No Rest in Store for the Traveling Titans : Football: Nine of 12 games next season will be on the road after two previously scheduled home games are moved.

Those road warriors known as the Cal State Fullerton football team will be at it again next season.

The school announced Thursday that two previously scheduled 1990 home games, against Fresno State and San Jose State, have been switched to away games, meaning that nine of the Titans’ 12 games will be played on the road.

Fullerton also has reached agreements with Temple and Texas El Paso for a home-and-home series, and the Titans have signed with Syracuse to play at the Carrier Dome in 1993 and 1998.

Next season’s San Jose State game, scheduled Nov. 3, was moved because Santa Ana Stadium, Fullerton’s home-away-from-home field, is not available.

The Titans are fourth on the stadium’s priority list, behind three Santa Ana high schools and Rancho Santiago College. A high school game and a community college game already are scheduled that day.

Fullerton Athletic Director Ed Carroll said Cerritos College was not available, so the school agreed to travel to San Jose.

The Fresno State game, scheduled Sept. 29, was moved because of financial considerations. Carroll wouldn’t elaborate, but he said “it’s to our advantage” to travel to Fresno.

According to Fullerton sports information director Mel Franks, traveling Big West Conference teams receive a flat fee of about $30,000 from the host school.

Because Fullerton could keep its travel expenses relatively low for a Fresno trip, and because the Titans draw so few fans at home and generate such little gate revenue, athletic department officials believed it would be more lucrative to play at Fresno.

Thus, Titan Coach Gene Murphy will be making his ninth trip to Fresno since he began coaching at Fullerton in 1980.

“I’ve got to check into it, but I think I’ll be able to vote up there now,” Murphy said.

Murphy can joke about such matters. He’s used to them. In his 10-year tenure, the Titans have averaged 7.6 away games a season.

“It’s a matter of not having a stadium and economics, and I’ve been here long enough to understand it,” Murphy said. “This is just something we have to do, so there’s not much to say. We’ve grown accustomed to it. We just have to get some new travel bags.”

Murphy, however, is concerned with the fatigue factor that such a demanding schedule could cause. With additional trips to Auburn, Mississippi State, Akron, Hawaii and New Mexico State, the Titans will log more miles this season than they ever have.

Fullerton will be home about once every full moon. The Titans’ home schedule is Sept. 1 vs. Sonoma State, Oct. 13 vs. Pacific and Nov. 10 vs. Utah State.

Fullerton will play Temple at home in 1993 and will travel to Temple in 1995. The Titans travel to UTEP in 1993, and the Miners will come to Fullerton in 1995.

Carroll became interested in Syracuse when Penn State recently announced that it would be joining the Big Ten Conference. Carroll contacted several schools whom he expected would be dropped from the Nittany Lions’ schedule.

Syracuse agreed to play Fullerton, but only at home. Carroll wouldn’t disclose the financial terms of the contract, but the Titans will receive a hefty guarantee.

“We’d much rather be playing in an on-campus stadium,” Carroll said. “That not being the case, we have to make adjustments.”

The debate over whether Fullerton should continue to field a Division I football team raged on Thursday, as members of the school’s Academic Senate and athletic department provided some spirited discussion on both sides of the issue.

A resolution proposing a faculty referendum on football was put before the senate. It asked whether Fullerton should maintain its commitment to a Division I program or phase out intercollegiate football.

The senate voted against the resolution and agreed to continue discussing football at next Thursday’s meeting.