CS Fullerton Returns Nevada’s Gifts in Loss : Big West: Titans match Wolf Pack turnover for turnover but not point for point in 19-0 defeat.

For most of three quarters, it appeared Nevada was trying to wrap Saturday night’s game and present it to outgoing Cal State Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy as retirement gift.

The heavily favored Wolf Pack turned the ball over six times in three quarters, giving Fullerton excellent field position on several possessions. The Titans, unaccustomed to such handouts, didn’t know what to do with them.

So they gave them back.

Fullerton committed six turnovers, extended its streak without a touchdown to three games, and reserve quarterback Fred Gatlin sparked Nevada with two second-half touchdown passes, as the Wolf Pack beat the Titans, 19-0, in a Big West Conference game played before 4,680 in the Titan Sports Complex.

Gatlin, a senior from Carson High, replaced starter Chris Vargas midway through the third quarter and finished with 12 completions in 27 passes for 142 yards.

Vargas was 19 for 36 for 236 yards, giving Nevada, 3-2 and 2-0 in the conference, 378 passing yards. Bryan Reeves caught 16 passes for 184 yards, breaking the school single-game reception record of 15, set by Ross Ortega in a Division I-AA playoff game against Furman in 1990.

Clinging to a 3-0 lead, Gatlin drove the Wolf Pack 59 yards in 10 plays, hitting Tom Matter with an eight-yard touchdown pass with 2 minutes 35 seconds to play in the third quarter for a 9-0 lead.

Steve Terelak, who kicked a 30-yard field goal in the second quarter, added a 17-yarder early in the fourth to make it 12-0, and Gatlin closed Wolf Pack scoring with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Reeves with 2:25 to play.

It marked the first time since 1987 that Fullerton (1-4, 0-1) had been shut out twice in the same season.

The Titan defense was led by linebackers Dan Godfrey (16 tackles) and Mike Gullo (13 tackles).