Full Game Notes (.pdf) | Missouri State Notes (.pdf)

The Basics
South Dakota (2-3, 1-0 MVFC) at Missouri State (1-3, 1-0 MVFC)
Saturday, Oct. 12 at 2 p.m. CDT
Springfield, Mo. (Plaster Stadium)
TV: None
Radio: Coyote Sports Network (Joe Van Goor, Gary Culver, John Thayer)
Watch Online: ESPN3 (Brad Wells, Danan Hughes, Connor Onion)
Series: South Dakota leads 3-2 (home team has won every game)

About the Coyotes:  USD is coming off back-to-back wins in which the Coyotes have outrushed their opponents 515-77 and outscored them 52-6 ... senior QB Austin Simmons ranks eighth nationally in total offense after rushing for a career-high 138 yards and passing for 210 while accounting for four scores last week ... senior DE Darin Greenfield is a two-time All-American who has registered a sack in four consecutive games ... the defense has totaled nine sacks in the last two games and 13 overall ... junior WR Caleb Vander Esch has led the team in receiving three games in a row

About the Bears:  Missouri State is coming off a 37-31, triple-overtime win at Western Illinois, a game tied at 21-21 at the end of regulation ... senior QB Peyton Huslig passed for 315 yards and four scores ...  he is the second-leading passer in the Valley behind Simmons at 256 yards per game and has surpassed 5,000 yards for his career ... Huslig returns his top-two receivers in Tyler Currie and Lorenzo Thomas ... two of the team's losses are to Tulane (FBS) and then-No. 6 Kennesaw State (35-24) ... the Bears are last in the Valley in rushing, averaging 76 yards per game and allowing 242 per game ... senior DE Matt McClellan has three of the team's four sacks and is the Bears' third-leading tackler

Quick Hits
-All-American DE Darin Greenfield is two TFL shy of the program's all-time record of 50.5
-Greenfield has a sack in four consecutive games and is 4.0 shy of USD's all-time record
-Austin Simmons stands 45 yards shy of 5,000 career passing yards. He would become the fifth USD quarterback to reach that plateau.
-Thirty-eight FCS teams have attempted fewer passes than Austin Simmons has completed, including half of the MVFC programs
-USD had four rushing scores for the first time in MVFC play last week (since 2012)
-USD returned three cornerbacks from injury last week including two starters
-Caleb Vander Esch has 16 catches for a team-high 227 yards in his last three games
-The Coyotes got nine of their 13 sacks over the last two games (from seven different players)
-USD beat MSU 35-28 on Dakota Days last year

The Notes
What a difference a few games can make. After surrendering 154 points thru three games, the Coyotes have allowed next to nothing in back-to-back wins. South Dakota allowed 613 yards per game in its first three, and permitted a total of 497 in its last two.
    Certainly, quarterback play has a role. USD faced Montana senior Dalton Sneed (early candidate for Walter Payton Award), Oklahoma senior Jalen Hurts (early candidate for Heisman), and Houston Baptist junior Bailey Zappe (FCS's leading passer).
    In the last two games, zero touchdown passes allowed and a run defense that limited Northern Colorado and Indiana State to a combined 77 yards on 66 carries. Even if you take out nine sacks, those two teams had 57 designed runs for 144 yards (2.5 ypc). Northern Colorado entered its game with a 121-yard rushing average. Indiana State entered with a 216-yard rushing average.

Start, then, with a senior-laden defensive line that was on full display last week at Indiana State. Two-time All-American defensive end Darin Greenfield has posted a sack in four straight games and had three tackles-for-loss last week against the Sycamores. Kameron Cline has lined up at both tackle and end and had a career-high nine tackles last week with two for loss. He also forced Indiana State's interception with pressure. Co-captain DeValon Whitcomb got his second sack of the season and had a career-best five stops a week ago. Indiana State's longest run last week was nine yards and it came off a quarterback scramble.

Enter Missouri State, a team averaging just 76 yards on the ground, but with a senior and three-year starter at the helm in Peyton Huslig. In a 35-28 loss at South Dakota last season, Huslig passed for 283 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for 91 yards and two scores. Donovan Daniels added 61 yards on 15 carries and the Bears totaled 478 yards in all. Tyler Currie and Lorenzo Thomas combined for 13 catches, 174 yards and a score.

Austin Simmons completed 28 of 38 passes for 337 yards and ran for 45 in last year's win against Missouri State on Dakota Days. The Coyotes got an unsung hero in running back Ben Klett, who ran 19 times for 96 yards and three touchdowns. Dakarai Allen and Levi Falck both caught five passes for 73 yards each. The game was decided by USD's goal-line stand with two minutes to go followed by a final defensive stop in the closing minute.

