Fullerton Opens With 47-3 Defeat : College football: Titans make another foray into the Southeastern Conference, and take another beating, this time from Mississippi State.

STARKVILLE, Miss. —  The Jackie Sherrill Era began with a bang, and the Cal State Fullerton Error--its repeated scheduling of Southeastern Conference teams--continued with another thud as Mississippi State routed the Titans, 47-3, Saturday before 30,307 at Scott Field.

Each Bulldog score was accompanied by a cannon blast, which must have had Sherrill’s ears ringing with delight in his first game as Mississippi State coach.

The Bulldogs, behind a strong running attack and a no-huddle offense that wore down Fullerton, broke open a close game with two touchdowns in the final 2 minutes 5 seconds of the first half and blew out the Titans with four touchdowns in the second half.

It marked the fifth time in the past five years that Fullerton has ventured into SEC country for a six-figure check, and the fifth time it has flown home with a loss. Four have been by lopsided scores.

The Titan athletic department has insisted that the large guaranteed checks help sustain the football program, but the games haven’t done much to sustain the egos of Fullerton players and coaches--the Titans have been outscored, 233-45, by SEC schools.

And guess what? Fullerton makes another SEC stop on Sept. 28 at Georgia, where the Titan bashing is expected to continue. Georgia opened the season with a 48-0 victory over Western Carolina Saturday.

About the only time the Titans have come close to competing with an SEC team was last season, when Fullerton took a 13-6 halftime lead over a weak Mississippi State team before losing, 27-13.

The Titans, coming off a 1-11 season, looked as if they might stick with the Bulldogs again Saturday when Phil Nevin’s 26-yard field goal pulled Fullerton within 7-3 with 3:35 left in the second quarter. Nevin made the big play on the Titan drive, faking a punt and hitting Darrius Watson with a 28-yard pass to the Bulldog 24.

But on Mississippi State’s next possession, quarterback William (Sleepy) Robinson, who rushed for a team-high 97 yards, connected with Willie Harris on a 55-yard pass that gave the Bulldogs a first down on the Titan one-yard line.

William Prince scored on the next play to make it 14-3 with 2:05 left in the half. Chris Gardner’s ensuing kickoff went five yards into the end zone, and Arthur Davis made the mistake of trying to run it out. He was tackled at the nine-yard line.

Then came an even bigger mistake. Fullerton quarterback Terry Payne couldn’t connect with Davis on a handoff and fumbled. Jerome Brown recovered for the Bulldogs at the Titan 11, and three plays later Robinson scored on a two-yard run that made it 21-3 with 25 seconds left in the half.

“That’s a 14-point turnaround right there,” Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy said. “We had been hanging in there until then. We just ran out of gas in the fourth quarter.”

Tony James’ 24-yard run on a reverse helped set up Prince’s three-yard touchdown run that made it 28-3 at the 10:48 mark of the third quarter, and the Bulldogs, who have a huge offensive line, overpowered the Titans in the fourth quarter.

Michael Davis scored on a 19-yard run, James’ 47-yard punt return set up Tay Galloway’s 17-yard touchdown run and reserve quarterback Todd Jordan hit Chris Bosarge with a four-yard touchdown pass to close out Mississippi State’s scoring.

“We were over-run,” Fullerton linebacker Terry Sullivan said. “There’s not much adjusting you can do for that. That quarterback is an excellent runner. He’s hard to hit.”

The Bulldogs totaled 312 yards rushing, including 60 by Davis and 56 by Prince, and were never tackled for a loss. Robinson gave the Titans fits with his quickness and a knack for spinning to elude defenders, and the no-huddle offense didn’t allow Fullerton defenders time to catch their breaths.

“Jackie Sherrill had a great two-minute offense, a great coaching staff and an outstanding quarterback today,” Murphy said. “(Robinson) was reminiscent of a guy we had named Damon Allen, who’s in the Canadian Football League now.”

The Titans, whose losing streak is now at 12, also had success running against the Bulldogs, which was an accomplishment considering only one starter on the offensive line--tackle John Cotti--had Division I experience at his position.

Senior running back Reggie Yarbrough rushed for 100 yards in 27 carries, his seventh 100-yard game in his 13-game Titan career. Davis, a junior transfer from Taft College who has been in the program for less than two weeks, added 79 yards in 17 carries, including a 26-yard run in the third quarter.

But Fullerton couldn’t muster much of a passing game and, surprisingly, hardly tried to establish one. The normally pass-happy Titans didn’t attempt one in the first quarter, and Payne finished with five of 10 for 59 yards.

Fullerton also had trouble on special teams, an area that caused many problems last season. In addition to Davis’ ill-fated decision to run the second-quarter kickoff out of the end zone, Nevin missed a 30-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.