CAL STATE FULLERTON NOTEBOOK : Mississippi State Buys Its Way Off Football Schedule

Strike another heavyweight off Cal State Fullerton’s 1992 football schedule. Mississippi State Athletic Director Larry Templeton said Monday he has negotiated a buyout of a contract that called for the Bulldogs to play at Fullerton Oct. 3.

Titan Athletic Director Bill Shumard confirmed the change and said the Titans probably will pick up a home game against a Big Sky Conference school on the same date.

A logical candidate is Idaho State, which was supposed to play Nevada Oct. 3, but now has a bye that week. Nevada had to drop Idaho State because the Reno school is joining the Big West Conference next fall.

If Fullerton plays a Division I-AA Big Sky team, it will mark the third downgrade on the 1992 schedule. In the past five weeks, Hawaii and San Jose State have been replaced by Division II Cal State Northridge and Sacramento State.

The Bulldogs of the Southeastern Conference whipped the Titans, 47-3, in the 1991 season opener.

“I think by the end of this week, the schedule will be solidified,” Shumard said. “The best thing is Coach (Gene) Murphy feels this schedule will be more conducive to turning things around.”

It also will create a better cash-flow situation for Fullerton. The original contract with Mississippi State, signed in 1987, called for Fullerton to pay the Bulldogs $100,000 to play here.

The Titan athletic department dropped that expense and will receive $50,000 from Mississippi State under terms of the buyout. It’s doubtful Fullerton would have to pay a Big Sky Conference team more than $50,000 for a game.

Mississippi State was scheduled to begin the 1992 season at Texas, at Louisiana State, at Memphis State and at Fullerton. Only four of the Bulldogs’ 11 games were scheduled for Starkville. Templeton said he dropped Fullerton in order to secure another home game and balance the schedule.

Murphy said he’s happy with the change and the direction of the Titans’ schedule.

“He (Shumard) is doing what he has to do for us to be competitive, whereas in the past, the schedule was done to finance programs,” Murphy said. “Regardless of what people say, I’d like to have the opportunity to win games and play people we feel we can be competitive against.”

Coach of the Year? Utah State dominated Fullerton, 26-3, Saturday. Though the Aggies didn’t blow out the Titans, the outcome was never in doubt in the second half. The Titans had some success offensively, but whenever they got near Utah State’s end zone, they fizzled.

Still, Aggie Coach Chuck Shelton seemed impressed with Fullerton, despite its 1-6 record and many shortcomings.

“They’re getting as much out of their kids as any team I’ve ever seen,” Shelton said. “They’re amazing. My hat’s off to Gene Murphy and what he’s doing.

“When you look back at what they went through a year ago . . . dropping football, picking it back up, losing recruits, holding it all together. This might be one of the best coaching jobs going on in America.”

Departed, Again: Kurt Bloedorn, a reserve punter/kicker who returned to the Fullerton football team this season after a two-year absence, has left school and moved to Arizona, Murphy said.

Bloedorn, who wasn’t on scholarship, was hoping to obtain a master’s degree at Fullerton but was unable to secure any postgraduate courses. He took several electives in order to remain eligible but, according to Murphy, “he simply ran out of money.”

A former Brea-Olinda two-sport athlete, Bloedorn punted five times this season for 208 yards, a 41.6-yard average. His longest punt went 63 yards.

“He turned the heads of a lot of scouts, but Phil (Nevin) just edged him out every week,” Murphy said. “He’ll probably come back next spring to kick for the NFL scouts. He might have a chance to play professionally.”

Weekend Winners: The Fullerton soccer team had a very successful weekend in the Met Life Pacific Soccer Classic, defeating highly regarded Akron, 1-0, Friday at El Camino College and Army, 3-1, Sunday at UCLA.

Paul McDonnell scored the only goal Friday and added another goal Sunday for the Titans (9-6). Noah Kooiman and Brian Lou also scored Sunday, and McDonnell, Kooiman and Ken Hesse were named to the all-tournament team.

“It’s an all-time high winning two games against this type of competition,” Fullerton Coach Al Mistri said. “We showed we can hang with the best. This team really deserves to be in the (NCAA) playoffs, but we put ourselves in a corner with the two losses.”

Mistri was referring to Big West Conference losses to UC Irvine and San Jose State. However, if the Titans can win upcoming games at UC Santa Barbara, Nevada Las Vegas and Fresno State, they would win the conference and an automatic berth in the tournament.

“That’s easier said than done,” Mistri said.

Titan Notes

Orange County fund-raiser Robert B. Sharp, whose Santa Ana-based company is conducting a $6.3 million campaign to support the Titan Sports Complex and athletic department, said Monday he expects to secure some major gifts soon, “certainly within 30 days and perhaps sooner.” The campaign is presently in the private leadership phase, in which gifts of $25,000 or more are being solicited. “The economy has not exactly been good to us, but nonetheless, the prospect pool looks good and solid,” Sharp said. . . . Freshman Heather Killeen was the top Fullerton cross-country finisher in Saturday’s San Luis Obispo Invitational, placing 12th overall among women with a five-kilometer time of 17 minutes 49 seconds. It was Killeen’s best time of the season. . . . Trevor Rush, who started the 1990 baseball season at third base but was switched to first, has transferred to Chapman College, according to George Horton, Fullerton associate head coach. Rush, who hit .295 with 22 runs batted in, hopes to play shortstop at Chapman. Horton also said Rush was having academic problems at Fullerton. David Ayala, a part-time starting outfielder who hit .198 last season, has transferred to Riverside City College. . . . The women’s volleyball team will play host to second-ranked Cal State Long Beach at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Titan Gym.