VERMILLION, S.D.—South Dakota redshirt freshman Austin Simmons threw two touchdown passes and the Coyote defense forced three turnovers and held Illinois State to seven points in the second half in a 27-24 victory Saturday inside the DakotaDome.
 
It was the third win in a row for South Dakota (4-3, 3-1 MVFC), which matched its best start in Valley play. The Coyotes stand in a three-way tie for second place in the conference with four games remaining. South Dakota hosts Western Illinois next Saturday in Vermillion.
 
Illinois State (3-5, 1-4 MVFC), the two-time defending Valley co-champions, lost for the fifth time in six games and for the first time in six games against the Coyotes. The Redbirds racked up 474 yards of offense, but the three turnovers – two of which occurred inside the 10-yard line – were costly. Illinois State faced 4^th-and-8 from the USD 44 with 1:20 remaining, but the ensuing pass was broken up by Coyote cornerback Adam Harris.
 
"That's fun. Fun to win close games," said USD head coach Bob Nielson, whose team has won all four games by three points. "Our guys are finding ways to do it. It wasn't perfect, and not the way you like to draw it up as a coach, but I give our guys a lot of credit. No matter what adversity hits, they keep believing in each other and their ability to make a play when they need to make a play."
 
Without starting quarterback Chris Streveler, the Coyotes rotated senior Ryan Saeger and Simmons throughout the first quarter. Saeger led South Dakota 49 yards on 10 plays on the opening drive of the game which resulted in a 29-yard Miles Bergner field goal. Simmons took drive two and threw a 54-yard pass to Trystn Ducker to reach the Illinois State 4. Michael Fredrick ran in untouched on the next play and it was 10-7 Coyotes.
 
Saeger and Simmons rotated drive three. Simmons capped the drive with a 15-yard strike to Riley Donovan in the back of the end zone and USD led 17-7 late in the first quarter. Simmons was 3-for-5 on the drive for 39 yards.
 
"We were going to divide the snaps earlier and felt if either of them got the hot hand, he'd play," said Nielson. "I thought Austin really threw the ball well in the first half. He put the ball on the money. As the game got on, we just felt like he was playing with a lot of confidence and has the ability to make some plays with his feet similar to Chris and so he became the guy we decided to go with."
 
Simmons connected with Tacari Carpenter for a 26-yard touchdown with 5:14 left before halftime to give USD its largest lead at 24-7. He was 8-for-14 for 131 yards and the two scores in the first half. He also ran eight times for 33 yards.
 
"You never know when a guy is going to be out and when your opportunity is going to come, so you always have to be ready," said Simmons.
 
Illinois State closed the half on a 10-0 run to make it 24-17 at the half. Sean Slattery hit a 44-yard field goal and, following a 3-and-out, the Redbirds drove quickly to the Coyote 2 before DeMarco Corbin punched it in to make it a one-score game.
 
Corbin carried 12 times for a game-high 108 yards for Illinois State. Teammate James Robinson, a redshirt freshman who entered with back-to-back 100-yard games, ran eight times for 44 yards and a touchdown in the first half, but was injured with four minutes left and did not return.
 
Bergner pushed the lead back to 10 with a 39-yard field goal with 4:46 to go in the third quarter. But that was all Illinois State surrendered in the second half. The Coyotes totaled 38 yards on their next five drives and didn't run a play outside its own 40 until the final drive of the game.
 
That certainly put the pressure on the defense and the Coyotes made the plays they needed to. Jake Leohr stripped Corbin on a run at the Coyote 6 and Jet Moreland recovered to stall Illinois State's second drive of the half. On the Redbirds' next chance, USD defensive tackle Taylor Lambert stuffed a 3^rd-and-2 run from the 35 for four yards and forced a Redbird punt. Next, Corbin broke thru for a 42-yard run towards the end zone, but cornerback Marchelo Judge caught him at the 2, forced him to fumble into the end zone and Alex Coker fell on it for a touchback.
 
It got interesting when Illinois State pulled off a fake punt on 4^th-and-6 from its own 43 with eight minutes left. Punter Reece Attard ran around the right end with no one home for a 15-yard gain and a first down. Two plays later, quarterback Jake Kolbe threw quick left to Christian Gibbs, who broke free for a 42-yard touchdown. Slattery's extra point made it 27-24 with 7:43 remaining.
 
The Redbirds had two drives to try to tie or take the lead. The first stalled when Kameron Cline sacked Kolbe on 2^nd-and-7 at the Illinois State 41 and Kolbe threw incomplete on the next play. Illinois State started from its 44 with 1:58 left, but Lambert and Darin Greenfield forced a 9-yard intentional grounding to make it 2^nd-and-19 from the Redbird 45. Kolbe threw complete to Spencer Schnell for eight yards on second down and to Jamal Towns for three yards on third down to force 4^th-and-8, and Harris made the fourth-down stop.
 
"One big difference in this year's team is that momentum is almost a non-factor at this point," said Lambert, who finished with three tackles including two for loss. "We do a great job of coming out every play, whether they score and make a big play or we make a big play."
 
Kolbe finished 22-of-36 for 241 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Schnell caught nine passes for 83 yards and Anthony Fowler added six grabs for 72. Anthony Warrum, the Redbirds' All-American receiver, was held to two catches and 23 yards. Credit Coyote cornerback Danny Rambo for playing well in coverage.
 
Simmons completed 13-of-30 passes for 205 yards. He had one collegiate completion entering the game. Saeger was 4-for-7 for 42 yards. Trevor Bouma ran 16 times for 55 yards and climbed into sixth place on the Coyotes' all-time rushing list with 2,282 yards. Simmons added 36 yards on 12 carries and Michael Fredrick had 24 yards and the touchdown.