COLLEGE FOOTBALL ’92 : BIG WEST CONFERENCE PREVIEW : An Up-and-Newcomer Could Give San Jose State a Race

Fresno State won’t have the Big West Conference to kick around any more, and the Big West won’t have Cal State Long Beach to kick around any more, but despite off-season comings and goings, the Big West power structure remains essentially the same.

San Jose State, which has won or shared four of the last six conference titles, is expected to win another this season, and Cal State Fullerton, which has one conference victory in two seasons, would consider anything above last place a major accomplishment.

Former Division I-AA power Nevada replaced Western Athletic Conference-bound Fresno State, but the Wolf Pack should slip right into the Bulldogs’ role as perennial conference contender, and Utah State, as it has the past two seasons, is expected to place among the top three.

Pacific and Nevada Las Vegas are again considered middle-of-the-pack teams with the potential to finish third, and New Mexico State, though improved, is again expected to join Fullerton in a Big West basement that became less crowded when Long Beach dropped football last winter.

The addition of Nevada, 12-1 last season and 13-2 in 1990, when the Wolf Pack lost to Georgia Southern in the Division I-AA national championship game, and the departure of Fresno State and Long Beach were the major off-season developments, but there have been other changes:

--Three of the conference’s seven teams have new head coaches. Terry Shea and Ron Turner traded places, with Shea taking Turner’s job as Stanford offensive coordinator and Turner taking Shea’s job as head coach at San Jose State.

Chuck Shelton resigned as Utah State coach but then got the job at Pacific, where he hopes to add some defense to go with the Tigers’ high-powered offense. And former Arkansas offensive coordinator Charlie Weatherbie replaced Shelton.

--The postseason California Bowl pitting the Big West and Mid-American conference champions, played in Fresno since 1981, has moved to Las Vegas and will be called the Silver Bowl.

--Independents Northern Illinois, Arkansas State, Southwestern Louisiana and Louisiana Tech will join the Big West in football only, beginning in 1993.

Here is a closer look at the Big West in order of predicted finish:

SAN JOSE STATE: The Spartans were one of only two teams in the nation (East Carolina was the other) to score at least 20 points in every game last season, and the player most responsible for that--versatile junior quarterback Jeff Garcia--returns.

But he will have to find new targets, because returning players account for only 13 of the 211 receptions from 1991. A solid offensive line, headed by center Nick Trammer and guard Alten Faletoi, should give Garcia time to get acquainted with his new receivers.

Donald Lindsey, a sophomore from Cabrillo High who averaged 20.1 yards per kickoff return in 1991, moves into the tailback spot in place of Shon Ellerbe, who contracted a virus known as “San Joaquin Valley fever” last winter, lost a considerable amount of weight and will be a redshirt this season.

The Spartans are very strong at linebacker, with all-conference pick Raymond Bowles and community college transfer Jimmy Singleton; and in the secondary, with rover Anthony Washington and cornerback Dee Grayer.

NEVADA (12-1 overall, 8-0 in the Big Sky Conference): 50-8. 45-7. 49-3.

These are scores from Nevada victories over Big West members Nevada Las Vegas and Fullerton in the past six years.

The Division I-AA label doesn’t fool any Big West coaches, who expect the Wolf Pack to be competitive. Nevada also should bring some much-needed enthusiasm into the conference. The school has expanded its stadium to hold 31,500 and sold out all 45 stadium skyboxes for this season.

“This is the biggest thing to hit Reno since Balley’s,” Nevada Coach Chris Ault said of the jump to Division I-A.

The Wolf Pack is loaded, with returning quarterbacks Fred Gatlin (2,192 yards passing, 17 touchdown passes in 1991) and Chris Vargas (1,386 yards, 10 touchdown passes), running backs Dedric Holmes (773 yards) and Zeke Moore (558 yards) and receivers Bryan Reeves (932 yards, five touchdowns) and Chris Singleton (893 yards, eight touchdowns).

Cornerbacks Forey Duckett and Brock Marion and safety Xavier Kairy head a talented secondary, and if the offensive and defensive lines develop, the Wolf Pack should challenge for the conference title.

