DAYTON, Ohio – Behind 303 rushing yards and 314 passing yards, San Diego maintained its perfect record in conference play with a 50-38 win at Dayton on a rain-soaked Saturday at Welcome Stadium.
 
The Toreros (5-2, 4-0 PFL) won their Division I-leading 33rd straight PFL game with the help of big days on the ground by juniors Emilio Martinez and Terrence Smith, who both turned in 100-yard efforts against the Flyers (4-3, 2-2 PFL). Martinez led the way with a season-high 161 yards on 20 rushes and one touchdown while Smith scored three times on the ground and totaled a career-high 139 yards on 11 carries.
 
It was the first time the Toreros had two 100-yard rushers and 300 rushing yards as a team since October 2017.
 
While the ground game helped neutralize the rainy conditions, the leading offensive player in the FCS, Reid Sinnett, made due with a 314-yard day in the air to go with his three touchdowns. The redshirt senior connected with fellow senior Michael Bandy for a season-high 194 yards as Bandy had nine catches, two of which were touchdowns.
 
It was Bandy's third consecutive 100-yard game and fifth of the season. He has 483 receiving yards in the last game and a team-best 874 this season.
 
The 617 total yards by San Diego, meanwhile, were its most since it had 625 against Davidson last season. It was also its most points in a game since last year in the game against the Wildcats.
 
Despite surrendering a touchdown on the opening drive of the game, USD scored points on its first three drives and forced the Flyers into three straight punts to help open a 16-7 advantage after the first 20 minutes. The Toreros quickly responded to the Flyer touchdown with a three-play, 78-yard drive that was highlighted by a 57-yard reception by Bandy that also had an extra 10 yards added on due to a Dayton penalty. Martinez finished off the 45-second drive with a one-yard touchdown run.
 
The Toreros missed the extra point on the Martinez score, but on their next drive, an 11-play, 75-yard march that chewed up six minutes of the game clock, Sinnett found Michael Armstead for a 45-yard touchdown pass on third-and-22. The catch was Armstead's first touchdown reception of the season.
 
Up by nine with over 10 minutes left in the first half, the Toreros surrendered back-to-back touchdowns midway through the second quarter. After getting the ball on USD's first punt of the day with 7:22 left in the second quarter, Dayton quickly scored to make it 16-14. On the subsequent kickoff, Bandy fumbled the return despite appearing to be down on the play. Nonetheless, the Flyers converted the turnover into another touchdown to take a 20-16 lead after USD blocked the extra-point attempt.
 
San Diego took the advantage going into halftime thanks to another quick drive, this time a four-play, 75-yard effort that was capped by Bandy scampering up the middle for a 43-yard touchdown catch that made it 22-20.
 
In the second half, the Toreros pulled away with four straight drives resulting in touchdowns, three of which were scored by Smith. The running back helped the Toreros total 211 yards on the ground in the final 30 minutes.
 
The Toreros will return home for a matchup between two undefeated PFL teams as they will host Drake on November 2 at 2 p.m.
 
NOTES
The Toreros have scored 30+ points in 10 straight games dating back to last year. They are averaging 37.1 points per game this season.
 
This is the first time in program history the Toreros have scored 30+ points in 10 consecutive games.
 
In addition to be the longest active streak in Division I, USD's 33-game conference winning streak is the third-longest in FCS history. The next longest conference winning streak is 36 games by Jacksonville State (2013-18) while the longest is 39 by Duquesne (1999-06).
 
The Toreros have 13 takeaways this season. Last year, they had 16.
 
Sinnett's 25 touchdown passes this year already rank him in USD's all-time top-10 for a season. The quarterback is responsible for 28 touchdowns (25 passing, 2 rushing, 1 receiving).
 
Sinnett had his streak of 163 pass attempts without an interception snapped on a Hail Mary attempt to end the first half.
 
USD has won four straight against Dayton and seven of the last nine.
 
The Toreros have won 16 straight PFL road games.