Full Game Notes (.pdf) | Southern Illinois Notes (.pdf)

The Basics
South Dakota (1-5, 0-3 MVFC) vs. No. 14/17 Southern Illinois (5-2, 4-0 MVFC)
Saturday, Oct. 22 at 2 p.m. (CDT)
Vermillion, S.D. | DakotaDome (9,100)
TV: Midco Sports (Jay Elsen, Andre Fields)
Radio: Coyote Sports Network (John Thayer, Gary Culver, Carter Woodiel)
Watch Online: FREE webcast on GoYotes.com | ESPN+ ($) | Midco Sports Plus ($)
Series: SIU leads 4-3 ... won 22-10 in FCS playoffs last year ... third straight meeting in Vermillion

About the Coyotes:  South Dakota needs to win its remaining five games to be considered for the FCS playoffs ... that journey starts with a homecoming game against nationally-ranked Southern Illinois, a team that topped USD in a playoff game inside the DakotaDome last season ... the Coyotes' strength is a defense led by middle LBs and top tacklers Stephen Hillis and Brock Mogensen and by CB Myles Harden, who leads FCS with six forced turnovers ... RBs Travis Theis and Shomari Lawrence spearhead a ground game that averages 132 yards ... the passing game been kept under 140 yards in all five losses

About the Salukis:  Southern Illinois has won five in a row since dropping back-to-back games against top-25 teams Incarnate Word and SE Missouri to begin the season ... the run began with a 31-24 win at Northwestern of the Big Ten ... QB Nic Baker and all-purpose back Javon Williams Jr. pace an offense averaging 30 ppg ... former Coyote coordinator Jason Petrino oversees a defense that ranks fourth nationally in sacks and that negative yardage means foes are averaging just 80 yards on the ground, which ranks ninth nationally ... linemen Richie Hagarty and Dewey Greene have combined for 9.5 of the team's 26 sacks ... twin brothers Avante and D'ante' Cox are the top WRs ... Avante is an all-American

Quick Hits
-Saturday will be the 105th Dakota Days (homecoming) football game
-The Coyotes are 66-33-5 (.659) all-time on Dakota Days and have won 16 of their last 20
-Bob Nielson is 5-0 on Dakota Days
-USD is hosting Southern Illinois for Dakota Days for the first time
-It is a rematch of an FCS first-round playoff game from last year (SIU won 22-10)
-CB Myles Harden leads the nation with six forced turnovers (3 INT, 3 FF)
-LB Stephen Hillis leads the Valley and ranks 10th nationally with 10 tackles per game. He is the reigning MVFC Defensive Player of the Week (10 tckles, 2 sacks, 2 PBU at Illinois St)
-The Coyotes are facing the toughest FCS schedule in the nation this season
-USD has knocked off a ranked opponent every year since 2013 (0-3 this year)

The Notes
South Dakota will try to stop Southern Illinois' impressive five-game winning streak Saturday when the Coyotes host the Salukis in a Dakota Days bash inside the DakotaDome. It is a rematch of an FCS playoff game in Vermillion last November. Southern Illinois forced four turnovers and had all-American receiver Avante Cox catch 10 passes for 148 yards and a score in a 22-10 Saluki victory. Coyote quarterback Carson Camp passed for 202 yards, but was intercepted three times and fumbled once.

Saturday marks the 105th Dakota Days football game. The first took place in 1914 against Yankton. Southern Illinois is playing in the game for the first time and will be South Dakota's 14th different opponent in its last 18 homecomings. The Coyotes beat Indiana State 38-10 in last year's affair and blanked the Sycamores 38-0 in the 2019 contest. There was no Dakota Days event in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dakota Days Facts:
-USD is 66-33-5 on Dakota Days (30-12 inside the DakotaDome)
-The most points USD has scored in a homecoming game is 60 (60-7 vs. Morningside in 1973)
-The highest scoring Dakota Days game was in 1968 when South Dakota defeated South Dakota State 55-32 (87 points)
-The last overtime game came in 2009 (L, 23-24 vs. UC Davis)
-The 2019 contest was the first shutout in the series since 2004

Southern Illinois has won four of seven matchups since these teams first met in 2014. The home team held serve for the first four matchups. The road team has since won the last three. South Dakota opened the 2018 Valley slate with a 31-24 win in Carbondale. Southern Illinois won 48-28 in Vermillion in 2019 and again in the playoffs last season.

Southern Illinois took a 13-0 lead into halftime of last year's contest. USD running back Travis Theis closed the gap to 16-10 with a 2-yard touchdown run with 8:50 to go. A 48-yard bomb from Nic Baker to Avante Cox on the ensuing Saluki drive led to a 5-yard touchdown run from Romeir Elliott and two Coyote turnovers in the final minutes sealed the win. Southern Illinois outgained South Dakota 407-347. Theis ran seven times for 24 yards and caught five passes for 32 yards.

