Burt Waffles but Indicates Millis to Start : College football: O’Laughlin will be limited to emergency duty, leaving punter Razo as Northridge’s backup quarterback.

NORTHRIDGE —  Rather than announce his starter, Cal State Northridge football Coach Bob Burt pulled an end run Thursday, revealing instead who his third-string, emergency-only, quarterback will be for Saturday night’s American West Conference game against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

It will be J.J. O’Laughlin.

The rest of the order is rather easy to determine.

Clayton Millis, a 6-foot-5 sophomore, will start for the Matadors who, with a 3-5 record and two games remaining, are attempting to avoid only the second losing season in Burt’s eight years as coach.

Backing up Millis is Albert Razo, a fifth-year senior who is the team’s punter.

O’Laughlin, who started six of seven games since joining the Matadors after his transfer from Illinois, suffered a shoulder injury last Saturday night during a 21-7 victory over Chico State.

He still is unable to lift his right, throwing arm high enough to pass. However, O’Laughlin will make the trip and is expected to suit up.

“If worse came to worse, we’ll put him in there and let him hand off,” Burt said.

Millis, a transfer from of Oregon, attended Arroyo Grande High, a 20-minute drive from Mustang Stadium, site of Saturday night’s game.

In his only other start, Millis was ineffective in Northridge’s 27-12 loss against Weber State the second week of the season. O’Laughlin, who had been with the team only four days, entered late in the game and guided the Matadors to their only two touchdowns.

If Millis struggles, Burt said he will not hesitate to summon Razo, who in his career has completed three of four passes--all on fake punts.

Earlier this week, quarterbacks coach Dale Bunn said Razo will play only if Millis is injured.

“I’ve had the same, mixed (signals) from teammates and coaches,” Razo said. “I’ve been told I’m the backup, but I’m not sure right now what that means.”

Before this week, Razo’s last regular workouts with the offense came in the spring. In the team’s annual spring game, he completed five of 11 passes for 15 yards with two interceptions.

“They have no confidence in me, I must imagine,” Razo said. “I had a shaky spring.”

Not so said Burt: “He’s a good athlete. He could stir some things up if he got outside on a bootleg.”

Razo, a quarterback at La Habra High, would like nothing better than to close out his college career by leading his team to a victory.

He has before, if only in his mind. “I’d like a chance to fulfill some of the dreams I once had,” he said. “The next two weeks I want to be the greatest in my life, because I’ll never have a chance to do it again.”