Titans’ Old Nemesis Has New Look

So much has changed for the University of the Pacific football team this season.

The Tigers have a new coach in Walt Harris, who has installed a new offense. They have abandoned the wishbone for a passing game that is being guided by former Mission Viejo High School quarterback Troy Kopp.

Cal State Fullerton can only hope that the peculiar phenomenon of Pacific football has changed as well.

Pacific hasn’t had a winning season since 1977, but for the past four seasons, the Tigers have given Fullerton fits.

A look at the legacy:

1985--Fullerton took a 22-0 lead in the first quarter, then collapsed. After three quarters, Pacific led, 30-29. It took a touchdown with less than two minutes left for Fullerton to win, 43-37.

1986--In the final game of a season in which Fullerton had won only two games, the lead went back and forth. Fullerton went 98 yards for a touchdown with a minute to play to tie the score and made a two-point conversion to take a 39-38 lead. But the Titans let Pacific drive deep, and held on to win only after a 45-yard field goal try failed.

1987--In a game that may be the most notorious in the Titan tradition of self-destruction, Fullerton lost, 22-14, in a game ridden with penalties and turnovers.

1988--Fullerton’s vaunted defense gave up two huge plays, including a 77-yard touchdown pass, and the Titans trailed at halftime, 10-7. A bumbling Titan offense couldn’t score another touchdown, but Stan Lambert pulled out a 13-10 victory with two 40-yard-plus field goals--the second after a series in which the Titans managed to gain only one yard.

As Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy takes his team into Pacific’s Amos Alonzo Stagg Memorial Stadium at 2 p.m. today, it’s difficult for him to know what to expect.

Refer to the phrase that has become Murphy’s weekly refrain: “It depends on which team shows up.”

Will it be the turnover-prone team of the early season, the one that just avoided being upset by Cal State Northridge?

Will it be the potent offensive team that took a 27-point halftime lead over Nevada Las Vegas?

Or will it be the confounding team that let Dan Speltz’s school-record 481 yards passing go to waste in a 34-23 loss to winless Utah State last week?

From Fullerton’s point of view, it simply needs to be a team that will win.

With a 1-1 record in the Big West, Fullerton would almost certainly be out of contention for the conference title with another loss.

“Two losses, and it’s over,” Murphy said.

Titan Notes

Pacific’s Greg Koperek, a senior defensive back from Edison High School, had four interceptions in four games before breaking his arm against Fresno State. Doctors said he might be out for the year, but this week doctors gave him clearance to play--only three weeks after the fracture. . . . Titan injury report: Defensive lineman John Bavaro, who suffered bruised ribs in the first quarter of the loss to Utah State last week, has not been through full practices this week but is expected to play. Fullerton is one of only two conference teams that does not have a winning series record against Pacific. The Titans are 7-7. New Mexico State is 4-5. . . . Fullerton and Pacific have one common opponent, Nevada Las Vegas. Fullerton beat the Rebels, 34-20. Pacific lost to the Rebels last week, 30-7.