The University of San Diego beat Presbyterian 24-21 on Saturday morning in South Carolina, the Toreros 40th straight Pioneer Football League win. That should have given them the longest conference winning streak in Football Championship Subdivision history.
Alas, USD will have to wait another week for that.
The Blue Hose are first year members of the PFL so the conference decided to give them a kind of probationary season. Their six games will count in the standings, but NOT in any kind of historical context (I know, it doesn’t make any sense to me, either).
USD’s defense was, as it’s been all year, stout and opportunistic. Less than five minutes in Amir Wallace ripped a ball right out of the hands of Blue Hose receiver Jalen Jones and raced 23 yards to the end zone for a 7-0 lead.
Defensive lineman Chris Reese made a play at the end of the first half, picking off a pass at the line of scrimmage to set up a 4-yard touchdown pass from Mason Randall to Michael Carner that put the Toreros up 17-7 at the break.
Randall threw another 15-yard TD pass to Derek Kline in the 3rd quarter to make it a 24-7 game but also tossed a pair of interceptions, one at the goal line, that kept it from getting out of hand.
Presbyterian scored a couple of late touchdowns to get within a field goal but their onside kick attempt failed and USD finished the game in victory formation.
The silver lining is now the Toreros have a chance to set the record at home. They host Davidson next Saturday with kickoff slated for noon.