Titans Get the Record They Want : Fullerton: Pringle just misses, but 6-4-1 mark makes team feel especially good about 28-14 victory over San Jose State.

Cal State Fullerton’s football season was a tangle of numbers and records. It was enough to frazzle statisticians and stir controversy in the midst of some remarkable successes.

And while some of the fans and most of the reporters counted yards Saturday, the Titans closed the books by celebrating one of the simplest of statistics--a winning record.

With a 28-14 victory over San Jose State in front of 6,746 in Spartan Stadium, Fullerton finished with a record of 6-4-1, its first season over .500 since 1985, when the Titans went 6-5.

Mike Pringle didn’t get the record that was in sight, falling 62 yards short of Obie Graves’ school and conference record of 1,789 yards rushing in a season.

Instead Pringle finished with 118 yards and no complaints, even though he stood on the sidelines for the final 13 minutes, tending a sore wrist.

“There was no need for me to go out there and get any more banged up,” said Pringle, who sprained his right wrist in last week’s game and played with it heavily taped. “We had the game under control.”

Pringle’s last game came in a head-to-head meeting with San Jose’s Sheldon Canley, who is second in the nation to Pringle in all-purpose yardage. Pringle finished the season with 2,690 all-purpose yards, second all-time to Barry Sanders’ 3,250. This time, the record the Titans celebrated was one with no player’s name beside it, one that broke a string of records that were at best mediocre--3-9, 6-6, 5-6.

It was a record for everyone.

Cornerback Terry Tramble helped himself to a share of 6-4-1 when he batted away Spartan quarterback Ralph Martini’s fourth-down pass in the end zone with 3:26 left, effectively ending hopes of a Spartan comeback.

Bill Huston and Mike Rogan got their share, filling in at guard for injured starters Laita Leatutufu and Shannon Illingworth.

“They did a great job for a patchwork line,” Fullerton assistant coach Don Morel said.

And quarterback Dan Speltz got the one record he has said he wanted.

“Until last week, I’d never had a winning record since I’d been here,” said Speltz, who completed 16 of 23 passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. He finished his career as the leading passer in school history and holder of a number of other records, to which he can now add the winning one.

“That’s the record to look at,” Speltz said.

Fullerton earned at least a share of second place in the Big West Conference by finishing with a 5-2 record. San Jose State (5-5 and 4-2) until Saturday had lost only to conference-champion Fresno State, 31-30, and has a game against Nevada Las Vegas remaining.

Fullerton had built a 21-7 lead by the third quarter. The Titans scored on an 18-yard pass play from Speltz to Mark Hill in the first quarter. San Jose tied it on Canley’s two-yard run before the second of Phil Nevin’s two field goals, a 47-yarder, made it 13-7 at the half. Pringle’s seven-yard run in the third quarter and the two-point conversion pass from Speltz to Pringle made it 21-7 in the third.

Martini replaced starting quarterback Matt Veatch in the third quarter, and Martini’s passing, including a seven-yard scoring play to Canley, cut the lead to 21-14 before the Fullerton defense stiffened.