The return of Long Beach St.

[BigDaddyCool]

LONG BEACH (AP) - In a stunning announcement, it was announced earlier today that California State University at Long Beach would be re-starting its football program. Athletic Director Cindy Masner made the surprising announcement today and also introduced alumnus Joe Gandolfo as the 49er Head Coach. "A lot of people are going to be wondering how we can now afford to have a football team given the financial history of the program", said Masner. "Well with the new playoff system in effect there stands to be a lot more money for the member schools than ever before. We have been crunching the numbers for a long time now and we have figured out that with our participation in football we will be getting such a windfall that we will be able to afford not only a new football team, but we will also have enough left over to start up sveral new women's sports teams to remain in compliance with Title IX." The new coach was to say the least, estatic. "I always said that this was one of my dream jobs', said Gandolfo. "I always dreamed that football would come back to Long Beach but I never thought I would see the day. I've played with the (Oakland) Raiders and the (Los Angeles) Kings, I've been on staff at USC and Penn State, but nothing compares to finally coming home to Long Beach." When asked how competative he expected the 49ers to be, Gandolfo had this to say: "We have to be realistic, we don't expect to be giant killers right away. We know this is going to take some time to establish ourselves and I believe that we can have a solid football program here." When asked about having to compete with USC and UCLA for local players, Gandolfo was pragmatic. "Sure we are going to have it tough for a while at least in the Southern California area. But to say that that's going to be the only area we will be recruiting would be inaccurate. We plan on recruiting from all over the country and bringing in quality players from wherever we can find them." AD Masner also announced that the 49ers would not be joining an established conference, but would instead play as an Independant. "This makes the most sense for the program at this point." Long Beach State first began football play in 1955 as a member of the California Collegiate Conference. They then moved into the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference in 1969 which changed it's name to the Big West in 1988. Along the way they won league titles in 1970, 71 and 80 which included an appearence in the Pasadena Bowl in 1970 where they played Louisville to a 24-24 tie. This will mark the first time football will be played at the University since 1991 when the program was discontinued for financial reasons. Former 49ers who went on to the NFL have included Terry Metcalf, Doug Gaynor, Charles Lockett, Mark Seay and Terrell Davis.

[ckuesper]

Excellent! Did Pacific come back as well? :)

[BigDaddyCool]

Actually Pacific, Fullerton and a few others are watching the LBSU situation very carefully to see if it might be worth bringing their programs back as well.

[BigDaddyCool]

LONG BEACH (AP) - It's been a long time since there were football players on the campus of Long Beach St. But, there they were, working under the hot summer sun getting ready for...well, who knows who? Their schedule hasn't been completed yet, but already some of the new 49ers are excited about the return of Division 1-A College Football to the campus. "This is a dream come true for me" said starting QB Andy Coady. "The chance to start at the Div 1-A level is something that I have been working for for the last three years. I've got a chance and I intend to make the most of it." That was the sentiment among many of the 49ers here this week. Most of the roster are transfers from other schools, while only 22 players are LBSU enrollies - and those are the freshmen. The rest of the team came from a few Div 1-A programs, but most came from Divisions 1-AA, II and III. "I think we have a good core of players here to start with so that we can begin to build the foundation for the program" said Head Coach Joe Gandolfo. Everything having to do with the program is new - even the coaches. Not one of the new staff is over the age of 43. "When you get a lot of young men together in a situation like this there's always going to be a lot of energy, a lot of new ideas on how to do things", said Offensive Coordinator James Plunkett. "Everyone around here is excited and we can't wait for the season to start." But they may have a long wait as the 49ers still don't know who their firts opponent will be. "We are currently talking with a few schools to see if we can work something out", said AD Cindy Masner. "Because we are an Independant we have to make our own schedule which means we don't have the assistance of conference games to look forward to. Everything is a blank slate when we get started so it takes a lot of negotiating to fill up the dates." The opponents that are known consist of Oregon State, Washington, Virginia Tech, Cincinnatti, Auburn, Missouri, Indiana and Florida Atlantic. When asked if traditional rival and foe UCLA might be on tap Masner would only shrug her shoulders. "We'll have to wait and see on that one."

