Titans Take Realistic Attitude, Sense of Humor Into Auburn : Football: Fullerton, which will bring home $250,000 from today’s game, doesn’t expect a miracle against the Tigers.

George Allen tried to motivate Cal State Long Beach for last week’s game against Clemson by bringing in his former chaplain with the Washington Redskins for a pregame pep talk.

Noting the success of that gimmick--Long Beach lost, 59-0--Cal State Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy figures drastic ecclesiastic measures are in order for the Titans’ game at third-ranked Auburn today.

“Maybe I can bring in the Pope to read me my last rites,” Murphy joked.

At least Murphy hasn’t lost his sense of humor about a game he describes as “a necessary evil”--necessary because Fullerton will come home with a $250,000 guarantee check that will help sustain the football program, and evil because the Tigers figure to do nasty things to the Titans in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Auburn has 14 starters, eight on defense and six on offense, from a team that went 10-2 last season, shared the Southeastern Conference championship and beat Ohio State in the Hall of Fame Bowl, 31-14.

Eleven Auburn players have been selected to the preseason All-SEC team. Five Tigers, including top-rated offensive guard Ed King, have been ranked among the top six players in the nation at their positions by The Sporting News.

And two of those touted by The Sporting News, nose guard Walter Tate (rated third) and defensive tackle Fernando Horn (rated sixth), won’t even start for Auburn today. They lost their jobs to Richard Shea and Jon Wilson in the preseason.

The Tigers, who allowed only three touchdown passes in 1989, will be bigger, faster and stronger than the Titans at virtually every position.

In addition to King, who is 6 feet 4 and 284 pounds, the Tigers have such standouts as James Joseph, a 6-2, 225-pound fullback, and David Rocker, a 6-4, 264-pound defensive tackle and younger brother of the Redskins’ Tracy Rocker, who won the Lombardi Award and the Outland Trophy as an Auburn defensive lineman in 1988.

About the only area Fullerton stacks up well against Auburn is the kicking game, where the Titans have a proven player in Phil Nevin and the Tigers have first-year kicker Jim Von Wyl.

But don’t expect the game to come down to the kickers. Most would be surprised if Fullerton scores as many points as Auburn scores extra points.

And don’t expect Auburn to approach triple figures on the scoreboard, even though they possibly could if they kept their starters in the entire game. Coach Pat Dye isn’t that type.

“We’re not in it to see how many points we can score,” Dye said of the game, Auburn’s season opener. “We just want to play the game. Our plans are to play a lot of people, because we have a lot of young guys who need experience.”

That has to be somewhat comforting for Murphy and the Titans, who last week struggled to defeat Division II Sonoma State, 38-24.

This is a rebuilding year for Fullerton, but games against Auburn and Mississippi State next week could stunt the Titans’ growth.

“I just want us to get better as a team and be as competitive as we possibly can,” Murphy said. “We’ll have some fun with it. That’s not to say all 60 minutes will be fun, but some good things will happen.”

One good thing is the Titans will get a first-hand look at big-time college football. A crowd of at least 77,000 is expected in Jordan-Hare Stadium, which has a capacity of 85,214.

When filled, Auburn’s stadium would be the fifth most populous city in Alabama behind Birmingham, Mobile, Montgomery and Huntsville.

The city of Auburn has a population of just 30,000. But for the second consecutive season, Auburn has sold 75,000 season tickets.

“Football is a religion there,” Murphy said. “They start coming into town for games on Thursday morning. Their intra-squad game last spring drew about 35,000.

“It will be an experience for all of us--coaches, players and administrators. I’m sure we’ll all have a tinge of jealousy when we get there.”

Titan Notes

Fullerton offensive guard Shannon Illingworth, who suffered a hyper-extended elbow in last week’s game, suffered a partial tear of the medial collateral ligament in his knee during Tuesday’s practice and will be out for three or four weeks. . . . Wide receiver Kerry Reed suffered a similar injury in the Sonoma State game and also will miss three or four games. . . . Reserve defensive back Michael Jones, who earned special teams player of the week honors for his performance against Sonoma State, broke a finger in the game and will miss two or three games. . . . Deon Thomas, the starting running back who suffered a season-ending knee injury last week, will undergo reconstructive surgery in about two weeks. . . . Auburn will be trying to win its fourth consecutive SEC title, a feat accomplished only once in the 57-year history of the SEC. Alabama, under Paul (Bear) Bryant, won titles from 1971-74. . . . Auburn has the third-best winning percentage in the nation over the past seven years with a 67-16-2 (.800) record, behind Miami (.870) and Nebraska (.837).