Titans Have More Than One Reason to Be Wary of Struggling Long Beach

Cal State Fullerton had reason to be wary of Cal State Long Beach before this week, courtesy of last season’s memories.

Long Beach had a nine-game losing streak stretching over two seasons when the teams met last year. But after a 32-yard Long Beach field goal with five seconds left against Fullerton, Long Beach had a 24-22 victory and the Titans had their most embarrassing loss of the season.

This week, after Long Beach Coach Larry Reisbig announced his resignation Thursday, saying he would coach the final two games, it gave Fullerton more reason to be wary. It’s difficult to tell how that move will affect the Long Beach team when it meets Fullerton in the Titans’ homecoming game at 1 p.m. today at Santa Ana Stadium.

Reisbig has a 10-23 record in three seasons.

On the surface, Fullerton would seem to face little challenge from Long Beach, a 3-7 team that has beaten only one Division I team, winless New Mexico State. The other victories are over Cal State Northridge and Boise State.

Five times this season, the 49ers have given up more than 40 points.

But Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy, who has watched his teams sputter against lesser teams in the past, is cautious just the same.

Quarterback Paul Oates has led the 49ers, passing for 2,156 yards. Sean Foster has been the leading receiver. Derek Washington, a standout receiver who missed four games with shoulder injuries, returned last week.

The Titans (4-4-1, 3-2 in the Big West) are trying to win their final two games in order to finish with a winning record for the first time since 1985. Fullerton concludes its season next week on the road against San Jose State.

The Record Watch:

--Mike Pringle, who tied the Division I national single-game rushing record with 357 yards last week, would have to average 225 yards a game in the final two games to break Obie Graves’ Fullerton season record of 1,789 yards, set in 1978. Graves was on hand last week when Pringle broke his one-game record of 291 yards.

--Fullerton quarterback Dan Speltz needs 62 yards passing to become the school’s career leader, passing Damon Allen, whose record is 4,218 yards.

--Speltz needs four completions to break Allen’s record of 322.

--Speltz will set a school record for completion percentage even if he attempts 30 passes in each of the final two games and doesn’t complete a single one. The record is 55.5%, set by Ronnie Barber in 1987. Speltz is completing 69.8% of his passes. He is threatening the Big West record of 71% set by Long Beach’s Doug Gaynor in 1985. He would break it if he completed 16 of 20 passes in each of the final two games. One secret to Speltz’s success is the Titans’ short passing game. Running a different offense last season, he completed 49.6%.

--Rocky Palamara, who already holds both the single-season and career reception and receiving yardage records, needs 28 yards to break his single-season yardage record, set last season. He is one touchdown pass shy of the career record of 16 held by Stan Chapman and Allen Pitts.

Titan Notes

Cal State Long Beach leads the series against Fullerton, 11-6, but Fullerton has won four of the past six meetings. . . . Fullerton seniors to be recognized before today’s final home game are John Bavaro, Bill Brennan, Dan Briones, Tim Byrnes, Don Chambers, Shaun Dennis, Tony Dill, Shawn Forristall, Tom Gang, Marc Hauser, Mark Hill, Tim Holland, Harold Jones, Laita Leatutufu, James Noel, Russ Oleyer, Rocky Palamara, Mike Pringle, Reggie Redding, Mike Schaffel, Neb Sormaz, Dan Speltz and Chris Wright.