South Dakota completed its sweep of Northern Colorado with a 14-6 win Saturday at Nottingham Field. It was the Coyotes' first trip to Greeley in 10 years and the program's first road win against its former NCC rival since 1988, ending an eight-game skid.
 
Here are more notes from week four…

• South Dakota totaled a season-high 203 yards on the ground, the 10^th time under Bob Nielson the team has managed to surpass 200 yards rushing
• Northern Colorado netted 37 yards rushing after factoring in five sacks for 49 yards. That's the lowest total by a USD opponent since Western Illinois mustered 21 yards (on 22 carries) in the second-to-last game of last season inside the DakotaDome.
• Those five sacks came from five different defenders. It was the most sacks by USD since getting six on Youngstown State on Dakota Days 2017.
• Jake Matthew, Jakari Starling and Stephen Hillis each recorded their first career sacks. Kameron Cline got his second sack of the season and fourth of his career. Darin Greenfield has a sack in three consecutive games and has 22 for his career.
• Greenfield (22 sacks) surpassed Brent Peterson (21.5 sacks from 1994-97) for third place on USD's all-time sacks list. Tyler Starr and A.J. Schable lead the list with 27.0 sacks.
• Greenfield (45.5 TFL) also surpassed Peterson and Schable to move into third place on USD's all-time tackles-for-loss list. Just Scott Larson (48.0 TFL) and Bill Gassen (50.5 TFL) have more.
• South Dakota's defense allowed 223 yards Saturday, the fewest since a 77-7 win at Drake to begin the 2017 season
• The six points allowed by USD are the fewest since beating Indiana State 56-6 at home on Oct. 14, 2017
• Elijah Reed registered his 100^th tackle during the game. The hit came against a receiver across the middle of the field, stopping him a yard short of a first down near the end of the third quarter that led to a UNC punt.
• Ben Klett (3 carries, 26 yards) scored his first touchdown of the season and seventh of his Coyote career
• Connor Herrmann (2 catches, 15 yards) has three touchdown catches in the last two games, and four touchdown catches for his career
• Canaan Brooks ran 11 times for a career-best 50 yards
• Austin Simmons ran a career-high 18 times and netted 64 yards (14 carries for 91 yards without sacks factored in)
• Simmons continues to lead the nation in completions at more than 30 per game
• Austin Goehring's second career catch was a big one. It was a tough, 6-yard grab on 3^rd-and-5 at the end of third quarter on the drive that USD scored to extend its lead to 14-6.

 
QUOTABLE
 
Junior running back Ben Klett
On the offense in the fourth quarter…
"It was a lot of fun. I was able to get into the game and do what I'm capable of doing. I'm glad the coaches trusted me and I was able to put some points on the board when we needed them. I was just thinking about getting the first down, but as I was going through the line, I just happened to pop outside and saw the corner and the safety back there, and I saw their size and stature and knew if I lowered my shoulders and drove my feet that I could reach the end zone.
 
"It was awesome. We needed those points. I remember celebrating with the o-line. They did such a great job of getting me in there. And then getting the ball back with under five minutes to go and not letting them get the ball back. The line gave us just enough of a crease that we were able to get through the holes and move the chains."
 
Junior right guard Mason Scheidegger
On racking up more than 200 yards on the ground…
"I like how we established the run in this one. That was a big positive for us. We weren't physical enough against Houston Baptist the week before, but just that little bit of movement on blocks was the difference between a 10-yard gain and a 2-yard gain. That was the biggest thing for us this week.
 
"On Ben's touchdown run, we got really good movement up front from me and (Isaac) Erbes and then Walley (Austin Wallace) had a good pull and sealed off that front-side backer. Ben had to make one guy miss and then it was smooth sailing from there."
 
On running out the clock…
"The biggest thing we focus on, especially with our youth, is finishing games, and that was something we didn't do well the week before when we had the chance. So I think that drive at the end just to seal it, I can't remember the last time we've done that as an offense where we finished the game out and didn't even need the defense to go back on the field. That really gave us a step forward as an offensive line."
 
Junior linebacker Jake Matthew
On the performance on the defense…
"We really focused on fundamentals and not trying to win the football game on one play. We worked on getting our hands in the right position so that we could get off the block and go make the tackle. In this game, we had 11 guys who trusted the process and trusted each other and that was the result.
 
"I didn't try to play above and beyond or do anything extra. I trusted the game plan, which put me in the right spot and, yeah, on the sheets, it was one of my best games."
 
On smothering the run game…
"We pride ourselves on making offenses one dimension and this was the third team we've limited to less than 100 yards rushing. Obviously, five sacks from five different individuals helped, and I think that hustle and determination to get that first win carried the day."
 
Senior defensive end Darin Greenfield
On the defensive improvement…
"We did some different things that produced positive results. We shifted a little more pre-snap and that might have gotten into their heads a little bit. We really got after them. We had a guy in a gap every time and that was something we had struggled with was having 11 guys on the same page with run fits and stuff like that and we're finally getting that under control."
 
On defending the edges…
"We had struggled a little bit with that, but we worked a lot on those plays and we were in the right fit in defending some of those screens. When we stopped that, they tried to throw down the field a bit more and we were able to get some pressure on the quarterback.
 
"We still made a lot of mistakes in terms of technique and making our reads faster, but it's something we are going to work hard on during our off week so we can continue to win games in the Valley."

AUDIBLE
For more on Saturday's game, check out the latest edition of YoteCast, the official podcast of the South Dakota Coyotes. In Monday's edition, John Thayer, who worked the sidelines for the Coyote Sports Network and Jay Elsen of Midco Sports Network, break down the game against the Bears and look ahead to the start of conference play.