CSUN Finishes With 61-24 Loss in Icy Portland

When the Cal-State Northridge football team left Los Angeles International Airport Saturday morning, the temperature was 65 degrees. Tennis anyone?

When the Matadors touched down in Portland two hours later, the temperature was sinking faster than the Lusitania.

By game time, it was 18 degrees, with a harsh wind blowing. The south end of Civic Stadium, Portland State’s home field, was a nearly solid sheet of ice stretching from the 20-yard-line to the end zone.

It was hardly the perfect setting for CSUN’s run-and-shoot offense, and after falling behind 24-0 in the second quarter, the Matadors went on to lose the Western Football Conference contest in a big way, 61-24. Brrrrrrrr!

What was supposed to be a good season for CSUN and its new offense ended with a fifth straight defeat and a disappointing record of 4-7.

CSUN Coach Tom Keele, who took 135 pages of notes in studying the run-and-shoot offense of the United States Football League’s Denver Gold last winter, must have misplaced a few pages somewhere along the way, maybe the part that explained how the run-and-shoot works on an ice rink.

“The conditions were bad,” said Keele, trying to warm up afterwards in the locker room, “but it was the same for both teams.”

The Matadors were skating on thin ice from the beginning, when they couldn’t get out of the south end of the stadium on their first two possessions and trailed, 10-0, after the opening quarter.

“It was hard to play football down there,” said Keele.

Portland State (4-5-1) scored again in the second period on halfback Steve Lyle’s one-yard run and then made it 24-0 with 7:07 left in the half when Matadors’ center Steve McCauley snapped the ball over Chris Parker’s head on fourth down and the Vikings’ Eric Burcham recovered in the end zone for a PSU touchdown.

But CSUN made it close for a while. Parker marshalled the Matadors into the end zone with 32 seconds left before half. CSUN scored early in the third quarter on Parker’s 14-yard pass to Chris Moore. Mike Doan’s conversion pulled the Matadors within 24-13.

After PSU’s Tommy Johnson slipped on the ice at the Vikings’ three-yard-line with the ensuing kickoff, the Matadors forced a punt and Parker hit wide receiver Rich Brown with a five-yard touchdown pass and a two-point conversion toss. Suddenly, it was 24-21 and there was still 10:32 left in the third period.

But PSU’s Tim Corrigan threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to tight end Barry Naone from his flanker position and the route was on.