Titans Down to a Last-Ditch Effort

Cal State Fullerton and New Mexico State have a date with destitution Saturday when the Titans and Aggies meet to determine America’s worst Division I-A football team.

This lowdown of showdowns--call it the Siesta Bowl, or the Rotten Bowl--was made possible by Fullerton’s 45-17 loss to Utah State and New Mexico State’s 56-20 loss to San Jose State Saturday.

For the past three weeks, Fullerton (1-10) has been ranked 105th and New Mexico State (0-10) 106th out of 106 Division I-A teams by The National, an all-sports publication.

Just in case there was some dispute over the ratings, the Titans and Aggies will determine who’s No. 106 next week in Las Cruces, N.M., on the field, the way these things should be determined.

“It will be for bragging rights for last place in the whole world,” Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy said. “It will mean national notoriety for Cal State Fullerton. I’m sure we’ll be in The National and make the wire services. We just want to win the damn game.”

The Titans gave 4,110 spectators in Santa Ana Stadium the impression that they might win Saturday’s game against Utah State (4-4-1). Fullerton drove 94 yards for a touchdown on its first possession and, with the score tied at 7 early in the second quarter, the Titans appeared headed for another touchdown.

But the Aggies stopped Fullerton on three plays from the Utah State one-yard line and then reeled off 21 second-quarter points en route to an easy victory. The momentum crusher was Aggie quarterback Ron Lopez’s 94-yard touchdown pass to Rod Moore that came two plays after Utah State’s goal-line stand.

The Aggies rolled up 528 total yards, including Lopez’s 218 yards passing on 11 of 17 attempts. Roger Grant, who entered as the Big West Conference’s rushing leader, added 150 yards in 22 carries and scored two touchdowns, and Tracey Jenkins caught six passes for 114 yards and two touchdowns.

Utah State scored on seven of nine possessions, its only non-scoring drives coming at the end of the first half, when the Aggies ran two plays in the last 41 seconds, and at the end of the game, when they ran five plays in the final 2:27. Utah State didn’t punt.

“We played as hard as we could, but from a defensive standpoint, we were outmanned,” said Murphy, who was without five defensive starters Saturday. “These players are ours, and we love them, but they’re just not good enough. They’ll jump in a foxhole with you, though.”

One bright spot for Fullerton was the play of redshirt freshman quarterback Terry Payne, who started in place of the injured Paul Schulte. Payne completed 20 of 29 passes for 214 yards and two touchdowns.

On the flip side, Payne spent plenty of time on his flip side--he was sacked five times and absorbed some punishing blows while scrambling.

“For a first game, he ran the gamut of emotions, from extreme exhilaration to agony,” Murphy said. “He cried, he got the wind knocked out of him . . . but he’s a competitive individual.”

Payne connected on his first eight passes, including six on the Titans’ first scoring drive, and his 10-yard touchdown pass to Sean Beasley gave Fullerton a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.

Utah State made it 7-7 on Grant’s 16-yard touchdown run, but Payne brought Fullerton right back, driving the Titans from their 20 to the Aggie one.

But Utah State linebacker Del Lyles stopped Reggie Yarbrough on second down and James Mullins on third down, and linebacker Kevin Bouwman tackled Mullins short of the end zone on fourth down to stuff the rally.

Two plays later, from the Aggie six-yard line, Lopez pump-faked to Moore, who was split to the left side and drawing single coverage from cornerback Darrell Bruce.

Bruce froze, and Moore raced up the sideline. Moore caught Lopez’s pass at about the 30, avoided Bruce’s attempted tackle at the Titan 40 and scored for a 14-7 lead.

“That goal-line stand really busted our bubble,” Mullins said. “We needed that touchdown, and we thought we’d be doing real well with a 14-7 lead. But the momentum really turned after that.”

Murphy didn’t second-guess his decision to go for a touchdown instead of a field goal.

“The way our defense has been playing, a field goal isn’t going to win the game,” he said.

Murphy was right. The Aggies went on to dismantle the Titan defense with a solid running game, a non-spectacular but effective passing game and some trickery.

In the second quarter, Grant ran 35 yards on a fake reverse to set up Moore’s 43-yard touchdown pass to Jenkins. Moore lined up at wide receiver on the play, took a reverse handoff from Grant and then passed to a wide-open Jenkins for a touchdown and a 21-7 lead.

Fullerton’s two other scores came on Phil Nevin’s 43-yard field goal in the second quarter and Payne’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Gary Lendennie in the fourth.

The Titans have now lost a school-record 10 consecutive games, but at least they’ll have some incentive going into the season finale.

“We’ll be taking the New Mexico State game very seriously,” Yarbrough said. “We’ve lost a lot of pride as it is, so we’ve got to get some back down there. This whole thing about it being the Garbage Bowl doesn’t get us down, but it does make you sit back and say, ‘Boy, this has been a long year.’ ”