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The Basics
Houston Baptist (1-1, 0-0 Southland) at South Dakota (0-2, 0-0 MVFC)
Saturday, Sept. 14 at 2 p.m. CST
Vermillion, S.D. (DakotaDome)
TV: MidcoSN 2 (Jay Elsen, Andre Fields, Kelly Stewart)
Radio: Coyote Sports Network (Joe Van Goor, Gary Culver, John Thayer)
Watch Online: FREE webcast on GoYotes.com | ESPN3
Series: First Meeting

About the Coyotes:  USD is two years removed from an 8-5 season and the program's first trip to the FCS playoffs ... the Coyotes have faced the toughest FCS schedule to date with the pairing of No. 18 Montana and No. 4 Oklahoma ... R-So. wide receiver Kody Case has been the headliner thru two weeks with 17 catches, 212 yards and three scores ... QB Austin Simmons led the Valley in passing last season and has thrown at least two TDs in three consecutive games dating back to last year ... senior DE Darin Greenfield is a two-time All-American who registered his 20th collegiate sack last week in Norman

About the Huskies:  Houston Baptist played in its first full season in 2014 ... Vic Shealy is the program's first coach ... the Huskies just missed an upset at UTEP in week one (36-34) and beat up on Texas Wesleyan (NAIA) 58-13 in week two ... HBU has lost its last 19 games against FCS foes dating back to the start of 2017, but the near miss at UTEP shows they are improving ... junior QB Bailey Zappe has four 300-yard passing games in his career and has five TDs in two games this season ... all three HBU interceptions and five of its nine sacks have come on third down where foes are 5 of 26

Quick Hits
-Sixteen of USD's 26 foes since 2017 have been either a ranked FCS team or an FBS member
-Since 2017, USD is 6-4 against unranked FCS teams while averaging 38 points per game
-Since joining the Valley in 2012, USD is 7-1 against non-conference, unranked FCS foes
-The Coyotes faced both Nicholls and Sam Houston State out of the Southland during their playoff run in 2017
-HBU is the seventh member of the Southland Conference USD has met
-Kody Case ranks fifth nationally in receptions (17), 16th in yards (212) and third in TDs (3). He had 11 catches at home against Montana.
-Bob Nielson is one of 14 active NCAA coaches with 200 career victories. He is a two-time national champion and three-time national coach of the year.
-DE Darin Greenfield and WR Dakarai Allen are returning all-Valley performers. Greenfield is a two-time All-American.

The Notes
South Dakota is back in Vermillion this weekend to host the Houston Baptist Huskies in the first matchup between the two programs. USD and HBU were both members of the Great West Conference from 2008-12, but never met on the gridiron. That's because the Huskies' program first kicked off in 2014 and as a member of the Southland Conference. This is Houston Baptist's first matchup against a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

The Coyotes are returning from a trip to Norman, Oklahoma, where the highlights were a pair of 75-yard touchdown drives orchestrated by quarterback Austin Simmons in the third quarter. Simmons threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Kody Case to put the Coyotes on the board, and came back with a 10-play drive capped by a 27-yard touchdown toss to Caleb Vander Esch on 4th-and-12. USD reached the Oklahoma 36 on their next possession, but a jump ball interception gave the Sooners possession.

South Dakota is working in a new "positionless" defense headed by coordinator Travis Johansen, and for the second week in a row, the Coyotes found success in stopping the ground game of a dual-threat quarterback. In week one, USD held Montana quarterback Dalton Sneed to 25 yards on eight runs and a net of 11 yards when factoring in two sacks. Last week, USD held Oklahoma star Jalen Hurts to 57 yards rushing on seven carries and 47 yards overall. Hurts got 36 of those yards on one play.

Johansen 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). Grand View finished in the top 15 of the national rankings in all six seasons.

Defensively in week two, the Coyotes welcomed the return of Mike Johnson at safety and he turned in six tackles and a pass breakup. The move also meant more snaps at linebacker for Elijah Reed and he finished with a career-best 12 tackles.

Starting cornerback Mark Collins Jr. missed Saturday's game due to an injury sustained while making an interception in week one. True freshman Cori Fant Jr. made the start in his place and made six tackles, all solo. Bakhari Goodson, a transfer from Massachusetts, earned his first start at the other cornerback position. Cameron Tisdale, an all-Valley newcomer team member a year ago, has nine career starts at the cornerback position.

