Farmer Fizzles in Division II Debut

A chronicle of the much-awaited debut of Cal State Northridge running back Jamal Farmer in the team’s first offensive series. Very offensive series:

* Takes handoff on first play of season. Does impression of tackling dummy. Loses one yard.

* Blocks linebacker but pass bounces off chest of receiver Marlon McBride.

* Blocks again. Quarterback Marty Fisher drops snap, runs for life. Loses 12 yards.

* Leaves field just as punter Albert Razo shanks punt 11 yards. Ball nearly lodges in sousaphone of Cal State Fullerton band.

* Farmer removes helmet, talks to assistant coach. Heisman Trophy not mentioned.

A transfer from NCAA Division I Hawaii where he set the school’s freshman rushing record three years ago and was on course to become the school’s all-time leading scorer, Farmer was expected to rock and roll through lesser defenses in his fourth and final collegiate season. Instead, the first game was a slow, awkward dance to the music of an arm-weary accordion band.

In the first quarter, Farmer rushed three times and gained 72 inches. The official scorer listed it as two yards just to make it look better.

In the second quarter, Farmer exploded, by comparison. He carried the ball four times and gained six yards, leaving him a mere 1,557 yards shy of Mike Kane’s 1986 school record.

His longest run was nine yards, about the distance Carl Lewis regularly jumps .

Midway through the third quarter Farmer was asked to rest as Robert Trice replaced him at running back for one series. By the fourth quarter, though, Trice was playing regularly as Farmer sat.

Farmer finished the evening with seven yards in 12 carries. The Northridge team totaled just eight rushing yards, compared to Fullerton’s 293.

And throughout the game, as the CSUN offense repeatedly sputtered to a halt and punted a school-record 11 times, Farmer stood alone on the sideline, helmet in hand, dreaming, perhaps, of warm tropical breezes on Saturday nights in places like, oh, Hawaii , lined up behind a half-dozen guys of enormous width, long, vowel-laden names printed on the backs of their Rainbow jerseys.

Instead, he was lined up behind a Division II offensive line that continually opened holes big enough to let a hummingbird through.

“Just one of those games,” he said. “They keyed on me and stopped me. The guys in front of me played their butts off. They tried. They did the best they could. That’s all you can ask.”

A moment later, as he walked through the darkness toward the locker room, a friend stopped him.

“Good game, Jamal,” the friend said. “Get some blocking and you’ll score some touchdowns.”

Farmer smiled and shrugged. And kept quiet.

Not so CSUN Coach Bob Burt.

“He had no place to run because we didn’t block,” Burt said. “Fullerton’s seven or eight guys up front beat the hell out of our guys up front. We didn’t block a soul. If we blocked one guy, I’m shocked.”

Farmer said the performance in front of his family and friends hurt the most.

“You want to give them something. I gave them nothing,” he said. “But as much as I hate to lose, as much as this bothers me, I’ll come back. I won’t go run off and kill myself.”

No need to worry. Chances are he’d be gang-tackled before he got that far.