Weak Rainbows Strong-Arm Titans : College football: Hawaii hands injury-plagued Fullerton its seventh straight loss.

Cal State Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy is no master of physics, but he did a scholarly job of applying the theory of relativity to the Titans’ 45-21 loss to Hawaii late Saturday night.

“This was one of the weakest Hawaii teams we’ve ever played,” said Murphy, whose teams have lost six of seven games in Honolulu since 1980. “And we still got beat by 27 points.”

Murphy didn’t have to add the obvious. It doesn’t take Albert Einstein to figure out this is one of the weakest Fullerton teams Hawaii has ever played.

The Titans, who have lost seven in a row since a season-opening victory over Sonoma State, were simply no match for the Rainbows (3-3). Hawaii scored 21 first-quarter points and extended the lead to 38-7 by the end of the third quarter.

A crowd of 28,170 in Aloha Stadium--9,542 others bought tickets but didn’t attend the game--watched Hawaii’s defense overpower Fullerton, sacking quarterback Paul Schulte six times for a loss of 40 yards and limiting the Titans to nine net yards rushing in 28 attempts.

And the Rainbows’ spread offense had its way with a Fullerton defense that was spread thin because of injuries, rolling up 552 total yards, 343 of them on the ground.

The Titans played without injured defensive starters Jamal Jones (end), Stan Breland (outside linebacker) and Nuygen Pendleton (cornerback).

Then, on Hawaii’s third offensive play of the game, Fullerton linebacker Clarence Siler, who spent the past two weeks rehabilitating an injured ankle, hurt the same ankle again and limped off. Siler was unable to return and is questionable for Saturday’s game against Cal State Long Beach.

Rainbow quarterbacks Garrett Gabriel and Michael Carter, a redshirt freshman from Long Beach Poly High School who played most of the second half, took full advantage of the Titans’ depleted defense.

Gabriel, who netted minus-six yards rushing in five previous games, ran for 80 yards in six carries, most of them option keepers, and completed eight of 16 passes for 191 yards and three touchdowns. He scored Hawaii’s first touchdown on a 51-yard run.

Carter, who showed agility running the option but also burned Fullerton with a few quarterback draws, added 99 yards in eight carries, including a 31-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter. Carter threw an eight-yard touchdown pass to Jamal Farmer to close the Rainbows’ scoring in the fourth quarter.

“We didn’t defend the option very well,” Murphy said. “We haven’t been good at stopping quarterbacks all year.”

Hawaii’s defense beat up a Titan offensive line that was beat up going into the game. Tackles Damien Macaluso and Mike Simmons and guards Tim Drevno and Jim DiFilippo have had nagging injuries for weeks, and Fullerton played without starting guard Tim Drevno.

Linebacker Mark Odom, another Long Beach Poly graduate who was the Western Athletic Conference defensive player of the year in 1989, led the Rainbows with seven unassisted tackles and two sacks, and defensive back Tony Pang-Kee intercepted Schulte three times in the first half.

“They just had better athletes,” Murphy said. “We knew what we were getting into over there. Even though this is a real down year for them, they always have a good defense.”

The score could have been even more lopsided had Hawaii not lost five fumbles and committed so many penalties. The Rainbows were whistled 11 times for 100 yards.

Despite Fullerton’s ineffectiveness in the first quarter--the Titans gained one first down in five first-quarter possessions--Fullerton had a chance to get back into the game just before halftime.

Schulte threw a three-yard touchdown pass to Kerry Reed to trim Hawaii’s lead to 21-7 with 4:54 left in the second quarter, and the Titans forced a punt on the Rainbows’ next possession.

Fullerton took over on its 45 with 2:58 remaining, and Schulte’s 17-yard pass to J.J. Celestine gave the Titans a first down on the Rainbow 38.

But Odom sacked Schulte for an eight-yard loss, David Tanuvasa sacked Schulte for a 10-yard loss, and, after Reggie Yarbrough’s 10-yard run, Fullerton was forced to punt.

Jeff Sydner’s 31-yard return and two Gabriel completions advanced the ball to the Fullerton 29. Gabriel then rolled left and hit Sydner in the end zone for a touchdown and a 28-7 lead 19 seconds before halftime.

“That was a momentum killer,” Murphy said.

The Titans’ second touchdown was set up by J.C. Farrow’s fumble recovery at the Hawaii 24-yard line early in the fourth quarter. Schulte passed 14 yards to Richard Harrison for the score.

Fullerton added a 13-play, 79-yard scoring drive with Schulte tossing a five-yard touchdown pass to Todd Baird, but the Rainbows’ defense consisted of second- and third-team players by then.

Titan Notes

Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy said defensive end J.C. Farrow, filling in for injured starter Jamal Jones, played the best game of his college career, but it came with a price. Farrow suffered a slight concussion in the fourth quarter and came off the field a bit disoriented. “He was acting like Wile E. Coyote,” Murphy said. “He kept saying, ‘Where did he go? Where did he go?’ ” Added Titan trainer Chris Mumaw: “I asked him what half it was and he said, ‘the fourth.’ ” . . . Defensive back Bob Baiz (finger), receiver Dwayne McAfee (shoulder) and offensive tackle Mike Simmons (ankle) suffered minor injuries.