Burt Makes CSUN Run Till It Won’t Quit

Monday football practice after a Saturday night game is usually a time for players to watch film, study the next week’s game plan and slowly stretch out tired, aching muscles and joints.

Such was not the case at Cal State Northridge.

“Monday wasn’t football practice,” Coach Bob Burt said. “It was cross-country practice.”

See the Matadors run. See the Matadors sweat. Hear the Matadors grumble about never wanting to go through that kind of workout again.

“We won’t, either,” Burt said. “As long as we never play like that again.”

That the Matadors lost to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 38-7, was not the point, the third-year coach said. It was how they lost. “The word quit,” Burt said, “does not set well with me.”

Which is exactly what he says CSUN did during a 24-0 fourth-quarter run by San Luis Obispo.

“You can’t be mad when kids play their hearts out and lose,” Burt said. “But I cannot stand what happened the other night. After their third touchdown, when it was 24-0, we quit. We folded our tents after that.”

Northridge came into the game 4-0 and ranked No. 5 in Division II. San Luis Obispo was 1-2.

Were the Matadors flattened because they were flat?

“I don’t know what caused it,” Burt said. “There are a lot of excuses but no real reasons. I told them all along if they played with emotion and gave the effort, they could beat anyone on their schedule. And if they didn’t, anyone on their schedule could beat them.”

Which brings up the subject of CSUN’s next opponent: Cal Lutheran (2-2), loser of 2 in a row and winner of only 2 Western Football Conference games in 3 seasons.

There is a temptation to expect the Matadors to try to live up to their ranking--12th this week--by doing unto others what was recently done unto them.

“I don’t care how big we win, as long as we win,” Burt said. “If we’re able to beat Cal Lutheran, 7-6, that’s OK with me as long as we play our . . . off.”

The loss was the worst CSUN has suffered in Burt’s tenure as coach. Moreover, it was just the second home loss under Burt.

Worse, it was in front of a home crowd of almost 6,000.

“I would hope they’ll come back,” Burt said, referring to the spectators. “If we can win this game we’ll be 5-1 and probably back in the top 10. There just aren’t that many undefeated teams left and we’re only halfway through the season.

“If our fans are going to turn around and run after one downer, then that’s their problem, not ours. If they’re that fickle, we don’t need them.”

A more pressing concern for Northridge is its standing in the WFC and the 16-team Division II playoff picture.

“In conference, we have no more reprieves,” Burt said. “We can’t win it with another loss.

“To go to the playoffs, we might have one (more) loss. We could be 9-2 and still make the playoffs.”

The Matadors have received their wake-up call, Burt said. Now he will see if they will answer the bell.