South Dakota earned its sixth win of the season and moved to 4-2 in Valley play following a 42-21 win at Western Illinois Saturday in Macomb, Illinois. It is the third time in the last four (full) seasons that USD has won four games inside the Valley.
 
Here are some other notes from week nine:

• South Dakota moved up to No. 17 in this week's AFCA Coaches Poll, marking the fifth consecutive week the Coyotes have been featured in the top 25.
• It is the second time since 2011 that USD has won six games in a season. The Coyotes finished 8-5 in 2017 when the team advanced to the second round of the FCS playoffs.
• Carter Bell caught a 91-yard touchdown pass from Carson Camp, which is the longest pass completion in program history.
• Bell also caught a 60-yard touchdown pass and finished with five catches for 182 yards – all in the first half. The 182 receiving yards in a game are seventh-most in program history.
• Against Indiana State earlier this year, Nate Thomas ran 11 times for 111 yards and a touchdown. He ran 11 times for 110 yards and a touchdown Saturday at Western Illinois. He earned MVFC Newcomer of the Week following both performances.
• South Dakota totaled 479 yards of offense, its second-highest tally of the season, and averaged a season-high 7.1 yards per play.
• Carson Camp completed 13-of-21 passes for a season-high 246 yards and two touchdowns. He also scored his second collegiate rushing touchdown – first since his collegiate debut this past spring.
• Camp has completed 67-of-96 passes (69.8 percent) for 798 yards with nine touchdowns and zero interceptions over South Dakota's last five games.
• Johnathan Lewis, a graduate transfer from Rutgers, ran six times for 25 for and scored his first touchdown as a Coyote.
• Brady Schutt pinned six of his nine punts inside the 20, which is a career-best for him. Schutt has put more than half (25 of 49) of his punts inside the 20 this season.
• The Coyote defense added five more sacks to its tally for 30 this season. USD ranks fifth nationally in sacks per game.
• Jacob Matthew and Nick Gaes both got their sixth sacks of the season, which tie for the third-most inside the Valley.
• Western Illinois quarterback Connor Sampson was 17-for-34 for 185 yards during the first 53 minutes of the game. He passed for 177 yards during the final 6:23.
• South Dakota attempted one pass in the final 18 minutes of the game and threw six passes in the second half. The Coyotes ran 24 times for 149 yards and two scores past halftime.

QUOTABLE

Redshirt freshman wide receiver Carter Bell
On the approach against Western Illinois…
"It's just execute. Coming back from that loss where we didn't execute well. That was our biggest thing. We were really more focused on us and executing what we know how to do and I think we did that."
 
On the 91-yard touchdown catch…
"I knew it was man right away. I ran my route a little faster than I should have. I did that because I knew if I caught it, I was just going to start busting up the sideline. So it kind of worked out how I thought it would.
 
"I think he was worried about that out route before on the second score, so I got him with the inside route."
 
"This is definitely a big win for us heading into state week. I believe this is a really big step. We needed this one and now we're on to state."
 
Freshman running back Nate Thomas
On what the team wanted to accomplish during the bye week…
"Resting was key since we had a lot of people banged up, but also staying focused and locked in our plays and execution. I think coming back healthy, especially us running backs, helped a lot today.
 
On the approach against Western Illinois…
"We knew they were going to be aggressive so we knew we needed to block where we needed to. There were times we were able to slip past them when they tried to be too physical. We knew we were going to have to play fast and hit the holes fast and that was probably the biggest thing for this game."
 
Senior linebacker Jacob Matthew
On the advantage of having an extra week to prepare…
"There were a few exceptions, but we were fairly healthy going into the bye week and it served us well. We got Meaty (DeValon Whitcomb) back on the line and what was really helpful to have him leading the defensive line. Dakota Smith also made it back so it was truly helpful."
 
On defending Western Illinois' passing attack…
"The thing about these guys is that we've been practicing against them for the last four and a half years. There's not a lot of air raid offenses in the Missouri Valley. Ours, historically, has been one of them. And now Western is trying to do the same. So we felt confident running into this game that we've lined up in practice against guys that spread the ball and throw it around and so we prepared well."
 
Senior safety Elijah Reed
On defending Western Illinois…
"Stopping the pass is the key obviously, because their quarterback is really good and they have a lot of good receivers. We wanted to keep the ball in front of us, get to the quarterback and make it difficult for him. My role was to try to take away the deep ball. Contain their receivers and made sure no explosives (big plays) happen."
 
On his role as the quarterback of the secondary…
"JoJo (fellow safety Josiah Ganues) has come a long way and he's picking it up really fast and he's holding his own. Being the older guy back there, I try to tap in with him, make sure he's doing his thing and that he is locked in and focused. Cam (Tisdale) is an experienced guy and so the starting assignment wasn't much for him because he knows what to do. Two interceptions, five sacks, I think we checked the boxes for what we wanted to do today."