Titans Face Bad-Mood Bulldogs : College football: Loss to Tennessee last week could mean 19th-ranked Georgia will take out frustrations on Cal State Fullerton today.

An already difficult task for Cal State Fullerton--playing at 19th-ranked Georgia today--became even tougher when Tennessee pulled out a last-minute victory on the Bulldogs’ home turf last Saturday.

The Vols scored a touchdown with 50 seconds left to take a 34-31 lead. Georgia’s comeback bid came up short when Andre Hastings, after a 38-yard reception, fumbled away the ball at the Tennessee 34-yard line with 14 seconds left.

It was Georgia’s sixth turnover of the day, and it sent some 85,000 fans home from Sanford Stadium with a sick feeling in their stomachs.

Back in Fullerton, Titan Coach Gene Murphy was feeling a bit queasy, too.

“It was the worst thing that could have happened,” Murphy said of the Georgia loss. “They’ll be in a foul mood, and they won’t be looking past Fullerton. They must have practiced for Clemson half the week before our game last year. There’ll be 80,000 people there, and they won’t care if we’re the Little Sisters of the Poor.”

That’s what Bulldog followers were expecting last September when Fullerton traveled to Georgia. The Titans were ridiculed in the Athens-area media, and the Bulldogs were criticized for scheduling such an easy opponent.

One headline read: “Bulldogs Should Be Able to Buy Another Win--for $225,000.”

Wrote one columnist: “Take your No-Doz to today’s Georgia game. It should be a yawner, the type of ballgame where your neighbor has to elbow you in the side midway through the third quarter to keep you from dozing off.”

It turned out to be a nail-biter. Fullerton trailed, 17-14, at halftime and was down 20-14 when it had the ball at its own 41-yard line with 3 1/2 minutes remaining.

But Reggie Yarbrough, who rushed for 192 yards that day, was stopped for no gain on fourth and one. The Bulldogs took over and marched 40 yards to score a game-clinching touchdown with 32 seconds to play for a 27-14 victory.

“I don’t think I’ve seen a team trashed as much in the papers before a game as I did last year,” Georgia Coach Ray Goff said. “After the game, I apologized to Gene Murphy. If I was on their team, I would have played out of my mind, too. If you don’t know much about a program, you tend to overlook them, but you can’t do that in college football because everyone has good players, and anyone can beat you.”

As long as the Bulldogs don’t show too many ill effects from last week’s loss, and as long as they don’t take Fullerton as lightly as they did last year, Georgia should have little difficulty with the Titans, who will earn $250,000 for today’s game.

The Bulldogs have superior talent at almost every position and are led by outstanding sophomore quarterback Eric Zeier, who has completed 27 of 45 attempts for 484 yards and one touchdown.

Tailback Garrison Hearst has rushed for 301 yards in 37 carries (an 8.0 average) and scored four touchdowns. Hastings has caught nine passes for 223 yards (24.8 average) and is a threat on kickoff returns (20.8 average) and punt returns (10.5 average).

Fullerton is coming off a 37-14 loss to UCLA, a game in which the Titans showed some promise but never were really in position to win. Still, quarterback Trendell Williams seemed to tighten his grasp of Fullerton’s option offense.

Williams leads the team with 148 yards rushing and has also shown potential as a passer, completing six of 10 attempts for 180 yards and a touchdown.

“He improved from the first game because his reads were quicker,” Murphy said.

It would be a miracle if Fullerton upset Georgia, but Murphy wouldn’t be surprised if the Titans play a good game.

“You always rise to the level of competition, not just in football, but in all sports and the business world, too,” Murphy said. “People are human, and they’re motivated by atmosphere. We play a nationally ranked team, and you always want to find out how you do against the best. You can get better as a team if you keep that level against other teams.”