Titans Travel to Wyoming for Battle of Winless

LARAMIE, Wyo. —  Football coaches with 0-2 records share a great deal in common, especially ones who were predicting successful seasons. But then again, everything in college football is relative and a lot is determined by locale.

Get off to an 0-2 start at Cal State Fullerton, for instance, and the fans and local media don’t exactly unleash a barrage of attacks on your program. They just concentrate on the Dodgers or the Angels or the Rams or the Raiders or the Bruins or the Trojans . . . you get the picture.

Go 0-2 at Fullerton and you get ignored.

Thirty-two people showed up for last Monday’s Fullerton booster luncheon, and it was hardly an angry mob that confronted Titan Coach Gene Murphy. Fourteen of those in attendance were either school employees or members of the media.

Lose your first two in the Big Sky country of Wyoming, however, and the cowboys in the stands get mighty upset with the Cowboys on the field. And they direct their anger at the trail boss, in this case, Wyoming Coach Al Kincaid.

The fourth-largest crowd in Wyoming history (29,134) was on hand for the kickoff last week when the Cowboys played host to Air Force. Less than 5,000 were still around at the end when the scoreboard read: Air Force 49, Wyoming 7.

Kincaid, in his fifth year at the helm of the Wyoming program, made the mistake of saying he thought this team had the potential to be his best ever. Now, he’s dodging bullets from every direction.

“All Kincaid needs now is a Bozo the Clown suit,” one caller told the host of a Laramie sports talk radio show. Later on the program, Wyoming President Donald Veal said he was not contemplating a coaching change but that he was “in the process, as always, of evaluating the athletic programs.”

If this were the pros, that vote of confidence would surely be a kiss of death for Kincaid.

Last week’s defeat was the worst home loss in 15 years for Wyoming, which lost its opener to Baylor, 39-18. There are 103 teams in Division 1-A and the Cowboys rank 101st in points allowed, losing by an average of almost five touchdowns per game.

The Cowboys are sick, but the Titans, who rank 76th in scoring defense after losing to a pair of Division 1-AA institutions, may provide the panacea when the teams square off today (12:30 PDT) at War Memorial Stadium.

“We can take no solace in Wyoming’s problems,” Murphy said. “We’re going to concentrate on our own mistakes and improvement, and I’m sure Coach Kincaid will be saying about the same thing.”

You guessed it, coach.

Kincaid, asked if a game against Fullerton might be just what the football doctor ordered, echoed Murphy--just as predicted.

“We’re at a point right now where we cannot be concerned about Fullerton. We have too many problems of our own,” he said.

Both teams have more than one or two specific problem areas, suffering from breakdowns in execution, mental lapses and general ineptness that has resulted in an inability to get the ball in the end zone.

Two weeks ago, for example, Wyoming moved the ball efficiently out of it’s wishbone offense and advanced inside the Baylor five-yard line five times, but came away with just one touchdown.

“Our problems are not confined to one particular area,” Kincaid agreed. “It seems that somebody in some position is making mistakes on every down, on both sides of the ball. Our biggest problem is that we we are not taking advantage of the opportunities we are receiving offensively.

“We’ve had the chance to get some momentum going, and maybe get off to a pretty good lead, but we couldn’t get in the end zone, lost our momentum and eventually lost everything.”

Murphy couldn’t have explained the Titans’ situation any more succinctly. It pretty much sums up the way both the Cowboys and Titans have opened the 1985 season.

One coach, his team and fans should be feeling somewhat better later this afternoon.

Titan Notes

The Cowboy coaching staff has made wholesale changes in its depth charts, and a number of new players will get starting assignments today. Coach Al Kincaid also had his team engage in full-scale scrimmages Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. . . . Both teams’ quarterbacks have been struggling. Fullerton’s Kevin Jan has completed 18 of 36 passes for just 143 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Wyoming’s Scott Runyan has completed only 7 of 26 attempts for 145 yards with 3 interceptions. Runyan has had better luck when he’s hung onto the ball, rushing for 107 yards on 37 carries. . . . Wyoming has had absolutely no success--either offensively or defensively--in the second and third quarters this season. The Cowboys have been outscored, 60-0, in the middle periods.