CSUN Wins Another Mismatch : San Francisco State Suffers 3rd Consecutive Lopsided Loss to Matadors in 48-0 Whipping

There are always excuses for the mismatches that occur with every college football season. And some even make sense.

Most are born of financial necessity. Little State travels to play Big U. and walks--hobbles?--home with a lopsided loss and a fat check.

It’s a guarantee that works both ways. One team rolls up a victory by an impressive margin and the other plays sacrificial lamb for a game or two to ensure solvency for another season.

If that was the case in Division II football, perhaps San Francisco State would feel a little better about its past three meetings with Cal State Northridge.

As it is, the only guarantee when these teams have met in recent years is that CSUN will win in a rout.

Therefore, the Golden Gators had only buckets of ice, not greenbacks, to rub on their wounds after Saturday’s 48-0 drubbing by the Matadors.

The shutout was Northridge’s second in as many weeks and lifts the Matadors to 2-0. It also makes the three-year aggregate score between CSUN and San Francisco 130-0, and San Francisco, a Northern California Athletic Conference school that does not grant athletic scholarships, is still poor.

The master schedule for next year shows that the teams will meet again, this time at North Campus Stadium.

Don’t bank on it. Bob Hiegert, CSUN’s athletic director, has not yet mailed the contract.

“We don’t want to lose a home game, but I don’t know if another game would be in our best interest or their best interest,” Hiegert said. “This wasn’t even close.”

It was, however, consistent. It was a mismatch from the outset and it ended appropriately.

Northridge drove for touchdowns on its first two possessions, led at the half, 28-0, and capped the scoring on a pass from third-string quarterback Chris Folsom that bounced off two defenders before settling into the hands of running back Lance Harper, who carried it 59 yards for a touchdown.

“I wrote it off as a pick as soon as it left my hand,” Folsom said. “There were four DBs around it. I was so disgusted with what I did, it kind of ruined the glory for me.”

The pass was intended for Robert Guillen but ended up in the hands of Harper, who was gathering himself to tackle whoever came down with the interception.

San Francisco had trouble getting a grip on the ball all day, fumbling 11 times--mostly on the exchange from center--and losing two.

The Gators’ best scoring opportunity came in the first half, but a 27-yard field-goal attempt by Steven Domingos was wide right.

Northridge’s offensive production was fairly evenly distributed. The Matadors passed for 216 yards and rushed for 281; San Francisco gained 156 total yards.

Sophomore Albert Fann alone outrushed the Gators in only 19 carries, rolling up 133 yards and scoring on runs of 9, 22 and 3 yards. Harper carried 8 times for 28 yards and caught 2 passes for 70.

Rob Huffman, who started at quarterback for the Matadors, completed 8 of 11 passes for 97 yards, including scoring strikes of 33 yards to Russell Jenkins and 11 yards to Rod Shinko.

Northridge brought 52 players and all played. Indeed, about the only thing CSUN got out of the game was a chance to look at some reserves.

“Every time you play you learn something,” CSUN Coach Bob Burt said tactfully. “Last week we learned we had to play with intensity. This week we learned what happens when we do.”