Titans Will Pay a Price at Auburn

T hings worth considering while considering if Auburn-Cal State Fullerton is worth playing . . .

Blame it on Pacific. UOP had a two-year contract to play Auburn in 1989 and 1990, but then it saw what happened when it was run through the wringer on consecutive weekends by Pittsburgh and Auburn last fall (Pitt, 38-3; Auburn, 55-0). The Tigers raised enough money to buy their way out of the second Auburn game, Auburn went looking for another chump and guess who had an open date on Sept. 8?

Fullerton stands to make around $250,000 off Saturday’s rout, but are these pay-for-slay bookings ever worth the fallout? Consider last week. Pacific opened at Tennessee and lost, 55-7. Cal State Long Beach’s 59-0 loss to Clemson was the worst defeat in school history. And Western Carolina lost to North Carolina State, 67-0--and failed to make one first down.

Titans, thy fate could be similar.

Fullerton has been lined up for the slaughter before. Some scores: LSU 56, Fullerton 12 (1987). Florida 65, Fullerton 0 (1987). West Virginia 45, Fullerton 10 (1988). And those Titan teams had some experience.

Against LSU, Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy instructed quarterback Ronnie Barber, on each play, to delay calling for the snap until two seconds were left on the play clock. That way there were fewer plays, fewer chances for turnovers and fewer Titans on stretchers.

The same game plan should be required reading for Saturday’s quarterback, Paul Schulte, who has all of one college start to his credit.

Auburn is ranked third in the Associated Press national collegiate poll, seven notches higher than Clemson, which outgained Long Beach last week, 418 yards to 57, and held the 49ers to minus-16 yards rushing. And Auburn stands to move up because No. 1 Miami and No. 2 Notre Dame play on Oct. 20--and because Auburn plays teams like Cal State Fullerton.

Seventeen points separated the Tigers from a 12-0 season in 1989. Auburn lost to 11-1 Tennessee by a touchdown, 21-14, and to 10-2 Florida State by eight points, 22-14--both on the road.

Auburn weaknesses? Try quarterback, where Coach Pat Dye is trying a redshirt freshman named Stan White. The Tigers also have a new placekicker, always an important position during eight-touchdown games.

Yep, that’s about it.

White will probably do fine by handing off the ball and letting his backs run behind an offensive line bigger than the Fullerton team bus. Biggest of the big is All-American guard Ed King, a 6-4, 295-pound junior. Playing in King’s shadow Saturday will be Titan nose guard Gary Thornton (6-1, 245) and tackles J.C. Farrow (6-5, 230) and Leevon Morris (6-2, 280).

A crowd of 77,000 is expected at Jordan Hare Stadium--8,000 less than capacity. Of course, classes at Auburn don’t start for another two weeks.

A total of 19 newspapers, 14 TV stations and nine radio stations regularly cover Auburn football. Fullerton’s traveling media corps: two newspapers, one radio station.

The Auburn game is the first of five consecutive road games for Fullerton. With stops at Mississippi State, Akron, Fresno State and Nevada Las Vegas on tap, the Titans will be looking good if they return home 2-4.

The next Fullerton home game is Oct. 13, against Pacific at Santa Ana Stadium. After last Saturday’s opener against Sonoma State, a Fullerton statistician packed up, turned to leave and told Titan sports information director Mel Franks, “See you next month.”

With a total of three home games, Fullerton must have the cheapest season-ticket package in the country: $24. If you were one of the 33,000 gouged $28 by the Disneyland Pigs and More Pigs Classic, sorry. You could’ve had season tickets instead. And a Coke and a hot dog.

It was hard to tell if Saturday’s opener was an argument for or against an on-campus stadium at Fullerton. An announced crowd of 2,091 showed up at Santa Ana Stadium--many of them late and many of them from Sonoma. Twenty minutes before kickoff, the connect-the-dots crowd looked more like a tailgate party without the bumpers. Will a State College playing address make more people care?

This is why Fullerton opts to do it on the road. Says kicker Phil Nevin: “I don’t mind traveling; in fact, I’m kind of used to it. Even for our home games we have to go on the road. But I like playing away from home. More people show up and that gets us more pumped up.”

Ed Carroll, a suggestion on how to sell out Santa Ana Stadium: Play Mater Dei.

Question to ponder: Would Fullerton-Mater Dei be closer than Fullerton-Auburn?

Murphy is telling Auburn reporters this week to “Light some candles for me. And maybe have that little Polish guy from Italy stop by.”

All in favor of a running clock on Saturday, raise your hand.

Final score: Auburn 55, Fullerton 3. Phil Nevin to the rescue.