COLLEGE FOOTBALL ’87 : Looking for Winning Feeling, Again : Fullerton’s Gillies, White Are Ready for a Turnaround

Ed Gillies and Todd White still remember--how could they forget?--the humiliations of Cal State Fullerton’s football season last year.

For Gillies, the pain of the 3-9 record--the Titans’ first losing season in four years--was particularly sharp because the preseason had him fooled.

“I thought we were going to be in contention for the California Bowl,” said Gillies, the standout Titan offensive lineman who is one of a handful of fifth-year players on the team. “It just turned out we were more inexperienced than I thought.”

White, another fifth-year player and a second-year starter at wide receiver, said: “It was terrible. It was the worst season I’ve ever played. I guess you live and learn.”

For Gillies, living and learning will take on a decidedly physical aspect, beginning when the Titans open their 12-game season Saturday at Hawaii.

“It’s like when you get slapped in the face, and you can’t do anything to get back at them until you see them again,” Gillies said. “I’m getting back at anybody we line up against.”

In five years, Gillies and White have seen a lot at Fullerton--good seasons and bad.

In 1983, their first year at the school, the Titans went 7-5, winning the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. championship in the school’s first winning season in a decade. In 1984, Fullerton had its best season ever, going 11-1. But in 1985, the Titans fell to 6-5. And then there was last year.

Both Gillies and White say things this year feel a lot as they did in 1983, a year after Fullerton had gone 3-9. They say it with the hope things will turn around this year as they did then.

“When you lose, it’s a lot of motivation,” said White, who sat out a redshirt year in 1984. “When I came in they had had such a bad year before, they were sick of losing. It’s the same situation now, but I think we have a little more talent.”

Gillies, who redshirted in 1983, remembers, too.

“Back then we had a lot of guys who’d been through hard times--3-9 seasons. They were fed up with it, and their attitude was, ‘We’re leaving on a good note.’ ”

For the Titans playing their last season this year, leaving on a good note will require getting the best of a schedule that includes games at Louisiana State and Florida, both Southeastern Conference powers, which are rated in the preseason top 20 in many polls.

“What we have to do is come out and deal with the situation put on us,” Gillies said. “You have to deal with the crowds, the weather, the schedule--whatever it is.”

Even with their years of experience, Gillies and White know there’s no predicting the outcome of a season.

“In ‘85, we came back loaded with talent, but all that talent couldn’t overcome the 1-3 start we got out to,” White said. “Then last year, it was like we didn’t know how to win. We’d beat up on people, then let them win.”

Like anyone else, they want to go out, as White said, on a good note.

“You always like it to turn out for the best,” Gillies said. “Last season I figured it would, but you can’t ever say for sure what’s going to happen.”