Full Game Notes (.pdf) | North Dakota Notes (.pdf)

The Basics
No. 10 North Dakota (6-3, 4-2 MVFC) at No. 6 South Dakota (7-2, 5-1 MVFC)
Saturday, Nov. 11 at Noon (CST)
Vermillion, S.D. | DakotaDome (9,100)
TV: Midco Sports (Jay Elsen, Andre Fields, David Brown)
Radio: Coyote Sports Network (John Thayer, Gary Culver & Jerry Palleschi)
Watch Online: ESPN+ ($) | Midco Sports Plus ($)
Series: North Dakota leads 64-31-5 ... home team has won all eight games at FCS level

About the Coyotes:  South Dakota is working towards its third FCS playoff appearance in the last six full seasons ... wins in its final two games could earn the program its first top-eight seed in an FCS playoff ... the defense has held five of eight FCS opponents to seven points or less ... the offense has been efficient in the red zone and committed the fewest turnovers in all of FCS (4) ... LB Brock Mogensen has made the third-most tackles among active FCS players (373) ... RB Travis Theis is the sixth-leading rusher in program history ... WR Carter Bell is the eighth-leading receiver in program history ... Brendan Webb leads the Valley with 8.5 sacks ... Will Leyland hasn't missed a kick all season

About the Fighting Hawks:  North Dakota's losses are at Boise State, SDSU and UNI ... the Hawks have averaged 45 points in six wins ... QB Tommy Schuster and OL Seth Anderson are the reigning Valley players of the week ... Schuster threw five TDs in a win at Murray State and holds the all-time program record with 61 ... he has 17 TDs vs. 2 INTs this year and is completing 72 percent of his throws ... RB Isaiah Smith has surpassed 100 yards in back-to-back games following an injury to starter Gaven Ziebarth ... WR Bo Belquist has 2,198 career receiving yards and 19 TDs ... LB Wyatt Pedigo (58 tckls, 4.0 sacks) has emerged as a defensive leader this year ... C.J. Siegel is a veteran talent at cornerback

Quick Hits
-USD is trying to reach both eight regular season wins at the FCS level and six MVFC wins for the first time
-UND is South Dakota's third straight top-10 foe and fifth top-25 foe in seven games
-Bob Nielson hired Bubba Schweigert to be the coach at Minnesota Duluth after Nielson moved from head coach to athletic director following the 2003 season
-DE Brendan Webb is the reigning Valley Defensive POW after registering a program-record 4.0 sacks last week at SIU (2 PBUs)
-LB Brock Mogensen (373) has the third-most tackles among all active FCS players and the fourth-most in program history
-USD's offense has committed the fewest turnovers in all of FCS (4)
-Special teams played a large role in last year's 28-19 UND win in Grand Forks
-Saturday is Senior Day & Military Appreciation Day inside the DakotaDome

The Notes
South Dakota hosts North Dakota Saturday in one of the most consequential football games in program history. A win keeps USD in line for a possible top-eight seed in the upcoming FCS playoffs and the first-round bye and second-round home game that comes with it. The program would also be in line for its first MVFC championship should SDSU slip at nationally-ranked Youngstown State. A loss on the other hand would force a win at Western Illinois next week to avoid the proverbial playoff bubble. The Coyotes would in all likelihood play a first-round playoff game at a site determined by a bidding process between qualified teams. A win there would be followed by a road game in the road of 16.

A win Saturday won't come easy. The Fighting Hawks are No. 10 in this week's Stats Perform poll, have won four of their last five, and could use a pair of wins in these last two weeks to secure the program's fourth FCS playoff bid in five seasons. A loss at either South Dakota or next week vs. Illinois State would mean a 7-4 record and a wait-and-see approach to selection Sunday.

This is the 101st meeting between the two long-time North Central Conference foes. The home team has won all eight matchups since the two programs moved to FCS in 2009. This is the fourth time the two teams have met as MVFC foes.

It is a rematch of a 28-19 North Dakota win in Grand Forks in game 10 last year. A blocked punt right before halftime turned a 13-7 South Dakota lead into a 14-13 deficit. The Coyotes also missed an extra point and had a second one blocked.
     USD quarterback Aidan Bouman passed for 151 yards and three touchdowns and Carter Bell hauled in six passes for 50 yards and two scores. But they were one-upped by UND's Tommy Schuster who completed 24-of-28 passes for 243 yards and three TDs. Bo Belquist had seven catches for 92 yards and two touchdowns.

The last time a top-10 ranked North Dakota team visited the DakotaDome was 2017 and they were smacked 45-7 by a Chris Streveler-backed Coyote team that started 6-0 that year and became the first USD team to qualify for the FCS playoffs. The last game played in Vermillion was 2021 when the Coyotes upset then-No. 13 North Dakota 20-13 en route to another playoff appearance. Travis Theis ran for 138 yards for the home team.