[BigDaddyCool]

LONG BEACH(AP) - The long wait is over. The 49ers first opponent since 1991 is... The Western Michigan Broncos. The negotiations have been finalized and the Long Beach State 49er Football Schedule is set. Aug 28 - Western Michigan Sept 11 - at #23 UCLA Sept 25 - at #24 Oregon State Oct 2 - at Washington Oct 9 - at #25 Virginia Tech Oct 16 - Cincinnatti Oct 23 - at #20 Auburn Nov 6 - at Missouri Nov 13 - at Indiana Nov 20 - Florida Atlantic (Homecoming) Dec 4 - Toledo "Well, they certainly gave us enough 'money games' to play," mused Head Coach Joe Gandolfo. "Four opponents in the top 25? This is going to be interesting." The consensus in the newsroom said the 49ers would be lucky if they went 4-7 this year.

[BigDaddyCool]

LONG BEACH(AP) - It was worth waiting for. Before a partisan crowd of 21,441 the Long Beach St. 49ers marked their return to Division 1-A College Football in a big way with a 49-13 victory over the Western Michigan Broncos. The 49ers (1-0) wore their brand-new black and gold uniforms and played like they had been shot out of a cannon. "I only hope they can all be like this" said RB Ben Williams. Williams carried the ball 22 times for 174 yards and one TD. "It feels good to get the first win out of the way" said Head Coach Joe Gandolfo. "Now we have to rest up our guys and get them ready to go to Pasadena and play UCLA in a couple of weeks. Apparently one of those needing rest is QB Andy Coady. The senior from Mojave was having a good day until a play late in the first half ended his time under center. Coady had just tried to get a pass to Tim Powell when he had a Bronco roll onto his foot. The torn ligaments in his big toe leave him questionable for the next 2-4 weeks. "Things like this are going to happen during the course of a game. There are some things you just can't help." His backup proved that no matter what the 49ers will be in great hands this year. "I just came in when Andy went down and Coach (Gandolfo) said to me 'just run the gameplan and you'll be fine' and that's what I did" said QB Don Rubley. The crowd saw a 49er team that was as excited to be there as anyone. The 49ers ran off 35 unanswered points before WMU could score their first touchdown in the fourth quarter. They also saw Bruce Allen, son of the late Long Beach St. head Coach George Allen, flip the coin at midfield before the game.

[The Hog of Steel]

Definitely fantasy football, especially so since there is no more Long beach State and it's now California State University, Long Beach. They dropped their football program a long time ago because it lost so much money.

[BigDaddyCool]

I know, I was there when it happened. I saw Stephen Horn try to extort money from the community to keep the program going. I saw George Allen come in and give us all one last hip-hip-hooraa, and when he died the program practically died right along with him.

[BigDaddyCool]

PASADENA(AP) - This was not supposed to happen... ...but it did! In front of a stunned crowd at the Rose Bowl, the Long Beach St. 49ers upset the 23rd-ranked UCLA Bruins, 41.13. 'Somebody is going to have to pinch me to see if I'm dreaming or not" quipped LBSU Coach Joe Gandolfo. This was not a dream, but a UCLA nightmare. Neither team could really get anything going on the ground, so the game had to be decided in the air. That's what LBSU is best at. The first scoring drive of the day for the 49ers started at their own 5-yard-line. A false start put them back on their 3 but an 8-yard post pattern got them started. The drive ended 4 minutes and 43 seconds later when Ben Williams ran around his left end into the endzone for the first 49er touchdown. And the Niners never looked back! "They just held tight to us on every play, never letting us get comfortable, always making us work for everything" said UCLA coach Karl Dorrell. "Joe's got a good group of men over there and they played like it today. Everyone had better take them seriously." The oddsmakers are going to have to show a little more respect to the 49ers now, as they were 19 point underdogs before the game. "Turnovers, that's what killed us" said UCLA QB Dahrran Brown after the game. UCLA committed six turnovers to Long Beach's two. Long Beach led 14-0 at the half, but pulled away in the third quarter with the score 17-0 with scores off of UCLA turnovers. First, LBSU SS Henry Reese returned a Brown pass 46 yards for a TD. Then CB Pat Denson picked off another Brown pass to set up a 57-yard pass from Don Rubley to Tim Powell to make the score 31-0. UCLA scored twice in the fourth quarter to prevent a shutout, but it was too little too late for the 98,855 in the Rose Bowl.

