SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – San Diego was haunted by big plays early, including nine of 20 yards or more, as it lost 52-34 at Cal Poly on Saturday to open the 2019 season.
 
The Toreros (0-1) surrendered eight straight scoring drives by the Mustangs (1-0) to open the game, including the first five resulting in touchdowns. Of Cal Poly's seven touchdowns, six came on plays of 23 yards or more.
 
USD made it interesting late in the game, scoring the game's final 20 points with touchdown passes by redshirt senior quarterback Reid Sinnett. In his first career start, the Iowa native finished the day 26-of-39 with 416 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions. Two of the interceptions resulted in points off turnovers (two touchdowns) by Cal Poly in the first half.
 
Of Sinnett's four touchdowns, the highlight was a pass to himself in the first quarter that resulted in a 30-yard touchdown. With all of his receivers running routes to his left, Sinnett's pass was deflected at the line of scrimmage and bounced back to him before he ran untouched into the end zone and helped tie the game at 14-14.
 
In addition to himself, Sinnett connected well with sophomore Dalton Kincaid (6 receptions, 152 yards, TD) and senior Michael Bandy (10 receptions, 133 yards, 2 TD). The receptions and yards were career-highs for Kincaid while the 10-reception game for Bandy was the fourth of his career. It was also his fourth multi-touchdown career game and 10th 100-yard game.
 
Cal Poly quarterback Jalen Hamler accounted for 317 total yards and five touchdowns (3 passing, 2 rushing). The redshirt freshman rushed 17 times for 96 yards, including a 38-yard rushing touchdown, while he was 8-of-11 for 221 yards in the air.
 
Running back Duy Tran-Sampson led the Cal Poly ground game by rushing for 172 yards on 15 attempts with two touchdowns. The triple-option offense of the Mustangs rushed for 386 yards to San Diego's 119.
 
The Toreros were unable to slow down Tran-Sampson from his first rush of the day when the sophomore broke loose for an 87-yard rushing touchdown on the Mustangs' second play from scrimmage.
 
San Diego responded, though, when it used a seven-play, 65-yard drive to tie it at 7-7. Sinnett and Kincaid connected for passes of 26 and 19 yards to get the Toreros into Cal Poly territory and the red zone, respectively. Emilio Martinez, who rushed for 78 yards in the game, capped the drive with a one-yard rushing touchdown.
 
After Cal Poly answered with a Hamler rushing touchdown two-and-a-half minutes later, Sinnett's 30-yard self-touchdown reception evened the game at 14-14 in the first quarter.
 
The Mustangs went on to score 38 unanswered points from the second through third quarters to open up a 38-point lead. An 11-play, 98-yard drive in the third quarter, which lasted just 4:53, cemented the advantage. Tran-Sampson rushed for a 34-yard touchdown with 5:28 left in the third quarter that made it 52-14.
 
The Torero offense opened up, however, as Sinnett found Bandy and Kincaid more often late in the game. The quarterback placed a 17-yard touchdown pass to the tight end towards the end of the third quarter before he connected with Bandy for a touchdown on the following drive. Sinnett and Bandy then came together for a back-shoulder, 20-yard touchdown pass with 3:33 remaining in the game.
 
The Toreros will open their home schedule in week two when they take on No. 5 UC Davis on Saturday, September 7 at 2 p.m.
 

NOTES
Both teams combined for 1,142 yards of total offense, with Cal Poly totaling 607 and San Diego 535. The Mustangs averaged 9.8 yards per play while the Toreros turned in a 7.0 clip.

USD had the game's advantage in terms of time of possession, 32:43-27:17. However, Cal Poly made quick work on most of its scoring drives. Of the Mustangs' first seven drives, none of them lasted longer than 3:32 on the play clock. Three of them were less than a minute.
 
The Mustangs scored touchdowns on plays of 23, 34, 38, 55, 60, and 87 yards.
 
Michael Armstead nearly broke loose for a couple kick return touchdowns and finished the day with 183 yards on six returns (30.5 yards per return). The 2018 Pioneer Football League (PFL) Special Teams Player of the Year also finished the day with 243 all-purpose yards (38 punt return, 22 receiving).
 
Sinnett's 416 passing yards were the most by a Torero since Anthony Lawrence had a school-record 556 yards against Davidson in 2018.
 
Bandy and Kincaid became the first pair of San Diego receivers to have 100+ yards in the same game since Bandy and Armstead did it at Butler on October 20, 2018.