VERMILLION, S.D. — The historic season for the No. 4-seeded University of South Dakota football team (11-2, 7-1 MVFC) continues into the semifinal round of the NCAA FCS Playoffs as they head west to battle the second-straight Big Sky opponent in the top-ranked Montana State Bobcats (14-0, 8-0 Big Sky). Kickoff is slated for 1:30 p.m. (MT) / 2:30 p.m. (CT) on ABC with Dave Flemming and Brock Osweiler on the call.
 

Game 15 | No. 4-seed South Dakota (11-2, 7-1 MVFC) at No. 1-seed Montana State (14-0, 8-0 Big Sky)
Date | Time	Saturday, December 21 | 1:30 PM (MT) / 2:30 PM (CT)
Location	Bozeman, Mont. | Bobcat Stadium (17,777)
Fan Information	Parking | Fan Information | Clear Bag Policy
Television	ABC / ESPN+ - Dave Flemming (PxP), Brock Osweiler (Analyst), Stormy Buonantony (Sideline)
Radio	Coyote Sports Network (John Thayer, Gary Culver) [KVHT 106.3 FM]
Live Stats	(South Dakota): SIDEARM | StatBroadcast
Game Notes	South Dakota | Montana State | MVFC
Social Media	@SDCoyotesFB  | #GoYotes x #WeAreSouthDakota | @sdcoyotesfb  | Facebook

PROMOTIONS

• CorTrust Bank and Sanford Health are the South Dakota FCS Playoff sponsors.

 
GAME STORYLINES

• South Dakota enters the FCS Playoffs with a share of the 2024 Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) title for the first time in program history.
• South Dakota makes their first-ever appearance in the FCS semifinals this season.
• The Coyotes enter the Playoffs as the No. 4-seed, earning a top-4 seed for the second-straight season in their fourth appearance in program history.
• Montana State is the third Big Sky opponent for South Dakota this season and second-straight in the FCS Playoffs. USD is 1-0 in those games (game vs. Portland State canceled).
• The Coyotes are 2-0 against Big Sky opponents in the FCS Playoffs.
• South Dakota has now played five teams that clinched berths to the FCS Playoffs this season, sitting 4-1 in those contests (including playoff opponents).
• The Yotes ended the regular season at No. 3 (AFCA) and No. 4 (STATS Perform) in the polls.
• Seven Coyotes earned First Team All-MVFC honors this season.
• USD has had 82 chunk plays of 20 or more yards this season with 29 leading to touchdowns.
• Aidan Bouman needs 277 passing yards to become the first Coyote since 2018 to throw for 3,000+ yards in a season [Austin Simmons, 3,124].
• Both Charles Pierre Jr. and Travis Theis have rushed for over 1,000 yards this season.
• The Coyote rushing attack sits sixth in the FCS (222.2 yards per game).
• The Coyote defense sits fourth the nation in scoring defense, holding opponents to just 16.6 points per game. 
• Furthermore, the rushing defense is the second-best in the Valley and tenth nationally, allowing just 107.9 rushing yards per contest.
• The Coyotes had six interceptions in the 11 regular season games this year, the last three halves against Tarleton State (2H) and UC Davis the defense has snagged eight interceptions.
• The game on Saturday marks the third nationally televised contest this season for the Coyotes [at Wisconsin, FS1 & South Dakota State, ESPNU].

 
COYOTES IN THE FCS PLAYOFFS

• All four appearances have been under HC Bob Nielson.
• Before this weekend, the Coyotes had played five-straight games at home inside the DakotaDome.
• USD sits 4-3 all-time in FCS Playoff games, now with three wins at home (Sacramento State, 2023; Tarleton State, 2024; UC Davis, 2024).
• Travis Theis (130 vs. Tarleton State, 2024) and Charles Pierre Jr. (123 vs. Sacramento State, 2023) are the only Coyotes to rush for 100+ yards in a Playoff game.
• Chris Streveler holds the all-time single-game passing yards record with 520 (at Sam Houston State, 2017).
• Against the Aggies (Dec. 14), Gary Bryant III set a new USD FCS Playoff single-game record with his 15 tackles, also setting a new career-best for the sophomore.  
• Mi'Quise Grace holds the record for most TFLs (2.0) and sacks (1.5) in a single playoff game (vs. Sacramento State, 2023).
• Dennis Shorter holds the single-game record for pass break-ups with three (vs. Sacramento State, 2023).

