Oct. 8, 2005

Final Stats

(San Diego, CA) - The USD Toreros (5-1; 1-0 PFL) opened up their PFL schedule in fine form with today's 49-7 victory over the visiting Butler Bulldogs (0-6; 0-1) before 2,645 fans at Torero Stadium for homecoming. Once again the defense turned in an outstanding effort, and sophomore quarterback Josh Johnson led the offense by completing 26-of-32 passes for 314 yards and 3 touchdowns. The USD coaching staff has been preaching getting out to fast starts and the Toreros' didn't disappoint as they jumped out to a 35-0 halftime lead. This sets up next week's pivotal PFL match-up against undefeated Dayton (6-0; 1-0 PFL) who earned a 25-17 road win at Drake today.

"I thought our starters came out of the gates strong today, something we've been stressing the past couple of weeks," said head coach Jim Harbaugh. "That is something we'll need to continue next week at Dayton. We also got a great game by our quarterback (Josh Johnson) - he executed at the top of his game. The line gave him great protection all day."

In the first quarter Johnson connected with WR John Matthews for a 31-yard strike with 5:05 to go that finished off a 5-play 71-yard drive. The Torero defense put their stamp on the quarter one minute later when junior DB Josh Brisco picked off a Butler pass and returned it 19 yards to put USD ahead 14-0.

In the 2nd quarter Johnson connected with WR Nick Garton for a 10-yard score at the 9:29 mark that finished off a 16-play, 82 yard drive. More importantly, the Toreros ran off 6:47 of clock in the process while taking a 21-0 lead. Freshman running back JT Rogan scored the first of two rushing touchdowns from 8 yards out with 4:20 to go, and with 00:34 left before intermission Johnson passed to WR Adam Hannula for a 29 yard TD strike and 35-0 halftime advantage.

"The coaches have been pushing us hard every day in practice, and that helps us come out that way on game day," said Josh Johnson. "We're going out to Dayton next week with a lot of confidence."

In the third period JT Rogan punched in from 2 yards out to extend USD's lead to 42-0. The Butler Bulldogs continued to fight and put together an 11-play, 70 yard drive with T.J. Brown connecting with WR Matt McCanna for a 14-yard score with 2:31 left in the period. That marked the first touchdown the USD defense has given up in the 2nd half this season.

"We've been working hard all year on shutting down our opponents," said junior Josh Brisco (4 solo tackles, 1 interception return for a score). "The coaches have been giving us great game plans and the entire defense has been making plays."

USD closed out the scoring in the final period as backup quarterback David Perez connected with WR Eric Gregg for an 11-yard score with 10:25 to go. For the game USD totaled 576 yards of offense on 80 plays. The Torero defense, which entered the game ranked 2nd in the nation in scoring defense at 8.0 points per game, kept the Bulldogs to 7. Butler finished with just 53 yards rushing and 163 yards of offense on 52 plays.

Besides Johnson's big day, the Toreros received big individual performances from JT Rogan (117 yards rushing, 2 TDs), WR Nick Garton (7 catches for 78 yards, 1 TD), WR Adam Hannula (5 catches for 91 yards, 1 TD), SS Philip Bretsch (6 tackles, 1 pass breakup), Kyson Hawkins and Colin Murphy (5 tackles each), and Josh Brisco (4 stops, interception return for TD).

USD's game next week against the Dayton Flyers will kickoff at 1:00 p.m. at Welcome Stadium.