An Even Bigger Mountain Awaits Titans Today

Cal State Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy calls 12th-ranked West Virginia the best team the Titans have faced in his nine years at the school.

“We’re going to try to get out of there in one piece and improve as a football team,” Murphy said.

“And, win the game.”

The game, scheduled by Athletic Director Ed Carroll, is one Murphy refers to as a “guarantee game”--one scheduled because of the money the financially strapped program earns for playing. Both Murphy and Carroll have called the games “necessary.”

Fullerton, which earned $200,000 in guarantees for games against Louisiana State and Florida last season, will earn $100,000 by playing West Virginia.

The Titans lost to LSU, 56-12, and lost to Florida, 65-0.

West Virginia opened its season last week with a 62-14 victory over Bowling Green, the school at which West Virginia Coach Don Nehlen played and had his first head coaching job.

Murphy’s comments to out-of-town newspapers about the game have been somewhat less cautious than those he made to Orange County papers.

Asked what a victory against West Virginia would do for the Fullerton program, Murphy told the Daily Athenaeum, the West Virginia student paper: “You can’t eat notoriety. By winning, we would get some national exposure, but no one would rush to see us play. In 1984, we were 10-0 and ranked in the top 20, and we drew only 7,000 people at home.”

In the interest of saving money and reducing the amount of missed class time, Fullerton is making this a whirlwind trip.

The Titans left Fullerton before 6 a.m. Friday, arrived in Morgantown in the early evening and will leave after the game today, arriving in Fullerton after midnight.

Titan Notes

Four quarterbacks--Dan Speltz, Tony Dill, Carlos Siragusa and Paul Schulte--made the trip. Although Speltz played the entire game in the opener, Coach Gene Murphy is likely to use others in this game in the interest of avoiding injuries. . . . Offensive lineman Kevin Bernell (knee) did not make the trip, missing his second game. . . . Wide receiver Anthony Pack, who caught one pass for eight yards last week, has undergone knee surgery for an injury sustained in that game. Murphy said it is uncertain whether Pack will return.