VERMILLION, S.D. — No. 17 South Dakota hits the road for the first time in two weeks to open the 2025 Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) slate with a trip to battle No. 1-ranked North Dakota State on Saturday, September 27 from the Fargodome for a 1 p.m. kickoff. 
 
The game will be streamed to both ESPN+ and on Midco Sports with Jay Elsen and Andre Fields on the call from Fargo. You can listen to the voice of the Coyotes John Thayer on the Coyote Sports Network beginning at 12 p.m. (noon) for the pre-game show with Gary Gulver and Jerry Palleschi, joining Thayer for the call at 1 p.m.
 

Game 5 | No. 17 SOUTH DAKOTA (2-2, 0-0 MVFC) at No. 1 NORTH DAKOTA STATE (3-0, 0-0 MVFC)
Date | Time	Saturday, September 27 | 1:00 PM (CT)
Location	Fargo, N.D. | The Fargodome (19,000)
Fan Information	Tickets | Fan Information | Parking
Television	ESPN+ / Midco Sports Plus - Jay Elsen (PxP) & Andre Fields (Analyst)
Radio	Coyote Sports Network (John Thayer, Gary Culver, Jerry Palleschi) [KVHT 106.3 FM]
Live Stats	StatBroadcast
Game Notes	South Dakota | North Dakota State | MVFC
Social Media	@SDCoyotesFB  | #GoYotes x #WeAreSouthDakota | @sdcoyotesfb  | Facebook

 
KEY STORYLINES

• South Dakota and North Dakota State meet for the 90^th time in program history on Saturday with NDSU leading the series 30-11-1 in Fargo.
• The USD-NDSU series is the third-longest series (by number of contests) in program history with only South Dakota State (118 meetings) and North Dakota (93 meetings) with more.
• South Dakota is 6-7 in MVFC openers since joining the Valley ahead of the 2012 season and have won their last two Valley openers.
• South Dakota has won 14 of their last 16 MVFC games dating back to the 2023 season.
• The Coyotes posted their first 500-yard offensive day in the 42-21 win over Drake last time out.
• The Yotes have scored a touchdown in their opening drive in three games this season.
• L.J. Phillips Jr. set another career-high against Drake with four rushing touchdowns, bringing his season total to six (all in the last two games) which sits T6th nationally.
• Phillips Jr. also sits top-10 in two other categories: sixth in rushing yards per game (129.3) and eighth in yards per carry (7.24).
• Aidan Bouman holds a 24-12 record as the starting quarterback at South Dakota and has thrown a touchdown pass in each of the first four games this season.
• Larenzo Fenner has been electric at wide receiver. He became the first active Yote receiver to have a 100-yard receiving game against Drake with 101 yards on just two receptions.
• He had massive plays in the Drake game with both TD grabs being 20+ yards (31, 70) with a career-long reception of 70 yards.
• The offensive line has been very solid, surrendering just one sack in four games which currently sits top-5 in the FCS at 0.25 sacks allowed per game.
• Defensively, DB Roman Tillmon leads the team in tackles with 30 each and DL Caden Crawford leads the team with his 6.0 tackles for loss.
• Walsh (at Lamar) and Tillmon (vs. UNC) are the only two Yotes with 10+ tackles in a game this season with Tillmon now holding the season-high.
• Mikey Munn has been on a tear at cornerback with a career-high two interceptions against Drake and leads the team with three pass-break ups on the season.
• South Dakota is in their 130^th season of college football and with their 31^st head coach in program history.  
• HC Travis Johansen has won back-to-back games as the home win streak extends to 10-straight games.
• South Dakota holds an all-time program record of 582-566-35 entering Saturday.

SERIES HISTORY

• South Dakota and North Dakota State meet for the 90^th time on Saturday with NDSU leading the all-time series, 58-28-2.
• The series dates back to the first-ever meeting in 1903 played in Fargo.
• NDSU has won nearly 73% of the games played in Fargo but USD picked up wins in Fargo in 2023 and 2015.
• This weekend's meeting will be the fourth time in the last 10 meetings that the contest between the Yotes and Bison will be a top-25 matchup.
• Since joining the MVFC in 2012, 2025 will mark the seventh time that South Dakota will play the Bison when NDSU is the No. 1-ranked team in the FCS.