UTAH STATE: The Aggies’ have a kinder nonconference schedule--no September trips to Oklahoma and Nebraska this year--but the preseason has been cruel. Center Warren Bowers, an all-conference pick in 1991 who would have been a three-year starter, tore ligaments in his knee during an Aug. 20 practice and is sidelined for the season.

Greg O’Bannion, a three-year starter on the offensive line, has taken doctors’ advice and retired because of recurring shoulder injuries. Jaceson Maughan, a three-year starter at offensive tackle, has not returned from a knee injury suffered during spring practice but could come back in September.

Weatherbie has moved six defensive linemen to offense, but a line that didn’t allow a sack against Nebraska or Oklahoma last season is considerably weaker. That will put more of a burden on quarterback Greg Angelovic, a former Huntington Beach Edison High and Orange Coast College standout, and freshman running back Abu Wilson.

The Utah State defense, however, should be strong behind free safety Damon Smith, cornerback Israel Byrd, linebacker Jermaine Younger and lineman Joe Jacobs.

PACIFIC: The Tigers should roll up the offensive statistics with returning quarterback Troy Kopp (3,767 yards passing, 37 touchdowns in 1991), running back Ryan Benjamin (1,610 yards rushing, 613 receiving, 16 touchdowns) and receiver Aaron Turner (1,604 yards, 18 touchdowns).

And if its defense doesn’t roll over as it did last season--Pacific ranked last in Division I-A in scoring defense, giving up 40.1 points per game--the Tigers might have their first winning season since 1977.

Pacific will switch from a four- to a five-man defensive front to better utilize the talents of defensive ends Grant Carter and Shawn Price. And Shelton hopes to transform his offense to more of a ball-control unit.

“Sometimes a first down is more important than a touchdown,” Shelton said. “I’m not interested in glitter unless it wins. I’m not concerned with national statistics unless you win.”

NEVADA LAS VEGAS: UNLV returns seven offensive starters, including all-around talent Henry Bailey, who moved from running back to receiver. But the Rebels are untested at quarterback, where junior John Ma’ae will play after a season at receiver.

Ma’ae, a Banning High graduate, is an elusive runner but erratic passer. “He’s like a pitcher who might throw one over the backstop once in a while, but he has a good arm,” Rebel Coach Jim Strong said.

UNLV will have a strong offensive line and two explosive running backs in Shannon McLean and Omar Love, a freshman from Rialto Eisenhower High. The defense has two top-flight linebackers in Mike Smalls and Rumone Hilton and will be bolstered by the addition of end Erik Simien, a former Serra High star who lettered twice at Notre Dame before transferring to UNLV.

NEW MEXICO STATE: The Aggies’ program is making progress. Their budget has grown, their new weight room is one of the nation’s largest and the coaching staff has returned intact for the first time in 27 years.

Third-year Coach Jim Hess says the improvements should correlate to better results on the field, where New Mexico State has won only 10 games in the past eight seasons.

“The first year was a helpless feeling and last year we were somewhat competitive, but I’d be very disappointed if we didn’t show significant improvement this season,” Hess said. “We’re light years from where we were before.”

The Aggies have two good quarterbacks, Charles Puleri and Cody Ledbetter, who played in 1991. Puleri is the likely starter and will have a good receiving corps with Fred Montgomery, Ezell Brown, Atlas Reagor and Todd Cutler. The secondary appears much improved behind veteran safety Quinton Tezeno.

CAL STATE FULLERTON: The excitement and optimism surrounding the Titans’ new on-campus stadium, which opens with Saturday’s game against Cal State Northridge, has been tempered by talk that Fullerton will either drop football or downgrade its program to Division I-AA after this season.

Coach Gene Murphy, entering his 13th season, has not been too distracted because he has been busy installing a new offense. The Titans are scrapping their one-back formation in favor of a run-oriented option attack.

Fullerton has some decent running backs in Arthur Davis, Jamal Smith, Reggie Carter and Danny Pasquil, but none of its three quarterbacks--Trendl Williams, Quincy Guy and Richard Fanti--has taken a snap in a Division I college game. And not one has run the option.

The offense could be shaky, but the defense appears improved. Fullerton is particularly strong at linebacker with Lorenzo Hailey, John Haynes, Mike Gullo and Dan Godfrey.