Titans Fail to Challenge Superior Fresno State : Cal State Fullerton: Bulldog defense holds Titans to 144 total yards in 38-7 Fresno State victory.

The evening began on an ugly note, and with the exception of a few shining moments, things didn’t get much prettier for the Cal State Fullerton football team Saturday night.

The Titan offense was reduced to mere rubble by a tough Fresno State defense, and Fullerton lost, 38-7, before 31,081 passive fans in Bulldog Stadium.

Fresno State, which improved to 9-1, 5-1 in the Big West Conference, limited the Titans (1-9, 0-6) to 144 total yards and 11 first downs. The defense also accounted for one touchdown, Tony Brown’s 41-yard interception return for a score that gave the Bulldogs a 31-7 lead late in the third quarter.

Fullerton quarterback Chad May, forced to throw because Fresno State’s eight-man defensive front stuffed the Titan running game, completed six of 30 passes for 92 yards. He was intercepted once and sacked three times.

Phil Nevin broke the Titan single-game school record for punts with his 12th--in the third quarter. Nevin finished with 13 punts--two more than Terry Lindsey had in a 1973 game to set the previous record, a mark Scott Vernoy tied twice in 1981.

The only thing preventing a more lopsided score was some rather lackluster play by Fresno State’s offense, which was playing with third-string quarterback Brian Rowe.

Rowe completed only nine of 21 passes for 112 yards and was intercepted twice by Darrius Watson, who leads the conference with six interceptions. Watson also blocked a field-goal attempt in the third quarter.

But the Fresno State running game picked the offense up with 325 yards, including 131 in 13 carries by Ron Rivers and 69 yards in 13 carries by Anthony Daigle.

“Rowe did a good job, but Mike or Tim (Murphy’s sons) or Gene Murphy could have played quarterback behind that offensive line and with that running game,” Titan Coach Gene Murphy said. “We were up against better people.”

You knew things might be ugly when four Titan defensive players, including three starters, came out for warmups in their street clothes. Outside linebacker Terence Sullivan, strong safety Michael Jones and cornerback B.B. Hudson did did not suit up because of disciplinary action.

The players violated a team rule during the trip--”Nothing law-breaking,” Athletic Director Bill Shumard said--but he did not elaborate on why they were sidelined.

“Just stupidity on the part of some players,” Sullivan said.

Reserve safety Rod Smith didn’t suit up either, and reserve cornerback Mike Brown didn’t make the trip, both for disciplinary reasons, leaving Fullerton with six defensive backs, including senior Donnell Madison, who hadn’t played a down in three years. Only 45 players suited up for the Titans.

Linebacker Dan Godfrey moved to strong safety, Keary Johns replaced Sullivan, and Joseph Vaughn took Hudson’s place. But Johns led the team with 14 tackles, including two for losses, and the Titans didn’t look that bad on defense.

“I told them after the game that’s about as gutsy a performance as I’ve had by a defense in a long time,” Murphy said. “Guys like Darrius Watson, Keary Johns, Joe Vaughn, they did a great job. I’m proud of them. If we had to go back on the field at the end of the game, we didn’t have any cornerbacks left.”

Amazingly, the Titans trailed by only two touchdowns, 21-7, at halftime. Fullerton had nine yards of total offense in the first quarter and didn’t record a first down until 5 minutes 26 seconds remained in the second quarter.

And that came because of a Fresno State holding penalty. The Bulldogs dared the Titans to throw. They tried, but had no success until late in the first half. After a short Bulldog punt late in the second quarter, May found Frank Davis down the left sideline for a 28-yard gain to the Fresno State 22-yard line.

May then hit Davis on a fade pattern down the right sideline, beating Brown, the Bulldogs’ best cornerback, for a touchdown to make it 21-7 with 1:03 to play in the half.

The Bulldogs seemed to lose interest after building a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter. Fresno State racked up 204 yards in a 14-point first quarter. Rivers scored on a 54-yard run and Daigle added a seven-yard touchdown run.

Early in the second quarter, Rowe found Tydus Winans open down the right sideline on a pump-and-go pattern for a 44-yard gain. That set up Rowe’s 16-yard scoring run that made it 21-0 with 14:14 left in the first half.

But the next four Bulldog possessions ended with Brad Seagle punts, and their final first-half possession ended with a Watson interception.

Titan Notes

Fresno State kicker Derek Mahoney, a former Fountain Valley High School standout, set a single-season school record for PATs with an extra-point kick in the first quarter Saturday night. He entered the game with 54 PATs.