Northridge Taking Fullerton Personally

Almost every Cal State Northridge football coach and player has a personal reason for wanting to spoil Cal State Fullerton’s debut in the new Titan Stadium this evening at 6.

Bob Burt, the Northridge coach, was Fullerton’s defensive coordinator for six years and is a close friend of Gene Murphy, his counterpart at Fullerton. Quarterback-wide receivers coach Dale Bunn coached at Fullerton for nine years and starred at quarterback in 1977 and 1978 for the Titans.

Reserve defensive back Michael Brown transferred to Northridge from Fullerton, and a dozen other Matadors played either junior college or high school football, or both, in Orange County with current Titan players.

“You go home--where you came from--and you want the people at home to be proud of you,” Burt said.

Dozens of other Northridge players derive their motivation from last season’s 17-10 loss to Fullerton in which a potential touchdown pass by CSUN quarterback Marty Fisher was intercepted in the end zone with less than two minutes remaining.

Another source of motivation stems from the Matadors’ underdog NCAA Division II status. They are eager to show the Division I Titans that they are just as talented.

“We look forward to playing Division I games,” linebacker Tyrone Dorsey said. “There’s so much hype. And we feel there’s no difference between Division I and Division II.”

The key for the CSUN offense--which sputtered to a 3-7 record last season--is completing enough passes to prevent the Titan defense from keying on Jamal Farmer. The transfer from Hawaii is expected to carry the ball 20 to 25 times per game.

“We have to have a ratio (of running to passing) so they can’t put eight or nine men up on the line of scrimmage to stop Jamal,” Bunn said. “Jamal is the man, but one way to keep the pressure off him is to complete some passes.”

The challenge on defense is stopping the wishbone and quarterback Trendell Williams, the leader of Fullerton’s new offensive scheme.

Williams, the 1989 Western State Conference offensive player of the year at Valley College, redshirted last season when the Titans went 2-9.

“The test is responsibility defense,” Burt said. “And there is no choice. If you are supposed to tackle the quarterback, you tackle the quarterback. If you start to suppose and tackle the fullback, the quarterback will keep the ball.”