Murphy’s Career as Titan Coach to End in a City Full of Memories

LAS VEGAS — Gene Murphy’s 13-year Cal State Fullerton coaching career ends today on Nevada Las Vegas’ Silver Bowl turf, where his Titans and the Rebels will play a Big West Conference game of virtually no consequence, except for those participating in it.

How different things were eight years ago, when Murphy and his band of undersized, under-financed and underdog Titans (OK, some things never change) bused up Interstate 15 to this city in the desert to play what would be--and still is--the biggest game in Cal State Fullerton football history.

Not to mention the Titans’ biggest disappointment.

The date was Nov. 10, 1984. The Titans--led by a skinny quarterback named Damon Allen with a whip of an arm, as well as four dangerous receivers and future Super Bowl cornerback Mark Collins--were 10-0 and coming off a 20-17, come-from- behind victory over Fresno State.

The Rebels were 8-1, 5-0 in the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn., and had a pretty fair quarterback of their own, a guy by the name of Randall Cunningham.

At stake was the PCAA title, a trip to the California Bowl and, quite possibly, a spot in the national rankings.

There was plenty of buildup--The Times Orange County Edition had run a 75-inch feature on the Titan program two days before the game--but unlike so many over-hyped and unentertaining athletic events, this one lived up to its billing.

UNLV won, 26-20, in a thriller that was chock-full of dramatic twists and turns and wasn’t decided until the last play, when Allen’s fourth-down pass with 20 seconds remaining fell untouched in the end zone before a screaming throng of 25,678.

“It’s still one of the best games I’ve ever seen,” Murphy said recently.

The game capped a week of adversity that can only be appreciated by longtime Titan followers and Murphy, who ingrained in his players an “Us Against the World” mentality.

For starters, Murphy was sick. Then, a few days before the trip, the Titans were bumped out of their Las Vegas hotel because it was overbooked and a special party of high-rollers was coming in for the weekend.

Fullerton had spent a week in the national limelight, garnering a spot in United Press International’s Top 20, but several days before the UNLV game, the Titans dropped out of the poll after beating a very good, 6-2 Fresno State team.

The Titans weren’t getting much respect in the Las Vegas media, either. One sports talk show host said, “Fullerton is not in Las Vegas’ league. The Rebels will score in the high 30s and win by three touchdowns.”

In other words, things were going the way any self-respecting Titan would expect them to: Terribly.

That karma seemed to carry over into the first play of the game, when Fullerton’s Corn Redick took the opening kickoff in the end zone, burst up the middle and found himself one-on-one with kicker Dave Duran and a clear path beyond to six points. But Duran not only made the tackle, he knocked the ball out of Redick’s grasp and Gentry Walsh recovered for Las Vegas at the Titan 35-yard line.

That led to a Rebel field goal, and UNLV went up, 10-0, when Cunningham eluded two Titan linemen and fired an 11-yard pass over the middle toward Michael McDade at the goal line.

Fullerton cornerback Steve Belardi tipped the ball in the air, but it came down in the hands of McDade, who was on his back in the end zone.

Two fluke plays, two UNLV scores.

Traffic on Boulder Highway outside the Silver Bowl was still bumper-to-bumper when Fullerton scored--Allen’s seven-yard touchdown pass to Burness Scott made it 10-7.

Cunningham engineered a 93-yard, 11-play touchdown drive late in the second quarter that gave UNLV a 17-7 halftime lead.

The score was 20-14 after a UNLV field goal and a Fullerton touchdown, and it appeared the Titans would take the lead when Allen scrambled 23 yards for a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.

But a holding call nullified the play, and Fullerton settled for Greg Steinke’s 43-yard field goal, which made the score 20-17.

Then came The Punt--a booming, 70-yarder by Cunningham that pinned the Titans on their one-yard line. Fullerton couldn’t move the ball, and a short Titan punt gave the Rebels possession on Fullerton’s side of the field.

The Rebels took advantage, Cunningham throwing a nine-yard touchdown pass to Reggie LaFrance with just under three minutes to play.

“That punt won the game,” Murphy said.

Fullerton wasn’t done yet, though. Steinke hit a 42-yard field goal to make it 26-20, and Van Campfield recovered the ensuing onside kick to give the Titans one last shot at a perfect season.

With 54 seconds left, Allen hit Campfield with a 29-yard pass to the Rebel 21. Allen completed a short pass and then scrambled to the 13-yard line to set up the fourth-down play.

Campfield ran a pattern called a “flat and up,” which the Titans had completed twice for gains in the game. But just after Allen released the ball, Campfield tripped and fell to the ground.

To this day, Murphy believes Campfield would have made the catch had he kept his footing. But his lasting memory of the play is what happened afterward.

“Van was in the end zone and he wouldn’t get up,” Murphy said. “I said, ‘C’mon, let’s go,’ and he said, ‘No, go without me. Leave me here.’ He was heartbroken. I felt so damn sorry for him.”

UNLV went on to win the PCAA title. It was later discovered the Rebels had used eight ineligible players, some of whom never graduated from high school. They eventually forfeited the victory over Fullerton but still played in the California Bowl.