Kopp Passes for Seven Touchdowns as Pacific Beats CS Fullerton, 67-37

University of the Pacific quarterback Troy Kopp left a Cal State Fullerton defense utterly defenseless Saturday, passing for 515 yards and seven touchdowns to lead the Tigers to a 67-37 victory before 2,013 in Santa Ana Stadium.

Kopp, a sophomore from Mission Viejo High, completed 31 of 52 passes in a little more than three quarters and set school single-game records for passing yards, touchdown passes and total yards.

With 396 yards passing at halftime, Kopp was on course to break the NCAA passing record of 631 yards, set by Utah’s Scott Mitchell against Air Force in 1988.

But Pacific concentrated more on running in the second half, and, when the Tigers built a 24-point lead early in the fourth quarter, Coach Walt Harris replaced Kopp with reserve Kris King.

Kopp fell two touchdown passes short of former San Diego State quarterback Dennis Shaw’s record of nine in a game, set against New Mexico State in 1969. Two of Kopp’s touchdown passes went to former Orange Coast College receiver Melvin Johnson, two went to Aaron Turner and two went to Daryl Hobbs.

Johnson caught eight passes for 92 yards, Turner caught six for 120 yards, Oscar Meza caught six for 97 yards and Hobbs caught six for 54 yards.

Running back Steve Mehl, a 23-year-old freshman who played four seasons in the Chicago White Sox organization, caught six passes for 151 yards and a touchdown and added 127 yards rushing in 10 carries.

“To tell you the truth, the way our offense is, it could be like this every week,” said Kopp, who passed for 415 yards in the Tigers’ last game, a 37-28 loss to Nevada Las Vegas on Sept. 29. “No matter what the coverage, we have plays to beat it.”

Harris, a former Tennessee offensive coordinator in his second season at Pacific, scrapped a wishbone offense for a no-huddle, pass-happy attack.

Saturday, Fullerton used man-to-man coverage, and Kopp took advantage by hitting Turner repeatedly on fade patterns, lofting the ball over cornerback Nuygen Pendleton and letting Turner run under it.

The Tigers burned Pendleton five times in the first half, twice for touchdowns.

“Sometimes we knew what they were doing and they’d still complete the pass,” Pendleton said. “That got us down, and the whole defense was frustrated.”

Pacific, 2-4 overall and 1-3 in the Big West, finished with a school-record 747 total yards, breaking the mark of 697 yards set against San Diego State in 1958.

Kopp broke Paul Berner’s previous record of 446 yards passing in a game, set against Fullerton in 1984. It marked Pacific’s fifth-highest point total in school history and the first time the Tigers had defeated an opponent by more than 30 points since 1985.

Pacific also set Cal State Fullerton opponent records for passing yards, total offense, pass completions and touchdown passes. The Titans (1-6, 0-3) had allowed more points only once, in a 70-0 loss at Southern Mississippi in 1975.

“When you can’t stop them over and over again and you’ve tried everything, you feel pretty helpless,” Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy said. “I don’t know if there’s anything else we could have done.”