This is the sixth matchup between Bob Nielson and Bubba Schweigert and the UND coach has a 3-2 lead. Nielson hired Schweigert at Minnesota Duluth after Nielson moved from head football coach to athletic director there following the 2003 season. Schweigert left Duluth after four seasons to become the offensive coordinator at Southern Illinois. Nielson returned to the sidelines in 2008 and led Duluth to a 15-0 season and a Division II national championship. The Bulldogs would win it all again in 2010.

Another storyline is the return of Wesley Eliodor to the DakotaDome. Eliodor played five seasons at South Dakota from 2018-22. He hauled in 52 passes for 693 yards and seven touchdowns while also serving as the team's kick returner. Eliodor entered the transfer portal after last season and moved to Grand Forks. He has 19 catches for 234 yards and three touchdowns for the Hawks this season. He caught a 47-yard touchdown last week against Murray State.

A big reason for South Dakota's turnaround this season is its offense under new coordinator Josh Davis. Davis was a standout wide receiver at South Dakota State and won a national title on the coaching staff at SDSU last season. The Coyotes' pro-style offense is in contrast with the no-huddle approach that Bob Nielson incorporated at USD upon arrival. It has led to fewer possessions, but more complementary football. South Dakota averaged 381 yards against its first six FCS opponents. The team has mustered fewer than 200 against elite defenses from SDSU and Southern Illinois in recent weeks.

Davis is one of six new coaches on Bob Nielson's staff. Others include Jeff Nady (OL at Nevada last year), Craig Bagnell (head coach at Mary), Tim Morrison (off. coord. at Upper Iowa), Rob Snyder (former LSU Tiger) and Steve Ferentz (former Iowa Hawkeye who has spent the last three years with the Miami Dolphins). More information on the Coyote coaching staff can be found on page four.

The new offense has coincided with quarterback Aidan Bouman who started the final four games of 2022 before assuming the role at the start of this season. He threw for 369 yards and three touchdowns in a win against Youngstown State, but his pocket presence and ball security have won the day. The Coyotes took 31 sacks through nine games a year ago and that number is nine this year. USD's offense has committed four turnovers, the fewest among FCS programs.

The Coyotes' ground game is headed by Travis Theis, the sixth-leading rusher in program history. It has been aided in recent weeks by redshirt freshman Charles Pierre Jr. whose 288 yards in five games make him the team's second-leading rusher this season. Theis has taken 54 percent of the carries over those five games. Pierre Jr. has earned a 36 percent share. His season is highlighted by an 81-yard touchdown run in a 17-3 win at Indiana State three games ago.

Carter Bell is featured on the Coyotes' top-10 list for receiving yards, catches and touchdowns (see below). Another receiving option who has grown more reliable is tight end JJ Galbreath who ranks second among MVFC tight ends in catches (30) and yards (352) with the third-most touchdowns (4). Galbreath has been targeted 20 times in the last two games.

The Coyotes ranks third in scoring defense (16.1 ppg) among FCS scholarship teams. The unit is led by preseason all-American linebacker Brock Mogensen whose 106 tackles during the regular season last year were second in the Valley to teammate Stephen Hillis' 115. Mogensen's 87 tackles are two behind Indiana State's Maddix Blackwell for the Valley lead. Mogensen has totaled 38 tackles over the last three games.

Rush linebacker Brendan Webb tied a program record last week by recording four sacks in one game. He also had two pass breakups including the final play of the game on Southern Ilinois' fourth-down try from the 2-yard line in the closing seconds.
     Thanks to Coyote Hall of Famer and former USD sports information director Mike Mahon we now know that the first four sack game was credited to Dave Schwab who accomplished the feat in a 21-3 win against Nebraska-Omaha that clinched the North Central Conference title.

South Dakota has boasted strong specialists throughout Nielson's tenure. This year's unit features all new starters. Punter Tyler Ebel is a redshirt freshman, Zeke Mata is a recent arrival from LSU who is handling kickoff duties and long snapper Caden Pellizzer is a new arrival from Northern Michigan. Will Leyland, a fourth-year sophomore, is 8-for-8 on field goals and 24-for-24 in extra points. He is one of two FCS players yet to miss a kick this season. He drilled a game-winning, 41-yard field goal to beat Youngstown State inside the Dome three weeks ago, and hit a career-long 50-yarder against SDSU in the last home game.

Saturday's game is one of three FCS top-25 matchups this week, all of which involved MVFC teams. NDSU vs. Southern Illinois and SDSU vs. Youngstown State are the other two.