SAN DIEGO — It was 94 degrees at kickoff and past 100 before the afternoon was over, and USD football (2-3, 1-1 PFL) was hotter still, intercepting four passes and scoring nine touchdowns in a 63-14 rout of Davidson (2-4, 0-2 PFL) on Saturday in its Pioneer Football League home opener at Torero Stadium.
A week removed from a 50-17 loss at St. Thomas in its league opener, San Diego forced turnovers on four of Davidson's first five possessions, led 28-0 less than a minute into the second quarter and struck quickly all afternoon, with five of its eight offensive touchdown drives lasting less than two minutes.
"We talk a lot about expectations, we talk a lot about the standard we have as a program, and last week we didn't meet it in any capacity. All three phases," head coach
Brandon Moore said. "As a staff, we went in, we said that this is unacceptable and we tried to find a way to mitigate some issues that we had, and ended up being victorious and successful today."
A defense that arrived with one interception in four games needed two snaps to get another, as senior safety
Ruben Lopez picked off a pass at the Davidson 26. Cornerback
Ezekiel Swayne intercepted a fourth-down throw on the Wildcats' next series and returned it 31 yards, then recovered a fumble forced by
Mason Charles late in the first quarter, and sophomore cornerback CJ Castille opened the second quarter with the first interception of his career.
"There were multiple interceptions in the first part of the game," said Moore, who called it "awesome" to see the secondary "recover after getting beat up the past couple of weeks and allowing some passing yardage." Davidson completed 25 of 49 passes for 183 yards.
The offense turned three of those four takeaways into touchdowns, none of them more than three plays in the making. Facing third-and-19 after Lopez's interception, senior quarterback
Dom Nankil found
Christopher Hall for a 35-yard score.
Adam Criter, who had already capped an 11-play, 82-yard drive with a 13-yard touchdown run, went 25 yards for another two snaps after the fumble, and Nankil hit
Cole Monach from 28 yards out two snaps after Castille's interception.
Nankil completed 24 of 33 passes for 321 yards, his second straight 300-yard game, and a season-high four touchdowns, matching in one afternoon his total from the first four games. Monach did the same, scoring from 28, 22 and 34 yards among his eight catches for a season-best 124 yards.
Elijah Taylor also caught eight passes, good for 114 yards and his second straight 100-yard game, and Hall added four for 72.
"It was fun. It was great for the defense to turn the ball over that many times and get us the ball in some great situations," Monach said. "I loved seeing everyone have fun out there. That's how we want it to be, and that's how it should be."
When Davidson scored with 50 seconds left in the half, Nankil needed only 33 of them to answer, hitting Taylor three times for 37 yards before finding Monach over the middle for 22 and a 35-7 lead at the break. The Toreros opened the third quarter with a six-play, 84-yard march that
Omar Mbakwe set up with a 28-yard run to the 1 and finished on the next snap, and after the Wildcats made it 42-14,
Major Givens brought the kickoff back 51 yards and Monach hauled in his 34-yarder two plays later.
Castille returned his second interception 42 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, and freshman
Zamar Reese, a San Marcos High product, capped the scoring with the first touchdown of his career, a 26-yard run on fourth-and-2 with 1:03 to play.
The 63 points and 529 yards were both season highs, and the Toreros did not commit a turnover. They ran for 190 yards on 30 carries, led by Criter's 75 and Mbakwe's 60, and averaged 7.9 yards per play, while Davidson was held to 27 rushing yards on 24 attempts and 210 total yards, the fewest by a USD opponent this season. Lopez led San Diego with eight tackles for the second straight week,
Tim Hays had seven,
Dillon Kellner broke up three passes and
Joe Bolder had a sack among his two tackles for loss.
Saturday was San Diego's first game at Torero Stadium since the Sept. 5 season opener, following trips to Idaho State, Cal Poly and St. Thomas, and 1,724 turned out in the heat for the Toreros' Military Appreciation Game.
"It feels good, especially when you get a victory like this," Nankil said. "Playing at home after three long road trips, it's a blessing, so I feel like that really motivated us this week, just to be able to be back at home and play on our grass and defend our home field."
The win was San Diego's third straight over Davidson and extended its lead in the all-time series to 17-5.
UP NEXT
San Diego visits Butler on Saturday, Oct. 10, at 10 a.m. PT at the Bud and Jackie Sellick Bowl in Indianapolis, then returns to Torero Stadium for homecoming against Valparaiso on Saturday, Oct. 17, at 1 p.m.
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