Cal State Fullerton Notebook : Murphy Sticking With Speltz at Quarterback

If there was one question Cal State Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy didn’t seem likely to hear this season, it was this one: “Who’s your starting quarterback?”

Dan Speltz came to Fullerton as the most heralded quarterback ever to sign with the Titans. He threw for 2,342 yards last year at El Camino College, leading his team to an 11-0 season.

But in his first two games at Fullerton, he has completed just 17 of 42 passes for 186 yards, thrown 3 interceptions and fumbled 6 snaps.

So at a Titan booster luncheon Monday, Murphy heard that unlikely question. His response was unequivocal.

“Dan Speltz, unless he goes back to El Camino,” Murphy said. “He’s our quarterback. . . . People say he’s lousy. Well, he’s not lousy. He’s going to start because he’s our quarterback.”

Murphy defended Speltz, saying receivers have dropped nine passes in the first two games.

Speltz is evaluated for his on-target percentage, Murphy said, giving him credit for balls that hit his receivers’ hands.

As if to underscore the commitment to Speltz, Tony Dill, a junior who has been the No. 1 backup, began working out at wide receiver in Monday’s practice.

“Dill’s too good an athlete not to play,” Murphy said.

Speltz has proceeded without apparent distress.

“You just have to go day by day,” he said. “That’s in the past now, you just have to look forward to the next opponent. . . . This hasn’t changed anything. If I would have had two 500-yard games, I would just think about our next opponent. . . . We still expect good things this season.”

With two one-sided losses and $210,000 in guarantees to show for their first two games, the Titans would like to start over against Nevada Las Vegas Saturday in their first Big West Conference game.

Murphy made that point emphatically Monday before practice. He took out a shovel, buried the scouting films of Southwestern Louisiana and West Virginia on the edge of the practice field, and erected a sign on top of the makeshift grave: “Exhibition Game Remains. Titan Record: 0-0”.

It might seem a familiar task: Fullerton has opened 0-2 every year since 1984, the season the Titans went 11-1.

That strange-look defense the Titans played at times against West Virginia wasn’t just an adjustment, but a new coverage that has the Fullerton coaches excited.

“We don’t think it’s ever been played in a Division I game,” Kirk Harmon, defensive coordinator, said.

It’s an alignment that causes a few double takes. Free safety Mike Schaffel positions himself 30 yards behind the line of scrimmage--so deep that at first glance it looks as if Fullerton has only 10 men on the field.

But it worked rather well for Fullerton Saturday. Schaffel made one interception, had a chance at a couple of others and delivered one particularly crushing tackle.

“It looked good,” Bill Wentworth, who coaches the Fullerton secondary, said.

The coverage is the subject of a 1988 book by John M. Thomson, a Canadian college coach, and Bill Arnsparger, the former Louisiana State coach who is now athletic director at Florida.

The basics of the coverage call for five or six players to blitz with the cornerbacks in man-to-man coverage, the strong safety covering the tight end, and Schaffel back 30 yards, which is 16 to 18 yards deeper than usual.

“The thing that appealed to us was that it gave us a safety net,” said Wentworth, who coached under Arnsparger for two years at LSU. “With Schaffel at that depth, we found the corners could be more aggressive, knowing they had deep help if they needed it.”

With Schaffel moving toward the developing play rather than backpedaling, it also creates more opportunity for interceptions. And the angle at which he approaches a play makes for some jarring tackles, Schaffel’s specialty.

It may look funny, but it worked, and the Titans are almost certain to use it again.

Fullerton played in front of more than 54,196 at West Virginia, and the Titans won’t see another crowd like that the rest of the season.

The largest stadium Fullerton will play in the rest of the season is Akron’s Rubber Bowl, which holds 35,482.

The smallest crowd Fullerton will see is all but certain to be at home.

Although announced attendance at Santa Ana Stadium last season averaged more than 4,000, the average paid attendance was 2,743, last among 141 Division I schools, according to The Kickoff, a football newsletter.

The average Division I attendance was 41,963. Fullerton’s average was below that of Division I-A teams (11,151) and Division II teams, (4,481) and only slightly better than that of Division III teams (2,021).

Titan Notes

Injury report: Defensive tackle Alex Stewart aggravated a knee injury Saturday and is out for the Nevada Las Vegas game and possibly the next. . . . Wide receiver Anthony Pack, who was ineligible under Proposition 48 last year, will undergo knee surgery and is out for the year, Murphy said. . . . Center Marc Hauser’s left hand is not fractured, as was originally believed, and he is expected to play Saturday.