[BigDaddyCool]

Schedule update: Long Beach State 49ers (2-0) Aug 28 - Western Michigan - (W) 49-13 Sept 11 - at #23 UCLA - (W) 41-13 Sept 25 - at #24 Oregon State Oct 2 - at Washington Oct 9 - at #25 Virginia Tech Oct 16 - Cincinnatti Oct 23 - at #20 Auburn Nov 6 - at Missouri Nov 13 - at Indiana Nov 20 - Florida Atlantic (Homecoming) Dec 4 - Toledo

[BigDaddyCool]

[SIZE=5][b]Long Beach 15th in BCS!!![/b][/SIZE] LONG BEACH(AP) - There is excitement on the campus of California State University at Long Beach today, as the first round of BCS rankings have come out. Even though the 49ers are not ranked in either the coaches poll or the USA Today poll, the 49ers were ranked 15th in the BCS by virtue of their wins over Western Michigan and 23rd ranked UCLA. Long Beach was ranked #1 by the computers that are used to figure out the BCS placements, and that got them into the top 15. They ranked 38th in the RPI Rating.

[BigDaddyCool]

CORVALLIS,OR(AP) - Well, it won't be perfect, but it looks like it will be competative. The Long Beach State 49ers suffered their first loss of the season today at the hands of the Oregon State Beavers, 30-13. "Turnovers, that's why we lost this game" said 49er Head Coach Joe Gandolfo. " You can't fumble a punt return and then fumble the ball inside your own 10-yerd line and still expect to win the game." Long Beach had kept the game close until the fourth quarter when a pair of fumbles led to 10 Oregon State points and put the game out of reach. "I give the Niners all the credit in the world, they never gave up over there" said Oregon State Coach Mike Riley. "They could have thrown it in at several points but they just kept coming out there and dooing everything they could to get back into it, and truthfully they were never really out of it untill the end." "Those guys are scary" said OSU LB Frank Marchetti. "It easily could have gone the other way and we could have lost this game." "They are a lot better than people thought they would be" said OSU QB David Miller. "We saw what they did to UCLA and said 'hey we'd better come to play.' We did but at the same time they came to play too. They gave us a good game."

[BigDaddyCool]

