The Cal State Fullerton Titans were coming off a highly successful season both on the court and on the board as they finished with a straight up record of 21-11 with just 9 losses in 28 games against the college basketball gambling lines. In fact, the first two losses were at the beginning of the season and from there the Titans were at the very top in terms of college basketball profitability in all the nation and finished the year with 8 payoffs in their final 10 games.
Fortunes can change quickly
One thing to know for sure about the Big West conference, however, is that fortunes can change quickly and that would prove to be the case for Cal State Fullerton in 2005-06. As it was, coming off such a profitable season, it would be almost impossible to maintain such a level of success as the Titans would now be marked both by the college basketball gambling public and the oddsmakers, who were fully aware of the Titans success from the previous season.
Promising Start
The Titans began the 2005-06 season with an unlined home win over Hope International, 97-52. In their first lined game that followed, the Titans scored a 76-66 home win over Pepperdine as 8-point chalks. Another unlined win followed at South Dakota State, 82-70. Back on the board at Kansas State, however, Cal State Fullerton was clobbered 59-84 as 9-point dogs. That was followed by an 88-80 neutral court win over Chicago State as 9-point chalks. The Titans got back into the black in their next two games, however, starting with a 91-93 win at San Francisco as 2.5-point dogs and then followed that up with a 67-59 win at San Jose State as 1.5-point chalks for a promising start of 3-2 against the board.
Cal State Fullerton Titans Consistent profits
Fullerton next met up with Texas San Antonio in a neutral court affair and scored a 76-88 loss as 11-point dogs. That was followed by a 74-57 bounce back win at Florida International as 1.5-point chalks. After a 70-83 loss to Cal Poly SLO, the Titans got back on track with a pair of wins both SU&ATS over Santa Barbara and at Northridge. That was followed by a 74-83 loss at Pacific as 8.5-point dogs and then a 90-79 win at UC Riverside as 7-point chalks as the Titans were turning consistent profits with a mark of 7-5 against the college basketball pointspreads. Coupled with their results of the previous season, Cal State Fullerton was amongst the most popular mid major teams with gamblers.
Bleeding red ink
One truth about sports gambling, just as is the case with the stock market, is that what goes up must come down and vice versa. And that was to be the case with the Cal State Fullerton Titans as they were at a level of success against the board that couldn’t be sustained. Their problems began with a 96-97 overtime loss to Long Beach State as 7-point home chalks. That was followed by a 59-67 loss to UC Irvine as 3.5-point home chalks. Right back against Irvine in their following game, the Titans again failed with a 68-83 loss as 6-point dogs. That was followed by an unlined road win at UC Davis. The Titans continued bleeding red ink with a 73-78 loss to UC Riverside as 13-point home chalks and followed that up with a 62-67 home loss to Pacific as 2-point dogs.
Cal State Fullerton Titans Back in black
The Titans stopped the bleeding with an 81-63 home win over Northridge as 7-point chalks. After a SU&ATS loss at Long Beach State the Titans were back in black with SU&ATS wins at home over Eastern Washington and then at Santa Barbara. They then lost SU&ATYS at Cal Poly SLO before winning their final two regular season games, both unlined. Fullerton was 1-1 both SU & ATS in the Big West Tourney