, too, to come up with the answers to change the trend.

And that’s where the frustration comes in.

“We just can’t find a way to win,” Gilbert lamented, “but we always find ways to self-destruct at the most critical times . . . that’s our personality.

“We’re like clay pigeons waiting for the opponent to knock us off.”

Murphy knows the feeling. His team has been outscored, 61-11, in the last two games.

“Looking at the films has been particularly frustrating,” Murphy said. “We’ll have knock-out blocks all over the field and then the running back will go the wrong way. Or (quarterback Kevin) Jan will complete a long pass and a receiver will be offsides.

“Ten guys will do the job, but the 11th man is killing us. It seems like there’s always some little breakdown somewhere, but it’s not just the young guys. The veterans are making mistakes, too.”

Tonight, the Titans will be striving to muster some type of offensive consistency, if only to give their beleaguered defensive unit a rest. The Spartans will be trying to establish a semblance of offensive balance.

San Jose--quarterbacked by Jon Carlson and Doug Allen--is among the nation’s leaders in passing offense, averaging 320 yards a game. But, in their three losses, the Spartans have a total of minus 24 yards rushing.

Considering Fullerton’s inability to defend against the pass thus far, San Jose may not need to move the ball on the ground, anyway.

Montana and Wyoming, which both run wishbone offenses, attempted a total of just 28 passes and completed only 15 against Fullerton, but they were good for 334 yards and two touchdowns.

Nevada Reno, a big, physical team, established control on the ground before burning the Titans with three touchdown passes.

Defensive coordinator Bob Burt insists the Fullerton pass defense is not as bad as it has looked, though.

“We played pretty good option defense against both Montana and Wyoming,” he said, “and Reno might be the best team we play all year.

“I thought we played excellent option defense against Wyoming in the second half, but we were behind, started blitzing a lot and that left our defensive backs in one-on-one coverages. If you don’t get to the quarterback in that situation, no corner or safety is going to be able to cover a good receiver by himself for long.”

Burt thinks the Titans will be in a better position to stop the Spartans.

“It’s much easier to play pass defense against a passing team,” he said. “It’s a whole different ballgame because we’ll be playing zone most of the time.”

Murphy, of course, hopes Burt is right. He’s trying to keep a stiff upper lip, reminding everyone that the Titans and Fresno State are the only two teams without a conference loss.

“This is a new season for us, really,” he said. “The exhibition season is over. I still believe we have the makings of a good football team . . . we just need a dang win.”

Titan Notes

Offensive coordinator Jerry Brown told a Fullerton booster group that overconfidence has been a problem this season and the Titans “seem almost comfortable with losing.” Coach Gene Murphy said overconfidence could be a factor, but “the major problem is they don’t know how to practice. If you can’t concentrate during practice, you can’t concentrate during a game.” . . . The Titans--Cal State Disneyland to those who follow Steve Harvey’s Bottom Ten--were a fixture in those rankings for years before their success in 1983 and ’84. But Fullerton is back on the list these days, holding steady in the No. 8 spot. . . . Oh Those Knees and Ankles Dept.: San Jose State lost both starting offensive tackles for the season because of knee injuries and the Titans have lost three players (backup quarterback Whit Brown, tight end Bob Kent and defensive tackle Ron McLean) for the same reason. Nose guard Jim Baioa and defensive tackle Ruben Lizarraga, who both have missed the last two games with twisted knees, will be starting again tonight. Linebacker Bryan Riggs and safety Trent Baker are still out with ankle injuries and sophomore Jeff Taylor, who was supposed to start for McLean, sprained an ankle in practice and will not play, leaving the Titans with just three healthy defensive tackles. . . . Fullerton, which finished second in the country in turnover margin last season, has a disappointing minus 1 ratio so far this year. . . . Both teams had byes last week.