COLLEGE FOOTBALL : Cal State Fullerton Gets Some Revenge in Beating New Mexico State, 48-14

The elements of a exciting football were abundant in Cal State Fullerton’s game against New Mexico State Saturday.

There was a 63-yard touchdown pass play, a blocked punt returned for a touchdown and a touchdown scored on a faked field goal.

There were individual and school records set. And there was a particular motivation--the Titans’ hopes to pay back New Mexico State after being upset by the Aggies last year.

In the end, though, it was simply a Titan victory, and little more. Fullerton shut out New Mexico State through three quarters before allowing the Aggies to close the final score to 48-14 in a game played in the rain in front of an announced gathering of 2,031 at Santa Ana Stadium, the smallest crowd to attend a Fullerton home game in the 1980s, according to Fullerton officials.

“Kind of boring, wasn’t it?” Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy said.

Fullerton (5-4, 4-1), which won its third straight game and went above the .500 mark for the first time in nearly two years with the victory, took a 7-0 lead just three minutes into the game when Ronnie Barber completed a short pass to tight end Jim Thornton who ran it in about 45 yards for the touchdown.

The Titans added four more touchdowns in the second quarter--including one by defensive back Mike Schaffel on a fake field goal and another by linebacker Jeff Hipp, who recovered a muffed punt at the nine-yard line and carried it into the end zone. By halftime, Fullerton led, 35-0.

Any remaining suspense concerned whether the Titans would get their first shutout of the season and or whether Fullerton’s Todd White would break the school record for career receptions.

They didn’t, but he did. White needed four catches to break Roy Lewis’ record of 81 receptions, and did just that when he caught a 10-yard pass from backup Carlos Siragusa in the third quarter.

“It feels pretty good,” said White, who began the season in fourth place with 44 receptions. “I knew at the start of the year I had a long way to go. I knew there were a lot of people to catch.”

The larger part of Fullerton’s offense was on the ground, however, and tailback Eric Franklin rushed for a career-high mark for the second straight week. Franklin finished with 136 yards and 2 touchdowns in 21 carries. Last week in a victory over Northern Illinois, he rushed for 133 yards.

As much as the Fullerton coaches and players sought to downplay it, though, this was a game that had a lot to do with revenge. New Mexico State, which went 1-10 last year and had never won a PCAA game, got its only victory of the year against Fullerton, which finished 3-9.

Murphy said it was as if the Aggies (2-6, 0-4) were “nameless and faceless,” but Friday night, at the players’ request, there was a special showing of last year’s game film.

“That inspired me,” Schaffel said.