The Coyotes boast four seniors along their defensive line including two-time All-American Darin Greenfield. Greenfield earned his first sack of the season last week and it came against Sooner quarterback Jalen Hurts. It was the 20th sack of his collegiate career, which ranks fourth on the Coyotes' all-time list.
    Collectively, Greenfield and fellow seniors Kameron Cline, Luis Peguero and DeValon Whitcomb have compiled 306 tackles, 68.5 for loss, and 28 sacks over the last four seasons.

South Dakota, defensively, drew four holding penalties against Oklahoma's offensive line in Saturday's game. Greenfield and Brendan Webb each drew one and linebackers Jake Matthew and Jakari Starling drew the others.

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 returns as the Coyotes' second-leading tackler. Matthew and redshirt freshmen Jakari Starling and Jonathan Joanis have made starts this season. Dakota Smith, another redshirt freshman, earned a fourth-quarter sack in his collegiate debut against Montana.

It has been a solid debut for USD's offensive line, which features two redshirt freshmen in Kian Rexroat-Potts (center) and Isaac Erbes (right tackle) and sophomore Alex Jensen (left tackle), who competed at tight end the last two seasons at USD. The unit allowed just two sacks to Oklahoma Saturday and none to a talented Montana defense in the opener.

Right guard Mason Scheidegger has started all 26 games since the start of the 2017 season. He has been featured at all five positions along the offensive line.

USD averaged 190 yards on the ground two years ago when the team qualified for the FCS playoffs. That average fell to 125 yards per game last season, and it is certainly a number head coach Bob Nielson is working to balance out this season.
    The Coyotes return their top three rushers including junior Kai Henry, who ran for 336 yards and five scores during the last five games of 2018. Henry has compiled more than 1,100 yards in his two seasons with 13 scores. Canaan Brooks (18 car, 57 yds) earned the start last week and has taken twice as many handoffs as any other USD running back during these first two games.

The strength of South Dakota's offense is its receiving corps where Simmons returns nine of his top-10 receivers from last season. Included in that list is all-Valley wide out Dakarai Allen, who led USD with 48 catches for 703 yards and five touchdowns in 2018. Levi Falck was second on the team with 45 catches and totaled 492 yards receiving.

The return of Kody Case has stolen most of the headlines through two weeks. Case missed all but four games of last season due to injury and had 25 catches for 430 yards and five touchdowns as a true freshman in 2017. Case tied a USD single-game record by catching 11 passes in the season opener against Montana. He totaled 144 yards and two scores in that game all in the first three quarters, and came back with six catches, 68 yards and a score last week against the fourth-ranked Sooners.

Adding to the depth, Wesley Eliodor and Carter Kuchel each caught their first passes as Coyotes last week against Oklahoma. In addition, Drew Greenhaw was USD's second-leading receiver with three catches and 40 yards.

Simmons is an honorable mention all-Valley pick who led the league and ranked fourth nationally with 3,124 yards passing during the regular season a year ago. That total is second-highest in program history. Simmons was sixth in the nation in total offense (314.2 ypg). He passed for at least 325 yards in four of eight MVFC games. Not accounting for sacks, Simmons was USD's top rusher with 549 yards and a 6.5-yard per carry average.

Simmons became the seventh Coyote quarterback to surpass 4,000 career yards during last week's game against Oklahoma. He stands 337 yards shy of Dante Warren (2008-11) for sixth on the Coyotes' all-time passing list. Warren is currently an assistant coach for the Coyotes who works primarily with USD running backs.

Mason Lorber made at least one field goal in all but two games a year ago. He ended the year with six straight makes and hit from 20 yards away against Montana in his only attempt of 2019. Lorber has added kickoff duties this season.
    Punter Brady Schutt ranked third in the Valley and 12th nationally with a punting average of 42.9 yards a year ago. Dalton Godfrey returns as the long snapper.

Third-down conversions is a number to watch Saturday. The Coyotes' offense, against talented competition, is
3 for 21on third down while Houston Baptist's defense has allowed five first downs on 26 attempts. Texas Wesleyan (NAIA) was 0 for 15 on third down against the Huskies last week in Houston.

The DakotaDome, which opened in 1979, is undergoing a $26.3 million renovation to its west side. These renovations will include:
    •  A football locker room, team meeting spaces and offices
    •  New permanent seating, club seating and concessions
    •  Smart lighting, sound and operational efficiencies
    •  Two new main entrances on the west side
More information on the project can be found at GoYotes.com/DomeReno.