SEATTLE (AP) - Someone needs to start taking the 49ers seriously. The Long Beach State 49ers acheived another stunning upset here today as they defeated the Washington Huskies 27-17. Early on it appeared that the Huskies (1-4) were going to run away with the game thanks to redshirt freshman Corey Vines. "I was doing real good there in the beginning, but as the game wore on and their defense focused on me it just turned into who could outpass who" said Vines. Andy Coady went 16 of 28 for 305 yards and 2 TD's for the Niners before he was knocked out midway through the third quarter. He also ran for 42 yards on 3 carries - which made him the best 49er runner on the day. "The running game just couldn't get going today" said 49er RB Ben Williams. "We tried making adjustments to counter what they threw at us but it didn't matter. It seemed like there was always an extra guy in our backfield after the snap - and he was wearing the wrong uniform." "That is obviously of some concern to us and it is something that we will have to work on in the coming weeks" said Head Coach Joe Gandolfo. "Obviously we are very happy with the way our passing game is progressing, but we still have to have a solid running attack to balance that out with and right now that is something that we have been lacking." Both teams went to the passing game early on in the contest, but it was the Huskies who had more success running the ball. The 49ers (3-1) only trailed once in the game on a 1 YD Pass from Barret Hutchinson to DeLawrence MacPherson which put the Huskies up 7-0. Andy Coady responded with a 58 yard pass to Lemar Gregory to tie up the game at 7-7. Firld goals by Johnny Tyrer made the score 13-7 by halftime. The thrid quarter featured the two teams going back and forth into each other's territory. The difference was that Long Beach was able to get into the end zone twice while Washington could only score one touchdown in addition to a field goal. "Those kids play hard and they hit hard" said Washington Head Coach Tyrone Willingham. I think that everybody else on their schedule had better prepare hard for them and tighten their chin straps. Because if their not careful, they are going to be in for one hell of a surprise." The 49ers next travel to Blacksburg, VA to take on the Virginia Tech Hokies.

[BigDaddyCool]

BLACKSBURG,VA (AP) - Can we start calling them giant killers now? Or at least call Joe Gandolfo a miracle worker. The Long Beach State 49ers made an excellent showing of themselves in a stunning 37-19 victory over the Virginia Tech Hokies. The 49ers (4-1) trailed only one time in this game - and that was at halftime with the score 16-14 after a Va. Tech TD. But the second half was all 49ers, as they ran off 23 second half points before a National Television audience. "To come here and play on ESPN is something that we never would have hoped for when we got started" said Gandolfo. "But we're having a good ride right now and we just need to enjoy it while we can." RB Ben Williams showed some other aspects of his game as he not only ran for 90 yards on 21 carries, but pulled in 8 passes for 55 yards and 2 TD's. "I don't want to say the names Marshall Faulk or Reggie Bush but that's kind of what it was like out there today" said 49er QB Joe Wilcox. "This is fun" said Williams. "We're having a lot of fun out there right now and that's what it should be all about." The 49ers certainly looked as if they were having fun out there. But even if they still can't get any respect from the media, they earned pleanty of it from their opponents. "No one should take those kids lightly" said Va Tech Coach Frank Beamer. "They are hungry and that makes them very dangerous." The game marks the second straight win for the Niners and it leads them back home to host the Cincinnatti Bearcats next week.

[WVHokies]

Nice win over my Hokies Coach! Was the VT QB in central booking or did he play and your boys just put the hurt on 'em?

[BigDaddyCool]

LONG BEACH (AP) - The Long Beach State 49ers continued their winning ways with a 37-27 victory over the Cincinnatti Bearcats. However, the 49ers running game left a lot to be desired afterwards as they gained no first downs and only 15 yards on the ground. The passing game on the other hand went for 15 first downs and 406 yards. "This is something that is a big concern for us going into next week" said 49er Head Coach Joe Gandolfo. "We've got Auburn next week and we have to be ready in all aspects of our game. Right now our running game is suspect and that could be a huge disadvantage for us." Long Beach (5-1) never trailed in this game and threatened to blow out the Bearcats before halftime. But Cincinnatti managed to make a game out of it late, but just ran out of time to make a full comeback. "Yeah that is a better team than anybody thinks over there" said Bearcat Coach Mark Dantonio. "I don't know why they aren't ranked in either one of the polls considering their record." He must have been talking about the passing game. Ben Williams had his worst day as a running back, gaining 0 yards on 21 carries. But he made up for it with 4 catches for 97 yards and 2 TD's. "They can stop me one way, but they can't stop me every way" said Williams. The Niners hope that holds true for the Auburn Tigers as well.

