Oct. 27, 2004
GAME NINE: The USD Toreros (4-4; 1-1 PFL) take their two-game winning streak on the road this week as they travel to Indianapolis, Indiana this Saturday, October 30th, to take on the Butler Bulldogs (1-7; 0-2 PFL). It will be a homecoming of sorts for head coach Jim Harbaugh who played for the Indianapolis Colts between 1994-97.
SERIES UPDATE: This is the 12th meeting between USD and Butler with the Toreros holding a 7-4 edge ... San Diego has won the last two meetings including last year's 53-7 win in San Diego on November 1st.
HEAD COACH Jim Harbaugh: Harbaugh is in his first season with the Toreros and enters Saturday's game with a 4-4 mark. Prior to being named USD's 11th head coach, he spent the past two football seasons in the NFL as an offensive assistant with the Oakland Raiders. He spent 15 years in the NFL with five different teams - Chicago (1987-1993), Indianapolis (1994-97), Baltimore (1998), San Diego (1999-00) and Carolina (2001). A 1987 first round draft pick by the Chicago Bears, Jim played in 117 NFL games with 140 starts. For his career he completed 2,305 of 3,918 passes for 26,288 yards with 129 touchdowns. In 1995 he led Indianpolis to the AFC Championship game; was voted to the Pro Bowl; was named the 1995 Comeback Player of the Year and the AFC Player of the Year; and was runner-up in the NFL MVP voting. A 1986 graduate of the University of Michigan, Jim was a 3-year starter for legendary coach Bo Schembechler. In his senior year in '86, Jim guided Michigan to a No. 2 national ranking while earning Big Ten Player of the Year honors and finishing 3rd in the Heisman race. Jim and his wife, Miah, have three kids - Jay, James, and Grace.
PFL NORTH STANDINGS/SCHEDULE: Drake (3-0 PFL; 6-2), Dayton (2-0; 7-1), San Diego (1-1; 4-4), Butler (0-2; 1-7), Valparaiso (0-3; 3-6). PFL North Schedule for Oct. 30th: San Diego at Butler (1:00 p.m.), Drake at Dayton (1 p.m.), Valparaiso has a bye.
NATIONAL POLLS (10-25-04): In The Sports Network I-AA Mid-Major Top 10 Poll, the Dayton Flyers remain at #1. Dayton (7-1), Central Connecticut State (6-1), Monmouth (7-1), Drake (6-2), Duquesne (4-2), Wagner (5-3), SAN DIEGO (4-4), Robert Morris (4-4), Albany (3-5), Morehead State (4-4). In other I-AA polls, the Toreros are 5th in Don Hansen's National Weekly Football Gazette and 6th in the DOPKE.com poll.
TOREROS RUN PAST DAVIDSON 56-0: Behind three 1st quarter rushing touchdowns by junior Evan Harney, the Toreros jumped out to a 21-0 lead and never looked back as they won last Saturday's interdivisional PFL contest over Davidson College, 56-0, before 3,287 fans at Torero Stadium. With his three scores Harney set a new USD career mark for total touchdowns with 33, passing WR Dylan Ching's (1996-99) mark by one. The 56 point margin of victory is the program's largest since its 56-3 win over Pomona-Pitzer in 1991. The win is also USD's third straight at Torero Stadium where they have now outscored their opponents 156-24 during that span. During the 2nd quarter USD added three more scores, this time via the air, as QB Todd Mortensen connected with WR Michael Gasperson twice (19 & 7 yards) and once with Nick Garton (15 yards). At halftime Harney had rushed for 86 yards on 18 carries; Mortensen had completed 14-of-20 passes for 170 yards; and Gasperson had hauled in 5 balls for 87 yards. Second half scoring was provided by Mark Cianciulli - a 7-yard run that capped off a 9-play, 59 yard drive; and on a 1-yard QB keeper by Josh Johnson that culminated a 19-play, 89-yard drive with 13:37 left in the 4th quarter. For the game USD racked up 438 yards of offense in a balanced attack with 203 yards of rushing and 251 yards of passing. The USD defense was outstanding all night as they limited the Wildcats to 71 yards of offense in the first half and 188 (85 rushing, 103 passing) for the game. Senior LB Jeff Langdon turned in a game-best 10 tackles, and added 1 QB sack and 1 interception. Jordan Johnson came off the bench to chip in with 6 tackles and an interception.