Another factor last week was the return of starting cornerbacks Mark Collins Jr. and Bakhari Goodson. Collins Jr. led the nation in passes defended per game last year. He was injured while making an interception in the opening quarter of the season and didn't return until last week. Goodson, a transfer from Massachusetts, started games two and three before being injured against Houston Baptist. Both players started and took the majority of the snaps last week against Indiana State.

After averaging 93 yards on the ground through three weeks, the Coyotes ran for 203 yards at Northern Colorado and for 312 yards last week against Indiana State. USD's 8.4-yard average against the Sycamores was its best since 2011. The Coyotes also ran for four scores, the first time they have acheived that feat inside MVFC play.

Austin Simmons and Kai Henry both eclipsed 100 yards rushing last week and both did so by the end of the third quarter. Simmons had touchdown runs of 4, 37 and 44 yards and also had a 33-yard carry. Henry had four runs of at least 10 yards including a 42-yard touchdown run in the first half. It marked the first time USD had two 100-yard rushers in 18 games dating back to 2017.

Kody Case stole the headlines during the first two games of the season when he totaled 17 catches for 212 yards and three touchdowns. But he was injured in the second half against Oklahoma and did not return. He missed two games and started last week against Indiana State. He played nine snaps in the first quarter before being tackled following his second catch of the game and did not return.
    After the game, Head Coach Bob Nielson said Case could have returned, but wasn't needed as the lead grew. He is expected to make his fourth start of the season Saturday.

Austin Simmons (284 ypg) and Peyton Huslig (256 ypg) are the only Valley quarterbacks averaging better than 215 yards passing. Simmons set program single-game records for passing yards (537), attempts (65) and completions (48) in the game against Houston Baptist. The 537 yards in one game is the second-highest total by any player at any level of the NCAA this season.

For 16 consecutive games dating back to 2017, USD's offense had passed for more yards than it had run. That has not been the case during these last two wins.

Seven Coyotes in program history have caught 11 passes in a single game. It has happened twice in each of the last three seasons (since 2017). Kody Case caught 11 passses in the season opener and Randy Baker caught 11 passes against Houston Baptist. Levi Falck (vs. Kansas State in 2018) is the other active Coyote to achieve the feat.

South Dakota's offense has converted 25 of 47 third downs during its last three games (53 percent). USD converted 3 of 21 during its first two games.

South Dakota is working in a new "positionless" defense headed by coordinator Travis Johansen, who was the defensive coordinator at Grand View (Iowa) from 2013-18. In those six seasons, the Vikings were 61-11 with five conference championships, six NAIA playoff appearances and the 2013 national title (14-0).

Darin Greenfield's 48.5 career tackles-for-loss are 2.0 shy of the program record held by Bill Gassen (1999-2002). His 23.0 career sacks trail only Tyler Starr (2011-13) and A.J. Schable (2002-05) who share the all-time mark with 27.0.

Five different Coyotes registered a sack against Northern Colorado two games ago. Four different Coyotes registered a sack last week against Indiana State. Missouri State has allowed seven sacks thru four games.

There are no seniors in USD's 18-member linebacker crew. Jack Cochrane is a true junior and an all-MVFC Academic Team honoree who serves as the Coyotes' second-leading tackler. Junior Jake Matthew and redshirt freshman Jakari Starling have started all five games and redshirt freshman Brock Mogensen has started the last three.

Right guard Mason Scheidegger has started all 29 games since the start of the 2017 season, and has played all five positions during his career. Redshirt freshman Isaac Erbes is the reigning Valley Offensive Lineman of the Week. Sophomore Alex Jensen is starting at left tackle after competing at tight end the previous two seasons. Another redshirt freshman, Kian Rexroat-Potts, starts at center.

On special teams, Brady Schutt has the nation's fourth-best punting average at 46.9 yards per boot. Mason Lorber made a career-long 44-yarder in last week's win.

Austin Simmons ranks eighth nationally in total offense (333 ypg), ninth for completion percentage (68.2 percent) and 15th for passing (284 ypg). His 10 touchdown passes rank 29th nationally.
    Here is where Simmons stands on USD's all-time lists:
    USD career touchdown pass leaders:
    4. Ryan Justice (1999-2002)    36
    5. Austin Simmons (2016-pres.)    35
        Dante Warren (2008-11)    35

    USD career passing leaders:
    4. Ryan Justice (1999-2002)    5,944
    5. Austin Simmons (2016-pres.)    4,955 (-989)