Titans Face Southwestern Louisiana

Cal State Fullerton players will try to get their minds back on football tonight when the Titans (1-5) play Southwestern Louisiana (2-4) at 5 p.m. PDT in a nonconference game at Lafayette, La.

The last two weeks have been marked by meetings with coaches, Athletic Director Bill Shumard, school President Milton A. Gordon and other administrators, as players expressed concern over the uncertain future of the program. The Titans even considered a boycott of tonight’s game.

The protests ended Tuesday when, given the ultimatum of playing or losing their scholarships, the players returned to practice. They were assured, however, that the scholarships would be honored through the duration of their eligibility, no matter what happened to the program.

“They’re not happy, but they’re football players who have grown up loving the game, and the fun part of football is Saturdays,” Titan Coach Gene Murphy said. “It wasn’t fun for them last week (a 49-3 defeat by San Jose State). They didn’t know where they were. But hopefully this was rectified early enough in the week where their heads are back into it.”