VERMILLION, S.D.—South Dakota racked up more than 700 yards of total offense and kept Indiana State out of the end zone in a 56-6 victory inside the DakotaDome Saturday.
The fourth-ranked Coyotes, one of seven unbeaten FCS teams heading into the weekend, moved to 6-0 for the first time since 2005 and to 3-0 inside the Valley. Indiana State (0-6, 0-3 MVFC) remains winless under first-year head coach Curt Mallory.
South Dakota quarterback
Chris Streveler had game highs of 337 yards passing and 82 yards rushing in three quarters of work. He threw two touchdown passes each to wide outs
Kody Case and
Brandt Van Roekel, and also scored on a 46-yard touchdown run just before halftime that gave the Coyotes a 28-6 lead. Streveler has accounted for 25 touchdowns against no turnovers in six games this season.
Indiana State started junior quarterback Isaac Harker for the first time since week one, and he led the Sycamores to a pair of field goals on Indiana State's first two possessions. But after the six points, Indiana State was held to 94 yards on 37 plays the rest of the way. The Sycamores ran 22 plays in the second half and earned two first downs.
Jim Litrenta led the Coyotes with eight tackles and had one of South Dakota's nine tackles-for-loss. True freshman
Nathan Schultz earned his first collegiate sack and redshirt freshman
Jacob Headlee got his second.
South Dakota's offense scored touchdowns on eight of its first 10 possessions. The exceptions were a punt in the second quarter and a lost fumble in the middle of the third. It was the first offensive turnover committed by South Dakota in seven games dating back to last season. The Coyotes ran 544 plays from scrimmage spanning 26 quarters of football without their offense turning it over.
Van Roekel skied high to grab a 10-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter that gave the Coyotes a 7-3 lead. He came back with a 55-yard bomb from Streveler on the second possession to make it 14-6. Van Roekel caught seven passes for 108 yards for his second 100-yard effort in three games. It was also Van Roekel's first two-touchdown game. He has 14 career touchdown catches.
Case caught a 35-yard touchdown pass with 6:38 left in the second quarter that made it 21-6. He capped the first possession of the second half with a 22-yard score that made it 35-6. Case entered with one catch over the last three games, but had three catches for 62 yards against the Sycamores.
Austin Simmons took over for Streveler in the fourth quarter and immediately threw a slant pass to
Randy Baker who raced untouched 52 yards for a touchdown that made it 49-6.
Ben Klett finished the scoring with a 25-yard touchdown run with 9:38 remaining.
Streveler and Simmons combined to pass for 410 yards while the ground game netted 295 (705 in all). In addition to Streveler,
Michael Fredrick ran nine times for 82 yards, which included an impressive 53-yard touchdown run up the middle late in the third quarter. Klett gained 54 yards on eight totes.
Kai Henry ran six times for 48 yards.
Ethan Falaniko came on late and ran six times for 26 yards.
The six wins by South Dakota equals the most by the program at the Division I level. The Coyotes will go for seven straight next weekend against Illinois State in Normal, Illinois. The 15
th-ranked Redbirds (4-2, 2-1) have followed a 4-0 start to their season with back-to-back losses, including a 42-7 setback at Southern Illinois Saturday.
