SAN DIEGO — After a thrilling comeback victory to begin Pioneer Football League play in week five, the Toreros look to carry the momentum into their first PFL road challenge, traveling over 2,800 miles across the country to Poughkeepsie, N.Y.  

The 2025 USD PFL road campaign kick-off at Tenney Stadium is set for 9 a.m. PST while the game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Voice of the Toreros Jack Cronin calling the action over radio airwaves on USDToreros.com/watch.

CROSS-COUNTRY CONFERENCE ROAD TRIP 

• USD will travel over 2,432 air miles from America's Finest City to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., the longest in-conference away day in all of FCS in 2025

• The conference long haul is bested in all of DI college football only by a few FBS Atlantic Coast Conference matchups: Stanford at Miami (2,571 mi.), Cal at Boston College (2,678 mi.) and Boston College at Stanford (2,684 mi.)

FCS POLLING 

• For a second week in a row, the Toreros have received votes in the AFCA FCS Coaches Poll ... Last week's vote was the Toreros' first time in the poll since head coach Brandon Moore took over at the helm before the 2023 season ...  USD was last ranked in both the FCS coaches and Opta Stats poll on Nov. 19, 2018

• While USD holds the record in the FCS' non-scholarship league, the PFL, for highest ranking at No. 18 in the coaches poll and No. 19 in the stats poll (both Nov. 19, 2018), conference foe Presbyterian broke the league's seven-year drought from the Opta Stats poll, coming in at No. 25 last week, and moving up two spots to No. 23 this week 

ALL-TIME SERIES AGAINST THE RED FOXES

• The Toreros are 16-1 against the Red Foxes all-time ... in the two teams' meeting last season, San Diego thumped Marist by a 34-6 margin at Torero Stadium on Oct. 19

• USD and Marist last met at Tenney Stadium two seasons ago on Oct. 14, 2023 when Marist earned its lone win over the Toreros ... the Red Foxes won that game by a 30-16 margin in Poughkeepsie

LAST TIME OUT

- With its back against the wall in back-to-back weeks, San Diego Football once again completed a comeback victory, this time inside the confines of Torero Stadium, beginning PFL play with a 30-27 win over St. Thomas 

 - After trailing 17-3 in a slow first half, the Toreros found the back of the end zone for the first time on the first drive in the second quarter ... On fourth-and-nine, the Toreros gambled and it paid off; junior quarterback Dom Nankil found graduate receiver Josh Heverly up the middle, who went all 41 yards to the house untouched

- A pair of touchdown passes to end the second quarter, combined with another long touchdown and a field goal to begin the second quarter gave the Tommies a 27-10 lead at the 7:04 mark

- The comeback started when Nankil again found Heverly over the middle for a 56-yard completion that set up senior running back Adam Criter to finish the drive with a 12-yard run into the end zone to make it 27-17 with 5:16 left in the third quarter

- St. Thomas responded with a drive to get them comfortably in field goal range to extend the lead, but Cooper got his hand on the kick to keep the deficit at 10 

- San Diego capitalized almost immediately when Nankil scrambled and connected on a lob to senior wide receiver Cole Monach for a 54-yard strike to the endzone to put the Toreros within three at 27-24 at the end of the third

- Both teams' defenses held firm through the beginning of the fourth quarter until the Toreros utilized a pair of chunk plays, including a 33-yard run from Criter and a 34-yard completion to Monach, to set up a 34-yard field goal opportunity for Salazar, which he drilled to tie the game up at 27-a-piece

- On the first play of the following drive, senior linebacker Tre Moore put down a ferocious sack on the Tommie quarterback to force a fumble and a loss of 16 yards ... St. Thomas would recover it, but another forced fumble two plays later — this time from Cooper — would go the Toreros way, as Higgins recovered the ball for the Toreros in the red zone 

- Having just knocked through the game-tying field goal not more than a couple of minutes prior, Salazar was then tasked with a 25-yard field goal for the win from the far-right hash, which he put through the uprights to seal the victory for San Diego and allow it to start conference play 1-0 

NOTABLE

- This marks two straight 30-27 walk-off home wins for the Toreros, also having beaten No. 24 Southern Utah by the same score in overtime on Sept. 6

- San Diego moved the ball for 420 total yards (320 passing, 100 rushing) compared to St. Thomas' 347 total yards (216 passing, 131 rushing)

