Santa Clara Provides Northridge With 1st Challenge in WFC Play : College football: Road to Division II playoffs will be bumpy for Matadors, who did not help their cause by losing to UC Davis.

Cal State Northridge starts its Western Football Conference season tonight at home against Santa Clara, but the Matadors already have a strike against them--last week’s 29-17 loss to UC Davis.

Even with an undefeated record in the WFC, the loss could damage Northridge’s playoff hopes because Davis is a Division II team. The Matadors’ other losses were against Division I teams--Eastern Washington and Cal State Fullerton.

“We’ll worry about the playoffs if we win the conference,” CSUN Coach Bob Burt said. “If we win the conference, that will mean we beat Sacramento. And if they are ranked in the top five at the time, then we’ll get in the playoffs.”

Sacramento is 5-0 and tied for sixth in the NCAA Division II rankings with North Dakota State.

The Hornets, who will open WFC play today against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, lead Division II teams in scoring with an average of 44 points a game.

Sacramento tailback Troy Mills is the WFC rushing leader with 842 yards in 101 carries and quarterback Randy Payne has completed 67.3% of his passes.

Portland State (1-0 in the WFC, 4-2 overall) is another legitimate contender. The Vikings rallied from a 20-7 halftime deficit last week to upset Eastern Washington, 35-23.

San Luis Obispo, co-champion of the conference with Northridge last season, has an outside shot at repeating.

Like the Matadors, San Luis Obispo is 2-3 and needs to win all five WFC games to build a case for the playoffs.

San Luis Obispo has a tougher task from the outset--its WFC opener is at Sacramento.

Santa Clara (0-1, 4-2) lost, 37-31, at Southern Utah last week.

“They are a typical Santa Clara team,” Burt said. “They play really, really hard and they have good skill people at quarterback, wide receiver and running back.”

In last season’s game, Santa Clara led, 7-0, until CSUN tied the score with two minutes remaining on a 14-yard touchdown catch by Billy Nealy. With 29 seconds to play, Abo Velasco kicked a 34-yard field goal for a 10-7 CSUN victory.

The past six games in the series have been decided by an average of just under three points a game.

Despite losing by only six points, Santa Clara is coming off a poor statistical showing at Southern Utah.

Against the Thunderbirds, Santa Clara rushed for a season-low 51 yards in 25 carries and gave up a school-record 441 yards rushing.

Northridge is averaging 77.4 yards rushing, but Santa Clara Coach Terry Malley believes that the Matadors will react to Southern Utah’s record rushing total.

“I do expect them to come out and pound the ball at us,” Malley said. “Any time you see someone run for as many yards as Southern Utah did, you want to find out if that is available to you.”

Northridge will find out with a revamped offensive line.

Burt and his staff realigned the injury-plagued line after it allowed 12 sacks for 111 yards in the past two games.

Tight end George Fua, a 6-foot-3, 240-pound senior, was converted to left guard and Art Espino, who weighs only 225 pounds, was moved to left tackle. Kevin Bess and Don Goodman will play at right guard and right tackle, respectively, and Skip Allum maintains his position at center.

Fua made the switch at practice Wednesday.

“It’s just a question of learning,” Burt said. “He has the athletic ability and he’s a good blocker.”

Don Martin, who has three catches for 28 yards, will start for the first time this season at tight end in place of Fua.

Considering no CSUN tailback has rushed for more than 63 yards in a single game this season, that position continues to be occupied by a committee.

That committee changed this week when senior Victor DeVaughn left the team because of family obligations.

Freshman Jonathan Campbell, who expected to redshirt, will take DeVaughn’s place and share time with Bill Harris and Jess Garner. The Matadors hope to improve on the 28 yards rushing they managed against UC Davis.

Northridge’s defense, which slipped up against Davis, also is seeking improvement against a balanced Santa Clara offense.

Bronco quarterback John St. Jacques has thrown for a conference-leading 1,659 yards, completing 106 of 183 passes. He has 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

Former Hart High standout Chris Hite is the leading receiver in the WFC with 36 catches for 572 yards.

Santa Clara’s top rusher is tailback Aron Wise, a junior who has rushed for 833 yards and averages 6.1 yards a carry.

Despite a sub-par performance at UC Davis, CSUN is ranked No. 1 in the WFC in total defense (280.6 yards per game), passing defense (145 yards per game) and scoring defense (only 10 touchdowns and four field goals allowed).