COLLEGE FOOTBALL : Titans Start With Hope but Finish With Just Another Loss to UNLV

With a long list of bad memories of a bitter and sometimes violent rivalry, Cal State Fullerton came here Saturday to try to take out all the aggressions it felt toward Nevada Las Vegas, and some that have built up in a 1-3 start.

What the Titans got was something else to add to the list.

UNLV outscored Fullerton, 26-6, in the second half en route to a 40-23 Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. win in front of 20,101 spectators in the Silver Bowl.

The loss drops Fullerton’s record to 0-2 in PCAA play, 1-4 overall. UNLV is 1-0, 3-1.

Since 1972, Fullerton’s only victories over UNLV were those handed to them by the PCAA, which ordered the Rebels to forfeit all of their 1983 and 1984 wins for using ineligible players.

But, as far as the scoreboard is concerned, this was UNLV’s ninth straight win over Fullerton in a series that has included exchanges of both harsh words and angry punches.

These teams fought on the field in 1983, and have never had many nice things to say about each other off of it. Wayne Nunnely’s appointment as the UNLV coach before this season was considered a big step in improving relations with the Titans. Nunnely worked for Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy before accepting an assistant coaching position at the University of the Pacific.

The rivalry may have been somewhat subdued, but the results remain much the same.

This time, the Titans began seeing things slip away from them on the first play of the second half. UNLV’s George Thomas returned the second-half kickoff 71 yards to the Fullerton eight. Three plays later, Rebel quarterback Steve Stallworth connected with tight end Cedric Davis for a four-yard touchdown pass. It was Davis’ first reception of the season, and it gave the Rebels their first lead of the game, 21-17.

From that point, things seemed to get progressively worse for the Titans. Kelly Gogerty recovered a UNLV fumble at the Fullerton 19, only to see Fullerton running back Rick Calhoun fumble it away on the next play to set up a 43-yard field goal by Daren Libonati that gave the Rebels a 24-17 lead.

After Stallworth left the game dazed after absorbing a hit, reserve quarterback Eugene Bowen came in to throw an 80-yard touchdown pass to Thomas. With 8:41 left in the game, the Rebels 31-17 lead.

Murphy lifted starting quarterback Ronnie Barber late in the third quarter to give redshirt freshman Carlos Siragusa a chance at changing the Titans’ luck. It didn’t work. Outside of Calhoun, who finished with 36 carries for 197 yards rushing, nothing really did.

“We had a chance to win the football game but couldn’t take advantage of our opportunities,” Murphy said. “We played hard, but it was our inability to move the ball on offense and to defend the long pass that killed us.”

Fullerton would have left the field at halftime with a 10-point lead were it not for a defensive lapse at the end of the first half. UNLV took just 5 plays and 49 seconds to cover 82 yards and cut the Titans’ lead to 17-14 with 29 seconds left in the first half.

Thomas beat Titan cornerback Reggie Hill deep for a 48-yard gain to the Fullerton nine, then caught a nine-yard scoring pass from Stallworth on the following play.

Calhoun had 100 yards rushing by halftime, much of which came on the game’s opening possession. The Titans opened with a no-huddle offense that was in no hurry to move the ball downfield. The result was a touchdown drive that covered 73 yards in 15 plays and consumed 6 minutes 3 seconds. Calhoun had a 14-yard gain to the Rebel 49 and a six-yard burst off left tackle on a fourth and two to set up his seven-yard scoring run at the 8:57 mark of the first quarter.

The Titans took a 10-0 lead on Len Strandley’s 33-yard field goal on the first play of the second quarter. The kick was set up by a 21-yard gain on a screen pass from Barber to fullback Mark Hood, and Barber’s 18-yard completion to Todd White.

Wide receiver Tony Gladney had receptions of 35 and 23 yards to set up UNLV’s first score. Ickey Woods took it in from one yard out and Jim Cook kicked the extra point to cut Fullerton’s lead to 10-7 with four minutes left in the half.

Anthony Drawhorn mishandled a Fullerton punt to put the Titans in position for their next score. On a high kick from Titan punter Jim Sirois, Drawhorn decided against a fair catch, a decision that pleased Titan George Pritchard. Pritchard stripped Drawhorn of the ball to give the Titans possession at the UNLV 28. Five plays later, Calhoun took it over from the one after an awkward handoff from Barber. With 1:23 left in the half, the Titans led, 17-7.