 
HEAD COACH BOB NIELSON

• HC Bob Nielson was named the 2024 Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) Coach of the Year.
• He's now won two MVFC Coach of the Year honors at USD (2023, 2024) and three total in his career (WIU, 2015).
• Nielson is also the first MVFC coach to win Coach of the Year at two different league schools.
• This season, Nielson picked up his 50^th career win at South Dakota with the 42-36 win at North Dakota (Nov. 16).
• The UC Davis game saw Nielson coach his 100^th game at South Dakota, winning 53% of his games.
• With the win over Tarleton State last week, Nielson became the fourth winningest coach in program history (52 wins), passing Joe Salem (1966-74).
• Two more wins will move him into third all-time in program history (Ed Meierkort, 54 wins, 2004-11).

 
SOUTH DAKOTA WHEN RANKED VS. RANKED OPPONENTS

• In the program's FCS era, the Yotes are 15-12 against ranked foes and 4-7 on the road.
• The last two seasons (2023 & 2024), USD are an impressive 17-4 (.801) against ranked opponents when they are also ranked themselves.
• Twice in the DI FCS era, South Dakota has clashed with the top-ranked FCS team when ranked themselves: sitting 1-1 in those games [vs. SDSU, L, 37-3, 2023 & vs. NDSU, W, 29-28, 2024].

 
YOTES TO NOTE

• Aidan Bouman has thrown for at least 200 passing yards and one touchdown in nine games this season.
• He tied his career-high for the second time this season with his three passing touchdowns in the win over UC Davis last week.
• Quaron Adams has been a spark in the wide receivers group, averaging an MVFC-best 31.1 yards per catch.
• The rushing attack of Charles Pierre Jr. (91.3) and Travis Theis (88.5) sit No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the Valley in rushing yards per game.
• Pierre Jr. sits second nationally in yards per carry (7.3) and ninth in rushing touchdowns (15).
• Gary Bryant III leads the defense with his 101.0 tackles per game.
• Four Coyotes now have two interceptions this season (Bryant III, Hardman, Reid, Shorter).
• Dennis Shorter has a team-best 10 pass break-ups.
• Mi'Quise Grace leads the MVFC in sacks, sitting at 9.5 on the season. Nick Gaes sits right behind him at No. 2 in the Valley at 8.0 sacks.

 
DOMINANT RUSHING GAME

• The run game continues to be a huge part of the Coyote offense, 222.2 rushing yards a game.
• It sits second in the Missouri Valley Football Conference and sixth nationally.
• The backfield of Theis & Pierre Jr. have combined for 10 100-yard rushing games (both did so against SIU and UND).
• Charles Pierre Jr. is the lone Coyote to have any 150-yard rushing games this season. He's now done it three times, including in back-to-back weeks: 153 (at Youngstown State), 165 (vs. Indiana State), and 173 (at North Dakota).
• He heads west with a team-best 1,187 rushing yards on 163 yards per carry, averaging 7.3 yards per carry on the year.
• Pierre Jr. was one of two Valley rushers to have 1,000+ rushing yards on the season through the regular season, doing it in one less game than UNI's Tye Edwards.
• Travis Theis became the second Coyote to rush for 1,000 yards this season in the win against UC Davis, sitting 1,062 yards on a team-best 173 carries.
• Pierre Jr. ended the regular season second in the Valley with his 15 rushing scores, though he led all running backs.
• Heading into the Semifinals, Theis now holds the team lead with his 19 rushing touchdowns.

