Fullerton Can Feel Good About Loss : Titans: After jumping to a 31-3 halftime lead, third-ranked Auburn is given a game, 38-17.

Cal State Fullerton flies home from Auburn today with its $250,000 guarantee check and an unexpected piece of carry-on luggage--a big bag of respect.

The Titans didn’t exactly put fear into the hearts of 77,500 fans in Jordan-Hare Stadium, but they did give the third-ranked Tigers a decent game before losing, 38-17, a score not nearly as lopsided as most anticipated.

Fullerton outscored Auburn, 14-0, in the third quarter, their second touchdown coming on a play reminiscent of Pittsburgh Steeler running back Franco Harris’ Immaculate Reception, to turn a 31-3 deficit into a 31-17 game.

The Titans forced a punt on Auburn’s next possession and would have had good field position had return man Greg West not fumbled the ball away at the Titan 41-yard line. The Tigers later scored on Stan White’s 13-yard pass to Greg Taylor--the redshirt freshman quarterback’s fourth touchdown pass of the game--to make it 38-17 with 11:18 remaining.

“We didn’t win, but it was a big, big moral victory for us,” Fullerton kicker Phil Nevin said. “I think people were expecting a Long Beach-Clemson type score (59-0 last week), but they’re going to look at this and say, ‘Wow, they gave them a ballgame.’ We played a hell of a second half, and their first team was in there most of the time.”

To Fullerton’s credit, the Titans’ offensive success didn’t come against the Tigers’ third- and fourth-string players. Auburn Coach Pat Dye shuffled reserves in and out of the game but never pulled entire starting units.

Fullerton quarterback Paul Schulte, going against a defense many consider to be among the nation’s best, completed 17 of 28 passes for 235 yards and two touchdowns.

“If you would have told me before the game that (preseason All-American defensive tackle) David Rocker and (All-American offensive guard) Ed King would be in there at the end, I would have thought there was something the matter with you,” Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy said. “But our kids played very hard the whole game. Auburn was flat, and justifiably so, but they weren’t playing against air, either.”

It only seemed that way in the first half when the Tigers scored on five of their six possessions. White had plenty of time to carve up the Titan secondary, completing 14 of 22 first-half attempts for 241 yards and three touchdowns.

“You bet we were wide-eyed at the start of the game,” Murphy said. “To say anything else would be lying. Our most inexperienced players are on offense, and it took us time to get in the flow. But we gained more confidence in the second half once we found out we could move the football.”

Fullerton finally found the end zone late in the third quarter when Schulte completed four of four passes on a 49-yard drive, the last a five-yarder to J.J. Celestine to make it 31-10 with 2:42 left in the third.

Two minutes later, from the Titan 34, Schulte threw to Celestine up the left sideline. Celestine and Tiger cornerback Mike Pina went up for the ball, and Pina tipped it in the air. The players collided and fell, but Celestine managed to kick the ball to teammate Reggie Yarbrough, who snared the deflection at the Fullerton 47 and raced into the end zone for a 66-yard touchdown play.

Titan Notes

Fullerton defensive back Terry Tramble suffered a broken arm in the first half and might be out for the season. . . . The Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer, in its prediction for the game in Saturday morning’s paper, said it would be “Auburn by two. By two minutes, it will be over.” Added a Ledger-Enquirer columnist: “The Tigers don’t really start the season until next week at Ole Miss. Auburn invited 75,000 or 85,000 of its fans to Jordan-Hare Stadium for a scrimmage.”