Titans Try to Veer Back on Course With the Nation Watching

Several Cal State Fullerton football supporters are expected to gather at a night spot near campus tonight to watch the Titans’ nationally televised game against Tulsa on big-screen TV. If things keep going the way they have been for Fullerton, this could be the restaurant’s first “Unhappy Hour.”

The Titans, who had great expectations for 1986 after finishing 1985 with four straight victories, enter tonight’s nonconference game with a 1-4 record and the realization that any football fanatic with cable can tune into ESPN and see if their woes will continue. There isn’t much reason to think they won’t.

Tulsa (3-2) is listed as a 20 1/2-point favorite. The Golden Hurricane is coming off of a 24-14 victory over Houston in the Astrodome. The Titans are coming off a 40-23 loss at Nevada Las Vegas that dropped their Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. record to 0-2 and assured them of their worst start since 1981, when they began with four straight losses.

The Titans have had only three practice days to prepare for Tulsa’s veer offense. The veer is something the Titans haven’t seen this season. “And Tulsa runs it as well as anybody does,” Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy said.

Murphy can’t be too concerned with Tulsa’s offense, though. The seventh-year Titan coach has plenty problems of his own.

Only one player on the starting offensive line--center Phil Benson--is in the same position he played last week. Injuries have forced Murphy and offensive line coach Larry Manfull to scramble for enough healthy, large bodies.

And Benson will be snapping the ball to a quarterback who has attempted only three passes in 1986. Junior Rich Sheriff, who has spent most of the season alternating with redshirt freshman Carlos Siragusa signaling plays from the sidelines, will make his first start tonight. Sheriff, who completed 2 of 3 passes for 14 yards in a mop-up appearance against Nevada Reno, replaces Ronnie Barber. Sheriff is the third quarterback Murphy has used as a starter this season.

The move was made to try to provide another dimension to an offense that has been one dimensional. Running back Rick Calhoun has rushed for 530 yards in the last three games. Against UNLV, he rushed for 197 yards in 36 carries, equaling a school record for most carries in a game set by Terry McLean in 1970. “If there was a bright spot in that game, it was his running,” Murphy said.

But aside from Calhoun, the Titan offense generated only 80 yards. Barber, who replaced sophomore Tony Dill as the starter three weeks ago against Idaho State, was replaced by Siragusa late in the third quarter. Now, Murphy figures, it’s Sheriff’s turn.

“He’s the only one we really haven’t seen,” Murphy said. “The brief time we did see him (against Reno), he was the most effective of the group.”

Tulsa has no such problem at quarterback. Senior quarterback Steve Gage has thrown five touchdown passes, rushed for five more and is being promoted by Tulsa as an All-American candidate. Running back Derrick Ellison, son of former Ram running back Willie Ellison, has rushed for 100 yards or more in four of the Golden Hurricane’s five games.

Tulsa has beaten Oklahoma State, 27-23, and Tennessee Tech, 51-0.

And this is the team the Titans will be making their 1986 national TV debut against. Keep the margaritas flowing, bartender. This could be a long night.

Titan Notes Tonight’s game marks Fullerton’s third appearance on ESPN. The Titans lost to Northern Illinois, 20-13, in the 1983 California Bowl and beat San Jose State, 20-18, last season. . . . Fullerton defensive back James Howard, who sat out last week’s game against UNLV with a sprained ankle, is listed as probable for tonight. . . . Tulsa Coach Don Morton was the coach at North Dakota State in 1979, Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy’s last season as coach at North Dakota. Morton was 57-15-0 in six seasons at North Dakota State, including an NCAA Division II championship in 1983. . . . Titan running back Rick Calhoun ranks fourth in the nation in all-purpose yardage (192.4 per game) and ninth in rushing (126.8). . . . UNLV’s George Thomas returned the second-half kickoff 71 yards to the Fullerton eight yard line to help the Rebels turn last week’s game at Las Vegas around. For Murphy, it was further evidence of how far Fullerton’s specialty teams, traditionally a strong suit, have slipped. “Our kicking game has really deteriorated,” he said. “It’s been just atrocious this year.” . . . Entering this week’s games, Fullerton ranks last in the PCAA in total defense (446.2 yards per game) and passing defense (269.2).