- Nankil led USD with 265 passing yards (11-for-16) with two passing touchdowns, and a passer rating of 249.1

- Heverly hauled in five passes for 149 yards and a touchdown, Monach was just behind with 117 yards on nine completions with a touchdown of his own

- Criter led USD rushers, going for 120 yards on 28 carries, with a touchdown

- Defensively Trey Sena-Ortega, Ezekiel Swayne, and Jack Munro led the way with seven tackles each

- Moore found his way to the quarterback twice, earning two sacks to give him the team lead with 3.5 sacks through five games in 2025

FCS NATIONAL SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK

• A perfect field goal as time expired to see through a 30-27 come-from-behind victory encapsulated a perfect day for USD sophomore kicker/punter Emiliano Salazar Saturday, whose performance was recognized nationally as the Stats Perform FCS National Special Teams Player of the Week Monday morning

• In addition to the three clutch field goals, the Orange, Calif. native also went 3-for-3 on extra points on the day and punted twice for 99 yards, an average of 49.5 yards and long of 57 ... Salazar was named the Pioneer Football League's Special Teams Player of the Week on Sunday afternoon and Fred Mitchell Award Kicker of the Week on Monday

• It's the third times a charm for the first year starter as he's the first Torero to earn a national honor this season after running back teammates Matt Colombo and Adam Criter finished as Stats Perform National Offensive Player of the Week honorable mentions in weeks two and four respectively after their performances on the ground against FCS heavyweights that merited PFL Offensive Player of the Week

SECOND USD RUNNING BACK GARNERS PFL OPOTW

• Senior running back Adam Criter was named Pioneer Football League Offensive Player of the Week, the league announced on Sunday, Sept. 21, also being one of five players nationally to be named Opta Stats FCS National OPOTW honorable mention

• In his first career start, Criter totaled 173 yards with three touchdowns in the Toreros' last three series of the game to complete USD's 21-point comeback on the road at Princeton Saturday ... Criter was untouched on all three fourth quarter touchdowns, from four yards, 24 yards and eight yards respectively ... After the Toreros went through the air in the first half, Criter logged 76 of his 105 rushing yards in the fourth quarter comeback alone ... He also totaled 68 receiving yards on 10 catches 

•  Not only is Criter the second Torero to win PFL Offensive Player of the Week this season, but the second USD running back to win the honor and earn FCS national OPOTW HM after grad captain Matt Colombo also did so week two (Sept. 7) following San Diego's win over No. 24 Southern Utah

•  Colombo had a 202-yard rushing day and two touchdowns, including the walk off winner in overtime ... The El Segundo, Calif. native posted the PFL's first 200-yard rushing performance of 2025 and just the second in all of FCS ... Colombo was responsible for 10 of San Diego's 18 first downs ... He was one of two players nationally named Opta Stats Perform FCS Offensive National Player of the Week Honorable Mention

NEW COACHES ON OFFENSE

•  Head Coach Brandon Moore added two new faces to his staff on the offensive side of the ball, bringing on Nick Fulton as Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach while Ryan Diedrick joins the program as Wide Receivers Coach and Passing Game Coordinator

About Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach Nick Fulton:

•  Fulton has more than 20 years of college football coaching and administrative experience, as he joins USD from the University of Wyoming, where he had served as the Cowboys' Associate Athletics Director for Football Operations since January, 2022.

•  He was responsible for a variety of administrative duties at UW, including planning team travel, monitoring the football budget, serving as a liaison with the athletics academic counseling staff and helping oversee and coordinate roster management and player personnel activities ... He also assisted with the launch of the Cowboys' Name, Image and Likeness program before serving as the football program's liaison to Wyoming's NIL collective.

•  Prior to his time in Laramie, Fulton served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, Colo. for the COVID-shortened 2020 season ... Prior to that, he was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado, for the 2019 season.     

•  Fulton enjoyed a successful four-year run at Colorado School of Mines alongside Brandon Moore from 2015-18 ... The Orediggers advanced to the NCAA Division II Playoffs in 2016 and 2018 and captured the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Championship both seasons. During that four-year span in Golden, Colorado, Mines posted records of 8-3 (2015), 10-3 (2016), 7-4 (2017) and 10-2 (2018).

