The Pregame
New to the pregame festivities in and around the DakotaDome is Coyote Alley located along Taylor Street just east of the DakotaDome. Coyote Alley will feature live music from Leila's Rose. There will also be food trucks, vendors and yard games. This area is FREE for the public to access and will be home to alumni, Coyote Sports Properties and student tailgate programming.
 
The Game
South Dakota hosts old Great West Conference foe Cal Poly at 1 p.m. Saturday in a rematch of a game played last season in California. The Coyotes scored on all seven of their first half possessions, surpassed 600 yards of offense and rolled to a 48-14 win over the Mustangs. USD running back Mike Mansaray ran for 141 yards and two scores while linebacker Brock Mogensen led a Coyote defense that limited Cal Poly to 243 yards.
 
The Coyotes
South Dakota (0-2) is trying to spring an offense that has totaled seven points and 479 yards while facing elite units from the Big 12's Kansas State and third-ranked Montana. Running backs Travis Theis and Shomari Lawrence both average nearly five yards per carry, but nine sacks of quarterback Carson Camp and penalties have made it a rough go. Defensively, the Coyotes hope to get off to a faster start and turn in a more consistent performance.
 
The Mustangs
Cal Poly (1-1) has found something in redshirt freshman quarterback Jaden Jones who has passed for nearly 600 yards with five touchdowns and no picks through two games. The Mustangs rallied in the fourth quarter to beat San Diego 28-27 last week. That USD team had won eight consecutive games dating back to last season. Chris Coleman, the team's leading receiver a year ago, has 12 catches for 183 yards and a score through two games. The Mustangs have been outscored 28-0 in the first quarter (21-0 by Fresno State), and like South Dakota, is hoping to get off to a better start defensively in week three.
 
The Notes
South Dakota has won 17 of its last 19 home openers … Cal Poly leads the all-time series 3-2 … Brock Mogensen enters the contest with 197 career tackles … the MVFC and Big Sky are 1-1 against each other this season with the final four games taking place Saturday
 
One Last Thing
South Dakota head coach Bob Nielson announced this week that he will making the play calls offensively. Ted Schalfke has been calling plays as the passing game coordinator under Nielson since 2013.