VERMILLION, S.D.—South Dakota will open the 2019 football season at home against Montana on Aug. 31 and will host Houston Baptist in the third game of the season on Sept. 14 head coach Bob Nielson announced Wednesday. The two additions complete the 2019 slate which provides six home games for the first time since 2014.
 
"We are committed to playing the best Division I competition in the country," said Nielson. "We are excited about the challenges our schedule provides this year and in years to come."
 
South Dakota and Montana will meet for the 19^th time and for the seventh time in a season opener since 1949. The two programs met every year from 1965-75, again in 1999, and each year from 2012-14. Each of the last three meetings were decided by eight points or less. A return game against Montana will take place in Missoula during the 2022 season with an exact date to be determined.
 
It will be the first meeting between the Coyotes and the Huskies of Houston Baptist, which joined the Southland Conference in 2014. The game will be played one week following South Dakota's first-ever game against Oklahoma. The non-conference portion of USD's 2019 schedule concludes the following week at Northern Colorado.
 
Click here to view the 2019 football schedule.