With This Schedule, the Titans’ Chances Look Much Better

A good portion of the Southeastern Conference awaits the Cal State Fullerton football team in seasons to come. But in the one just ahead, the schedule offers Fullerton something it hasn’t had in recent years. This year, Fullerton has a chance.

After playing two teams that made the top 20 during each of the past two seasons, Fullerton has a schedule this season that does not include any top 20 or Southeastern Conference teams.

Fullerton, picked by conference coaches to finish fourth in the Big West Conference, opens fall practice Monday when newcomers report. Veterans report next Friday.

The Titans, who finished 5-6 last season and tied for second in the Big West, will be preparing for a nonconference season against four opponents whose combined 1988 record was 17-27.

In 1990, however, Fullerton plays Auburn and Mississippi State, and Georgia and Mississippi State are on the schedule for 1991.

As were games against Louisiana State and Florida in 1987, and against West Virginia and Wyoming in 1988, those games are scheduled by Athletic Director Ed Carroll because the schools offer large financial guarantees to visiting teams. That is a practice Carroll and Coach Gene Murphy have called necessary because of a limited football budget.

But for now, the focus is on this year’s schedule.

“We feel we can be competitive with the four teams we have this year,” Murphy said.

The team with the best 1988 record of Fullerton’s four nonconference opponents this season is Northern Illinois, a team Fullerton beat two years ago. Last year, Northern Illinois went 7-4. Fullerton opens the season against the Huskies Sept. 2 in DeKalb, Ill.

The next week, Fullerton has a home game against Cal State Northridge, a team that was 6-4 last year but did not play any Division I-A opponents.

Week 3 will find Fullerton in Ft. Collins, Colo., to play Colorado State, in its first year under former Ohio State coach Earle Bruce. Colorado State will be trying to improve on last year’s 1-10 record.

The final nonconference game is against San Diego State.