SAN DIEGO – The 2025 season opener gave fans its first look at San Diego Football as a sold out crowd of 5,806 made their way to Torero Stadium. 
 
Playing against Cal Poly to start the new season for the third consecutive year and second straight in front of a full house at Torero Stadium, San Diego was unable to muster any momentum, losing 41-17 to the Mustangs and putting to an end the Toreros' six-game home win streak. 
 
"It was a tough loss," said Toreros head coach Brandon Moore, who is beginning his third season at USD. "We got punched in the face all day. Anytime we got the momentum to try to swing in our direction, we shot ourselves in the foot with a penalty or some bonehead play. 
 
"We're a young team, but that's no excuse. I think that we've got to be a lot more disciplined in order to win big time games like this."
 
The scholarship Cal Poly squad (1-0) came out with a vengeance from last season's upset to the Toreros and jumped out to a 24-0 lead, as all three of the Mustangs' first-half touchdowns were fueled by consequential San Diego (0-1) 15-yard penalties.
 
"Penalties in and of themselves are going to hurt you," Moore said as USD was flagged seven times for 91 yards. "We gave them more than we should have, offensively and defensively." 
 
However, on the final drive of the second quarter, the San Diego offense pulled through on a 45-yard Hail Mary.
 
After Nankil took the snap, he stepped through the pocket to avoid a sack and put his whole body into heaving the football to the end zone. 
 
Although a Cal Poly defender batted it down, it went right into San Diego grad receiver Bradley Schlom's hands to give the team a spark going into the half. 
 
"The play before half was great. I think it just shows our players' ability to fight when the chips are down," Moore said. "It was great to see those guys rally in that moment when we didn't have a whole lot of things going in our direction."
 
With a 35-yard field goal by sophomore Emiliano Salazar on the first drive of the second half, it gave San Diego a chance to come back.
 
"It really gave us a boost going into halftime," said Nankil, who completed 19-of-30 passes for 202 yards. "We came out, put a good drive together coming out of the half, kicked the field goal. Obviously, want to score in the red zone, but we had to settle with that." 
 
After Cal Poly answered with a field goal of their own on the following drive, the Toreros took their first big stride at the deficit on the first play of the fourth quarter. Senior running back Adam Criter, on his first career rush, broke through for a 79-yard rushing touchdown to pull within 10 of the guests at 17-27.
 
Sophomore outside linebacker Nate Fischer, who recorded a new career-high with 12 total tackles, said his team will have to get after it next week to get in the win column. 
 
"We had a great off-season," Fischer said. "The whole team was very committed, heads down. I feel like we're more of a team than we've ever been. We're really going to have test ourselves to see who we really are. And I think we will bounce back."
 
UP NEXT 
San Diego will play it's second straight at home against a scholarship team to start the season as it will host Southern Utah inside Torero Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 6. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m., streaming live on ESPN+. This will come before road games at No. 2/2 Montana State and Princeton on Sept. 13 and 20, respectively.
 
TORERO TIDBITS

• USD's six-game home (6-0 in 2024) win streak comes to a close
• The 45-yard touchdown to end the second quarter marked the longest touchdown pass of Dom Nankil's collegiate career. 
• The 35-yard field goal from Emiliano Salazar with 10:21 of the third quarter marked his first made field goal of his collegiate career 
• Sophomore outside linebacker Nate Fischer logged 12 total tackles, setting a new career-high 
• Adam Criter's 79-yard touchdown on the opening play of the fourth quarter was his first rushing attempt and first touchdown of his collegiate career and San Diego's longest rushing touchdown since Emilio Martinez scampered home from 84 yards against Stetson (April 10, 2021)
• USD possessed the ball on offense for just 3:42 less than the Mustangs, despite the 24-point margin
• Cal Poly was 7-for-13 on third down while the Toreros were 5-for-15

POST GAME QUOTES
Head Coach Brandon Moore
Initial reactions to the game…
Tough loss. I think we got punched in the face all day. Anytime we got the momentum to kind of try to swing in our direction, we shot ourselves in the foot with a penalty or some bonehead play. I think we're a young team, but that's no excuse. I think that we've got to be a lot more disciplined in order to win big-time games like this.
 
On how to deal with an early deficit…
Cal Poly came out and did an incredible job. I don't think this was the same team that we saw last year in any stretch. The quarterback was a better player than they had last year, and I think that the group as a whole played a lot more disciplined and made a lot less mistakes than they did the previous year.
 
