Forget the Bell, Titans Just Want to Beat Long Beach

Victory bell?

Cal State Long Beach will take any victory, and let you keep your bell.

And Cal State Fullerton cares so little about the trophy awarded to the annual winner of the rivalry that it once lost the thing, only to discover it a year later, gathering dust in the basement of the football offices.

But the victory? Now that’s something these teams care about. They meet in a Big West Conference game at 6 tonight in Veterans Stadium in Long Beach.

Long Beach is stuck in a 9-game losing streak that includes the final four games of last season. It’s a streak that is causing quarterback Jeff Graham no small amount of distress.

“It’s hard to sleep at night,” said Graham, a former Estancia High School quarterback who passed for a career-high 422 yards last week in a 31-24 loss to Utah State. “It’s just one of those periods you’ve got to fight through.”

But Long Beach is confident that it’s going to get better.

“If we play like we did Saturday, we’re definitely going to win some ball games,” Long Beach Coach Larry Reisbig said.

Kirk Harmon, Fullerton’s defensive coordinator, agrees.

“They’re going to get better,” he said. “I just hope it’s not this week.”

Fullerton (2-4, 2-1), which has more in common with Long Beach’s low-budget, low-profile, low-attendance program than it wants, has lost its past two games.

“I’m sure they’re telling their players, ‘If you’re going to win a game this year, it’s going to be against Cal State Fullerton,’ ” Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy said.

Besides Graham’s passing, Fullerton’s biggest problem in this game may be that the Titans are expected to win it. Being favored has meant trouble for the Titans in recent years--most recently in a 13-10 victory over University of the Pacific this season, but also in a loss to Pacific last year and a loss to New Mexico State 2 years ago.

Graham, who is only 507 yards short of the 49er career passing yardage record of 6,793 yards held by Doug Gaynor, will prove a test for the Titan pass defense, the weakest aspect of Fullerton’s generally strong defense.

“We need to get a good pass rush, obviously, and not give up the big play in the passing game,” Harmon said. “We will blitz, but we’ll choose our times very carefully and try to put some pressure on him. But any time you blitz, you’ve got to get to the quarterback.”

And the quarterback? He’s just trying to get a victory.

“We’re going to have to play a great game, a real tough game, and hopefully things will go our way,” Graham said. “But they haven’t been going our way so far.”

Titan Notes

Cal State Fullerton has won four of the past five games against Cal State Long Beach, but trails in the series, 10-6. . . . Despite the passing of Jeff Graham, Long Beach has scored 10 or fewer points in every game except the 31-24 loss to Utah State. . . . Flanker Mark Seay is the 49ers leading receiver with 18 catches for 293 yards. Andre Southerland, the leading rusher, averages 79 yards a game.