[BigDaddyCool]

From the Long Beach Press-Telegram: Doug Krikorian's column... AUBURN, AL (AP) - Ugly doesn't begin to describe it. This one was downright hostile. The Long Beach State 49ers went to "Death Valley" to take on the #10-ranked Auburn Tigers and to see if their string of good luck would continue. It didn't The 49ers (5-2) wound up getting blown out by the Tigers (7-1) 46-22. Even though the Niners scored a pair of TD's in the second half, this game was never close. Auburn jumped out to a 33-8 lead at halftime which infuriated the 49er bench. That wasn't the worst of it. "It's one thing to score on another team, it's quite another to get in our face and rub our nose in it" said a very angry 49er Head Coach Joe Gandolfo. "I don't care if they are the #1 team in the nation, there is such a thing as good sportsmanship, and they showed none out there today. The coaching staff didn't show it, certainly the players didn't show it, and the fans definately didn't show any. They didn't show it before the game, not during the game and they sure as hell didn't show any after the game." However that was not his only complaint. "Not that this is being offered an excuse, but we all saw a great example of what is meant when we say 'home field advantage', especially when it comes to the officiating. For them to call 14 penalties on us as opposed to 4 for them, with all of the excessive celebrating that was going on after they would score on us. That's what that rule is for, right? Except the officials wouldn't enforce it." "I know that this is their house but there is such a thing as being a gracious host. I didn't encounter any example of grace, of respect or of dignity from any representative of the University of Auburn. If this is an example of 'southern hospitality', then no wonder you lost the Civil War." "This is something that I am going to remember for a long time. This is something that I am going to take personally. There is absolutly no excuse for their behavior out there today." "So after what transpired out on that field today, I don't know why any of you are surprised that I would punch Tommy Tubberville in the mouth." "Trust me, he had it coming." Not surprisingly, Coach Tubberville didn't agree. "What can I tell you, he's a punk. That's all he's ever been. He was a punk when he was a player, he's a punk now that he's a coach and he has a roster full of gangsters and thugs." "So why is anybody surprised that they acted like that today?" Coach Tubberville didn't help matters any during the game when his Tigers kept celebrating excessivly after scores. So is it any wonder that after the game that Joe Gandolfo, understandibly angry at the way his squad had been treated before, during and after the game that he would confront Tommy Tubberville at midfield? And is it any surprise that he would also get in Tubbervilles face. And is it any surprise that after Tubberville would try to shove Gandolfo that Gandolfo would just deck him. Given how well I know Joe Gandolfo and how passionate I know that he is, it doesn't surprise me one bit. Look, this is a guy who after two years of playing in the NFL was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, so he had to walk away from the game he loved - for awhile. This is a guy who during his rookie season wouldn't stand for any defensive lineman taking cheap shots at him, and as a result became the most penalized and hated quarterback in the league. This is a guy who will stick up for not only himself, but for people that he is close to and that he works for and/or with. So tell me he was wrong to defend his players the way he did after someone called in death threats to their hotel before their arrival. Tell me he was out of line after bottles were thrown at their bus when they arrived at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Tell me that he should be disciplined for his statements after the game towards Tubberville, the University and the South in general after his players had been spit on, had trash thrown on them and had racial slurs thrown at many of them. Yeah, I didn't think so. The media in the state of Alabama are in a feeding frenzy after what happened last Saturday. They are calling for the NCAA to discipline the 49er program in some way, and are calling for the termination of Coach Gandolfo's contract. Look, Joe Gandolfo has gotten this program off to a fantastic start after brining it back from the dead. I don't think there is any way that the boosters, the trusties or anyone else at the University want to lose him. He is good for the program, good for the school and good for the community. The Deep South media should look to their own house before they start casting aspersions on us, or should I remind them of how many times their schools have been put on probation for rules violations? If all of this means that Long Beach might not ever be invited to play in Auburn ever again, then I say good. Because if this is an example of what we can expect to have happen everytime the 49ers go down to that part of the state, then we opt to play a school with considerably more class then Auburn. Like Alabama...