On how critical penalties are…
Oh, they're crucial. Penalties, in and of themselves, are going to hurt you. But I think that we gave them more than we should have. On both sides of the ball, Cal Poly did a great job. But anytime that we gave ourselves something favorable, we gave it right back with a penalty, we gave it right back with some off the wall celebration, or a pass interference or things like that. As a non-scholarship football team playing a scholarship team, you've got to play disciplined football, and you've got to play to a level outside yourself, and I don't think we did that on a consistent enough basis today. 
 
On quarterback Dom Nankil's performance…
I thought he fought, man. I didn't ever see him rattled back there. I didn't ever see him not being in control. He didn't always make the best decisions, but I thought he went out and fought hard.
On the positives to take away from today's game…
Well, a coach a long time ago told me that there's nothing positive you can gain from a loss. I think we take this thing one game at a time, one step at a time, and we're gonna move on and try to get after Southern Utah next week.
 
On preparing for two different quarterbacks…
I think the starter did an excellent job dealing with the ball, distributing the ball, putting them in favorable situations, and not being careless with the football. We're a defense that prides itself on turnovers, we pride ourselves on third downs, and they capitalized on both elements this year. They didn't turn the ball over once, and they were over .500 on third down, which is unacceptable for our defense. And you know, ultimately, it helped them come out with the win. 
 
On the Hail Mary before the half…
The offense, in and of itself, is an offense that likes to distribute the ball, likes to throw the ball, and pushes the ball down the field. The play before half was great, I think it just shows our players' ability to fight when the chips are down, and fight as the game went on. I don't think that they ever quit. I would never question or challenge their effort throughout the game. So it was great to see those guys rally in that moment when we didn't have a whole lot of things going in our direction.
 
On Adam Critter's 79 yard rushing touchdown…
I thought he did an incredible job. I think Adams' speed is definitely something we need to try to exploit a little bit more, and find ways to get him the ball. But it was awesome seeing him take the rock from the backfield and take it to the house. That was great.
 
On what Dom can take away from this week going into the rest of the season…
Needs to trust himself a little bit more, trust his feet, trust his coordinator. Dom's young, even though this is his third year here, he doesn't have a ton of starts, and I think he's just going to get better as the season goes on.
 
On what he learned about his team today…
I think that we're a talented team. I think overall, we're a very, very young team. And that showed up, those penalties and those moments when we make a good play, and then we turn it right back over, we do something to mitigate it. Ultimately, we're a young team, but we're a team with a lot of fire. I think we've got good leadership, but we've still got a long way to go.
 
On when he thought the game got away from them…
I don't think ever. I'm not a guy, who ever concedes, or ever thinks that there isn't a chance. Mathematically, I think we were out of it somewhere in the fourth quarter. But, we're always a team, we're always a group that's going to fight and go out and give our best effort.
 
On how to clean up the penalties for next week…
You heard from the players, but just preparation, being prepared for those big moments. Whether it's the film room, whether it's being more disciplined in practice, or whether it's challenging them more. I think the preparation that we put into it is going to have to improve. 
 
On the crowd…
Well, I thought the crowd was through the ebbs and flows of the entire game. I thought they were in it. They celebrated every, every big play we had, every big moment we had, I think that we heard our crowd. And I think that was essential and needs to continue at the University of San Diego. 
 
On what else needs to be cleaned up before next week…
It's another opportunity. And like I said previously, I think we're a very, very young team, and I think the more we put them in the fire, the better they're going to get. I think we're going to be a team that improves throughout the year.
 
On what the offense's approach was…
Well, we're always going to want to take what the defense gives us. But every offense wants to be balanced. We want to establish some type of a run game in order to supplement the pass game. But tackling on our defensive side of the ball wasn't very good. And I think that a two or three yard gain was turned into a 10-or-11 yard gain just from missed tackles or not getting them on the ground. So as a coach, I think I need to provide more opportunities for my guys to tackle, and provide more opportunities to put them in that type of situation.
 
Sophomore Linebacker Nate Fischer
Opening Statement…
Obviously we did not play our best tonight. Very undisciplined on the defensive side of the ball, offense couldn't really get things going either. We've got a tough slate ahead of us, we've got to bounce back and really put our head down and figure out who we are as a team.
 
On Cal Poly's hot start…
They got out faster, and we just couldn't get off the field on third down defensively. We'd get them to third and 10, and then they'd either get a shot play or we'd have a penalty, and we just can't have that, especially against a talented team like that, we've got to play our best, and we did not do that tonight. 
 