South Dakota is coming off a 12-10 loss at Illinois State last weekend. The Coyotes led 7-6 at halftime and made it 10-6 in the third. Two long pass plays setup the Redbirds' go-ahead touchdown, but a missed extra point kept it 12-10. South Dakota missed a 43-yard field goal, just missed on some long pass plays, and had a defensive pass interference flag inexplicably picked up with 2:15 to go that all doomed the Coyotes in the fourth quarter.

In addition to Kansas State in the opener, South Dakota has faced the No. 2 (SDSU), No. 3 (Montana), No. 12 (NDSU) and No. 14 (Illinois State) FCS defenses in its first six games. Thankfully, Southern Illinois ranks No. 32 overall (smirking face emoji). The Salukis are No. 9 against the run and No. 4 in sacks. That should make for an interesting matchup Saturday against a Coyote offense that likes to run the ball and has struggled at times to protect the quarterback.

Illinois State was another pressure-the-passer team and Camp was sacked just once last weekend. That may have coincided with the fact that South Dakota's offensive line was as healthy as it's been all season. Left tackle Alex Jensen missed the first game of the year and has been building back to full strength. Center Joey Lombard went down in game one and didn't return until game five. Last week marked the second time USD has featured all five of its starting cast this season.

Facing top defenses is certainly a factor in South Dakota's low offensive output to this point. Another factor is that the Coyotes are running 57 offensive plays per game. By comparison, USD averaged 67 plays in 2020 and 2021 and 81 plays per game in 2017 and 2018. In fact, USD consistently huddled last week for the first time in Bob Nielson's tenure.
   Short-possession games plus a unit that hasn't consistently sustained drives has equaled low point totals. The Coyotes are 7-for-36 on third down in Valley play (19 percent). A majority of their drives in the last three games have been three plays or less.

It was redshirt freshman Javion Phelps who sparked the Coyotes' passing attack last week at Illinois State. He hauled in a season-high four passes for 89 yards and setup the Coyotes' touchdown with a 43-yard reception. The 89 yards are the most by a USD pass catcher in a game this season.
   Camp started 6-of-6 for 64 yards and a score at Illinois State. He was 3-of-10 for 53 yards the rest of the way with Phelps hauling in two of those passes for 39 yards.

Camp (4,113 yards) became the eighth player in program history to surpass 4,000 yards passing last week. He starts this week 248 yards behind current assistant coach Dante Warren (4,361) for seventh place on the program's all-time passing list. Jason Seurer is sixth on that list with 4,759 yards.

Travis Theis and Shomari Lawrence rank eighth and 11th, respectively, in rushing among Valley ball carriers. Both are averaging close to five yards per carry despite the elite competition. Lawrence found the end zone last week for the first time since his 29-yard touchdown run against Kansas in the season opener to last season.

A shining star defensively has been sophomore cornerback Myles Harden, who leads the nation with six forced turnovers, which he accumulated in the first four games of the season. Harden led the nation in passes defended per game during the COVID-shortened season. He ranks 10th nationally in passes defended currently.
   Last year, he broke his leg halfway through the season and wasn't available for the playoffs. This year, he has three interceptions and forced four turnovers, three of which USD recovered. No other player in the country has forced four fumbles this year. Only seven players have more interceptions.

Linebacker Stephen Hillis ranks 10th nationally in tackles per game (60 in six games). What's impressive there is that Hillis wasn't a starter at the beginning of the season. He entered when Jakari Starling was injured in the season opener at Kansas State. Hillis also didn't play the majority of the game against Cal Poly when a first-half injury forced him to exit. Hillis leads the Coyotes with 3.0 sacks and 6.5 tackles-for-loss. His battle with Type-1 diabetes is well documented. He earned his 100th career tackle last week at Illinois State.

Brock Mogensen is an all-conference linebacker and a preseason all-American playing alongside Hillis. He had a career-high 15 tackles in the Valley opener against NDSU and added a game-high 10 stops last week at Illinois State. Mogensen currently ranks third in the Valley in tackles per game.

For the first time in Bob Nielson's 30 years of coaching, a special teams player has been voted a team captain. That player is all-American long snapper Dalton Godfrey, who doubles as an academic all-American. Godfrey is working with two new specialists this year and both are seniors. Eddie Ogamba, who transferred from Iowa State prior to last season, has won the kicking duties. John Bickle, who had success at Division III Wheaton College last year, is the punter.

South Dakota was one of 10 FCS teams that returned both a kickoff and punt back for a touchdown during the regular season last year. Wesley Eliodor had a 99-yard kickoff return against Missouri State. Carter Bell had a 47-yard punt return for a score against North Dakota State. Bell sprung a 45-yard punt return this season against Cal Poly. Eliodor had a 69-yard return against SDSU.

Bickle boasts the second-best punting average in the league and the Coyotes rank ninth nationally in net punting, a category the program has held high rankings in for a long time behind Miles Bergner and Brady Schutt. The Coyotes led the nation in net punting during the COVID-shortened season.