 
GETTING PRESSURE ON THE QUARTERBACK

• South Dakota sits fifth in the MVFC in total sacks with 29 on the season.
• Mi'Quise Grace leads the Valley with his 9.5 sacks this season, earning him Defensive Player of the Year in the conference.
• Nick Gaes sits right behind Grace, second in the MVFC, with his 9.0 sacks on the season.

 
INDIVIDUAL ACCOLADES & MILESTONES

• Charles Pierre Jr. cracked the program's top-10 single season rushing touchdown list with his two scores at Youngstown State, sitting at No. 5 (tie) with his 15 rushing scores.
• As mentioned, he's the first USD Division I FCS era rusher with 1,000 yards in a season which cracks the top-10 single-season list (No. 9, 1,082).
• Keyondray Jones-Logan is one of two FCS athletes to return two kickoffs back for touchdowns this season.
• Aidan Bouman became the sixth Coyote to record 6,000 passing yards in the win against UC Davis (Dec. 14).  
• Against Southern Illinois (Sept. 28), he became the ninth Coyote to eclipse 4,000 career passing yards.
• In the win over NDSU, he cracked the single-season top-10 for passing yards for the second-straight year (No. 5, 2,723 yards).
• He's now surpassed his passing yard total from last season (2,551).
• Travis Theis broke the all-time USD career rushing touchdown record with his first touchdown against UC Davis (38^th) and heads to Bozeman with 39 in his career.  
• Theis eclipsed the 3,000-career rushing yard mark in the Dakota Days win over UNI.
• Carter Bell set the new program record in career receptions with his five in the SDSU game (167 & counting) and the receiving yards record in the Indiana State game.
• He needs just two touchdown receptions to break the program's all-time career record in his third different category.

 
MISC. NOTES

• DEFENDING THE DOME: Since the 2021 season, South Dakota is 21-6 inside the DakotaDome.
• USD has now won seven-straight regular season games inside the DakotaDome, dating back to last season.
• The home win-streak is now up to eight-straight games this season, ending the 2024 season 8-0 in the Dome.
• With the win over then No. 1-ranked NDSU to end the regular season, USD is now 2-6 since going Division I (2008 and on) against No. 1-ranked FCS teams.
• The Coyotes are 15-12 in ranked vs. ranked games and 4-7 in those games on the road.
• The Coyotes become the first Valley team to post two or more MVFC shutouts in the same season since NDSU did so in 2013.
• South Dakota has put up 500+ yards of offense in six of the last nine games, with 509 against Tarleton State two weeks ago.
• USD is 7-0 when leading at the half and 6-1 when they score first.
• The Yotes had six MVFC Players of the Week during the 2024 season.
• The Yotes are 1-0 outside of the Central Time Zone this season, though having two games scheduled outside the home time zone.

 
INSIDE THE MONTANA STATE SERIES

• South Dakota and Montana State are set to meet for just the third time in series history on Saturday.
• Both prior meetings (2008, 2009) were in Bozeman with Montana State playing both.
• The 2009 game went to overtime, the only overtime game in the series.
• Saturday marks the first-ever FCS Playoff game between the two schools.
• It's also the first meeting with either team ranked, let alone both being inside the top-5 nationally.

 
MONTANA STATE QUICK HITS

• Montana State entered the FCS Playoffs as the No. 1 overall seed with a perfect record as Big Sky champions.
• The Bobcats are 14-0 entering the semifinals with a perfect 8-0 record at Bobcat Stadium on the season.
• MSU has picked up wins over UT Martin (49-17) and No. 8-seed Idaho (52-19).
• Montana State has the top scoring offense (42.1ppg) and total offense (493.7ypg) in the FCS this season.
• Led by senior QB Tommy Mellott who has thrown for 2,430 passing yards with 28 passing touchdowns.
• The ground game for the Bobcats sits second in the nation at 307.1 yards per game, with a pair of 1,000-yard rushers: Scottre Humphrey (1,325) & Adam Jones (1,068).