HARNEY & LANGDON EARN PFL HONORS: Evan Harney and Jeff Langdon each earned PFL Player of the Week honors for their performances in the team's win over Davidson ... Langdon, a senior linebacker out of San Bernardino, was tabbed the defensive player of the week after recording a game-high 10 tackles; Harney, a junior from Fallbrook, was the PFL offensive player of the week after scoring 3 first quarter rushing TDs. Langdon led a USD defensive effort that ended Davidson's 56-game streak of not being shutout. Six of his 10 stops were solo, and he also was in on two tackles for loss; a quarterback sack (-9 yards); and one interception. As part of their defensive effort, the Torero defense limited Davidson to just 71 yards of offense in the first half as USD jumped out to a 42-0 halftime lead. He was also recognized as a NCAA I-AA Mid-Major National Defensive Player of the Week by Don Hansen's National Weekly Football Gazette. Harney single-handedly stake USD to a comfortable lead in its shutout victory over Davidson. With his 3 1st quarter TD runs, USD jumped out to a 21-0 lead and never looked back. He finished with 18 carries for 89 yards while playing just over 20 minutes. His third TD gave him 33 career TDs over two seasons, making him USD's new all-time leader in career touchdowns.
TORERO TIDBITS & STREAKS: Over the last four games USD is 3-1 and has outscored its opponents by a combined mark of 194-65 ... during this span the Toreros have averaged 481. 0 yards of offense (221.8 rush; 259.2 pass); opponents have been held to 289.8 ypg (129.0 rush; 160.8 pass) ... QB Todd Mortensen has not thrown an interception in his last 105 attempts (4+ games), completing 63 for 946 yards and 13 TDs ... among I-AA players he ranks 25th in total offense (233.3) and 25th in passing efficiency (136.9) ... RB Evan Harney currently ranks 9th in rushing yards per game (122.0) and 10th in scoring (9.75) among I-AA players ... he needs 24 more yards rushing to become the first player in USD history to have two 1,000 yard rushing seasons ... he ranks third on USD's all-time rushing list with 2,451 yards - he needs 106 yards to become #2 and 128 yards to become #1 (Oscar Arzu, 1997-00; 2,578 yards) ... with his next TD he'll become the school's all-time scoring leader - he currently has 200 points and trails Dylan Ching's mark of 202 (1996-99) ... among I-AA team categories, USD ranks 15th in scoring at 35.38 points per contest.
SCOUTING BUTLER: The Bulldogs (0-2 PFL; 1-7) are coming off a 49-10 loss to No. 1 ranked Dayton this past Saturday ... Butler held a 3-0 lead early in the 2nd quarter from Eric Neumeier's 23-yard field goal, but UD followed with 42 unanswered points ... WR Billy Nardini hauled in a 6-yard pass from QB Ian Nelson with 9:24 left in the game; it was Nardini's team-best 4th TD of the year ... Nelson finished the game 7-for-14 for 88 yards; the Bulldogs were held to 52 yards rushing on 36 attempts ... through 8 games Butler is being paced by QB Ian Nelson (326 yards rushing & 2 TDs; 100-176 passing for 1,010 yards and 6 TDs) ... Nardini leads the squad with 26 receptions for 222 yards and 3 scores ... Phil Christner owns 25 catches for 308 yards and 2 scores ... the defense is paced by Jim Hart (69 stops) and Parker Smith (67 tackles) ... 3rd year head coach Kit Cartwright returns 39 letterwinners and 14 starters from last year's 2-9 club.
SAN DIEGO - BUTLER CONTEST LAST YEAR: Evan Harney rushed for 147 yards and scored four touchdowns as he broke four school single-season records, leading San Diego to a 53-7 win over Butler on Nov. 1st, 2003. Harney carried 25 times and scored on runs of 8, 2 and 3 yards along with a 10-yard touchdown catch. Harney set USD's single-season records for rushing yardage (1,360), rushing touchdowns (17), total touchdowns (19) and rushing attempts (253). San Diego (7-2) gained 516 yards in total offense one week after setting a school record with 663 yards in a 47-0 win against Marist. Eric Rasmussen, who set three school career records earlier in the season, broke the school career mark for pass attempts (819). Rasmussen, who has thrown 29 touchdown passes, finished 18-of-26 for 238 yards and three touchdowns. Rasmussen also threw an interception, only his third of the season in 285 attempts. Butler (0-9) avoided being shut out for the third time when Bob Farmer hit Phil Vorndarn for a 20-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter. In addition to the TD pass to Harney, Rasmussen also threw a 43-yard TD pass to Nick Garton and connected with Adam Hannula on a 17-yard touchdown, allowing Hannula to tie the school's single-season record for touchdown catches with 12.
MEDIA NOTE: To interview a USD coach or player, please contact the Media Relations office at least one day in advance by calling (619) 260-4745.
UP NEXT: The Toreros return home for their final regular-season PFL contest with the No. 1 ranked Dayton Flyers on Saturday, November 6th.