•  Prior to coaching at Colorado School of Mines, Fulton spent three seasons (2012-14) as the offensive coordinator, recruiting coordinator and football academic coordinator at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, S.D. ... While at Black Hills State, Fulton's offense set a school record for total offense in the 2014 season ... Fulton coached the Yellow Jackets offensive linemen in 2012 and '13 and coached the quarterbacks in 2014.

•  Fulton was a graduate assistant coach at Wyoming for the 2010 and 2011 seasons, worked as an assistant coach at Doane College in Crete, Nebraska from 2006 to 2009 and began his collegiate coaching career at his alma mater, the University of Sioux Falls, in 2005.
 

About Wide Receivers Coach Passing Game Coordinator Ryan Diedrick:

•  A native of Sammamish, Wash., Diedrick came to San Diego from the Colorado School of Mines, where he worked as a wide receivers coach and pass game coordinator from 2017-24, including crossover under Head Coach Brandon Moore.

•  Diedrick first arrived at Mines from Indiana State, where he served as an offensive analyst, video coordinator and in an offensive quality control position in 2016.

•  A 2016 graduate of Willamette University, Diedrick served as a student assistant as a senior after retiring during his junior year from playing as a quarterback and wide receiver.

USD PICKED TO WIN PFL IN PRESEASON POLL

•  For the first time since 2019, San Diego football has been tabbed as the Pioneer Football League's preseason favorite in the league's 2025 Preseason Coaches Poll, released Monday, July 28

•  San Diego picked up five first-place votes and was not ranked lower than third by any of the league's head coaches to earn the poll's top spot with 94 points, 16 points ahead of 2024 PFL champs Drake

•  The poll reflects the vastly different landscape in the PFL entering the 2025 season with five programs helmed by new head coaches: Kevin Lynch at Butler, Saj Thakkar at Davidson, Joe Woodley at Drake, Mike Jasper at Stetson and Andy Waddle at Valparaiso.

•  The 2025 season marks the 33rd year of the Pioneer Football League ... The league will feature 11 teams, each playing an eight-game schedule to determine the league champion and recipient of the automatic bid to the NCAA FCS Championship ... USD will not face Morehead State and Presbytarian in 2025

FIVE TOREROS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE

•  Five Toreros were named to the Pioneer Football League Preseason All-Conference Team: Evans Bowling, Malachi Cooper, Aydan Corrales, Ruben Lopez and Maicah Talavou

• Two USD offensive linemen make the cut, grad Evans Bowling, who was Second Team All-PFL in 2024 and senior Maicah Talavou, who was an honorable mention last season

•  On the defensive line, grad Malachi Cooper is honored as one of the best at his position in the league after earning second team honors in 2024 ... Senior defensive back and team captain Ruben Lopez was also picked after being a second-teamer last season

•  The Toreros are also represented on the special teams all-PFL list by junior Ayden Corrales who is picked as the leagues top punter to start the season ... he was an All-PFL honorable mention in 2025

2024 IN REVIEW

• The Toreros returned to winning ways in Head Coach Brandon Moore's second year at the helm, finishing with an 8-3 overall record, 6-0 at home, and 6-2 in conference action.

• It was the first time with six home wins in the same season since going a perfect 6-0 across the 2015 season and the first time USD had won six straight at home since winning the last four at home in 2021 and first two of the 2022 season.

• USD finished alone in second in the Pioneer Football League, falling just behind Drake (7-1), who clinched the PFL outright title and a spot in the FCS playoffs ... The Bulldogs topped USD 30-28 on a walk-off field goal on Sept. 28 in Des Moines, Iowa, proving the difference for San Diego's postseason hopes. 

• Despite having two bye weeks and ten games played, the Toreros'  six total defensive touchdowns entered the season finale as the: 

          - Tied-most defensive touchdowns in FCS, and across all of DI (FCS/FBS)

          - Tied-most pick-sixes (4) in FCS

• In the Toreros' first 2-0 start in a non-shortened season in 13 years, Co-defensive coordinators Mike McGlinchey and Isaac Carter's unit has scored as many touchdowns as it had surrendered in the first two games in 2024; Two week one vs. Cal Poly and one week two vs. Central Washington

•   Toreros swept the PFL Offensive and Defensive player of the Year awards as defensive back Eric Haney and wide receiver Ja'Seem Reed were pinned as the conference's best ... Linebacker Giovanni Iovino was also picked as first team all-conference five Toreros on the second team and 11 USD players as All-PFL Honorable Mentions.