The game
South Dakota and North Dakota are meeting for the first time following a four-year hiatus and for the first time as non-conference foes since 1921, the year before the North Central Conference was formed. USD and UND met 80 times as NCC rivals and in 66 consecutive seasons following World War II until the two programs branched off to the MVFC and Big Sky in 2012. The teams will meet again next year in Vermillion towards the end of the non-conference slate.
Saturday is the home opener for North Dakota, which hasn't lost its first home game of the season since 1986. UND has allowed an average of one touchdown in winning 29 consecutive home openers.
South Dakota rallied from 21 points down in the fourth quarter against Weber State last week to push its win streak in home openers to 14 games. North Dakota, meanwhile, fell 27-26 to Bowling Green last week following a failed two-point conversion try in the final seconds. The Hawks lost 13-9 in their season opener at Stony Brook. The Seawolves scored on a blocked punt in the fourth quarter of that game for the deciding score.
Coaching Connection
South Dakota head coach
Bob Nielson hired North Dakota coach Bubba Schweigert at Minnesota Duluth after the 2003 football season when Nielson moved from head football coach to athletic director. Schweigert coached the Bulldogs for four seasons before leaving to become the defensive coordinator at Southern Illinois. Nielson returned to the sidelines in 2008 and led Duluth to a 15-0 record and a Division II national championship.
That's not all. Schweigert recruited Coyote pass game coordinator
Ted Schlafke and co-defensive coordinator
Tyler Yelk to Minnesota Duluth and was their head coach. Schlafke and Yelk were senior leaders on the 2008 championship team under Nielson.
The venue
The Alerus Center, an indoor venue, was opened in 2001 and UND is 5-0 against South Dakota in it. The city of Grand Forks has been a far worse host. It hasn't offered a Coyote victory since 1985. USD is 0-12 in Grand Forks since.
USD offense vs. UND defense
South Dakota has piled up 493 yards rushing thru two games – 16
th best in the nation. Its quarterback,
Chris Streveler, is the nation's third-leading rusher with 256 yards in that span. Senior running back
Trevor Bouma is coming off a 150-yard performance against Weber State – second-best in his collegiate career.
North Dakota has led the Big Sky in run defense for two consecutive years and have yielded 152 yards on the ground in two games – 14
th best in the nation. The Hawks return nine defensive starters from a year ago including junior safety Cole Reyes, a preseason all-Big Sky honoree.
USD defense vs. UND offense
North Dakota features sophomore preseason All-American running back John Santiago, who ran for 1,459 yards and 16 touchdowns last season. He's ran 34 times for 170 yards and two scores thru two games in 2016. Quarterback Keaton Studsrud has averaged 124 yards passing in 15 collegiate games. Senior wide out Clive Georges was lost for the season in game one. True freshman Travis Toivonen leads the team with nine catches for 92 yards.
South Dakota has allowed 83 points and 588 yards rushing thru two games. Help may be on the way as senior linebacker and team captain
John Wessel has returned to practice this week. Wessel is the team's active career leader in starts (25) and tackles (192). Junior cornerback
Adam Harris had two interceptions against Weber State last week to ignite the Coyotes' rally. Senior outside linebacker and team captain
Jet Moreland has been the Coyotes' leading tackler in both games this season.
Record Watch
Coyote senior
Miles Bergner is the nation's leading punter thru two games with a 52.3-yard average. Seven of his 10 punts have gone at least 50 yards. In addition, Bergner stands with 43 career made field goals. His next field goal make will tie him with Hall of Famer Kurt Seibel for the program record.
In addition, Bouma stands with 1,913 career rushing yards. He needs 87 to reach 2,000 and 260 to break into the top-10 on the Coyotes' career rushing list.
One last thing
Including last week's win against Weber State, South Dakota is 5-4 against members of the Big Sky Conference since defeating Eastern Washington in Vermillion back in 2011. The Coyotes got their first road win against the Big Sky last season in a 27-17 victory at UC Davis.