On how the team's going to bounce back…
We had a great off-season. The whole team was very committed, heads down. We feel like we're more of a team than we've ever been, and we're gonna have to test ourselves to see who we really are, and I think we will bounce back and have a big game next week against Southern Utah. 
 
On the biggest challenge defensively…
Third downs. We just couldn't get off the field on third downs. And penalties, that's just unacceptable.
 
On what he saw defensively from his position…
We knew they were going to try to run a lot of counters, and a lot of gap schemes, and they did that, especially in the second half. I feel like we played that pretty well. We had our moments in the run we flashed, but I feel like as a kind of a young, linebacker core, we've got to be more consistent.
 
On facing two different quarterbacks…
We didn't know who they were going to go with pregame, so we kind of prepped for both of them. We knew one was a guy who could run a little bit, and we knew seven had a big arm, and they both played well.
 
On the Hail Mary touchdown going into halftime… 
That was huge, we needed that. We were getting our butt kicked, and then we got a little spark of life right there. 
 
On the crowd…
It was a great crowd. That was probably the highlight of the night. We appreciate all the fans coming out and supporting, and we'll bounce back for them next week.
 
On the defense's mindset throughout the course of the game…
The mindset was obviously that we want to go in there and shut them out, shut them down, and they got off to a hot start. I feel like we rallied really well in the second quarter, and third quarter but then kind of fell apart there at the end, but I'm proud of the way we fought, and hopefully we can piece a whole game together next week.
On how the team will bounce back…
We're going to have to get in the film room, and we're going to have to practice hard. 
 
Junior Quarterback Dom Nankil
Initial reactions from the game…
For myself, disappointed. I was 19-of-30 passing, and that's not something that I feel like I did good enough for myself overall. As a team, I feel like we're also disappointed. You know, we come out, and we get blown up at home, it's the first game of the year, and that's something that we didn't want to do. We obviously want to come out with the win, but just disappointed and frustrated with ourselves. 
 
On playing an up-tempo team…
It shouldn't be hard at all, especially being up-tempo ourselves, we should be able to bounce back and do whatever we need to do first play of the game, just like how they were doing. I take that on the chin as well, I know I've got to score on the first drive of the game, just like they did.
 
On playing against former high school teammates and opponents…
That was great, especially Brian Dukes Jr., that's my boy from high school, I was trying to attack him as well, you know that brother-to-brother feeling. Victory Johnson as well, seeing him come off the edge. You know, he hadn't tackled me in high school, so he finally got one today.
 
On how the team needs to bounce back…
[In] the film room really. I feel like we had a lot of mistakes, especially on my end. I saw different coverages during the week that I really wasn't prepared for. That's something I needed to do better with myself. Getting in with the receivers as well, and then obviously blocking up front. 
 
On what he saw from the defense…
They threw a lot of man-coverage at us. I feel like during the week, we kind of saw that a lot on third down, not really normal down and distance, first and second down, and a lot of quarters as well. That's something that we should have been prepared for. And like I said, I should be prepared for everything. Doesn't matter if we see three-weak the whole week on film, or we see cover zero the whole week, I gotta prepare for every coverage thrown at me. 
 
On why he started throwing short passes to his receivers later on…
Softened off really. Single side, giving my guys a chance, instead of just letting Matt [Colombo] run up in front of the O line and get hit every single play, pitch it out to the receivers, and let them make a play one-on-one. 
 
On the Hail Mary touchdown going into halftime…
That was electric. I feel like it really gave us a boost going into halftime. We came out, put a good drive together coming out of the half, kicked the field goal. Obviously, we wanted to score in the red zone, but we had to kick the field goal and settle with that. So putting points on the board was really electric for us.
 
On what he can do next week to improve…
Find easier throws. I feel like that's something that I didn't do for myself. I feel like there were times that I was looking at just one-on-one too much, trying to give my guys a shot, where there's an easier throw underneath.
 
On the coverages Cal Poly threw at him…
I mean, every team would throw in some crazy coverages, especially disguising it. They did a really good job with the two-shell. And that was something that we didn't really see during the week, we saw a lot of one-high. But like I said, that's a lot of my fault, being prepared for mainly one-high, and then coming out and seeing a lot of two-high. That's something that I got to do better with. 
 
On Adam Criter's rushing touchdown…
It was electric, especially coming off of a three-and-out drive. Going into the fourth quarter, handing off to him, and watching him run. That was big for us. You know, gave us life.
 
On the hail mary throw before half…
That was crazy. The coach was like "do you want to do it?" And I was like, "why not?" So at the end of the half, you know, we got to go in, we haven't scored all day. So it was really big for us to do that.