SIU heads to the DakotaDome on Saturday to take on South Dakota.
Meet the Coyotes:
The Coyotes are coached by Bob Nielson, in his 9th year as head coach there. Nielson has been a head coach all over the map from D3 to D2 to FCS. He won 2 NCAA Division II National Championships at Minnesota-Duluth and went 16-21 at Western Illinois before taking the job at South Dakota. At South Dakota, Nielson has led the Coyotes to it's only 3 playoff births in their FCS history.
South Dakota battled Wisconsin tough in their 2nd game of the season losing 27-13. Their scheduled 3rd game of the season against Sacramento State was postponed due to whooping cough in the Sacramento State program. Last week, South Dakota beat Drake 42-3. Coming into the season, South Dakota was picked 3rd in the MVFC behind SDSU and NDSU.
The quarterback for the Coyotes is 6-5 Redshirt Junior Aidan Bouman. Bouman was a 3 star recruit out of Buffalo, Minnesota and committed to Iowa State over offers from Minnesota and North Dakota State. Bouman sat 2 years at Iowa State before transferring to South Dakota. He rallied South Dakota to a comeback victory against SIU in his first action at QB and was named to the MVFC All Newcomer team that season. So far this season, Bouman has thrown for 418 passing yards and 1 touchdown.
The leading rusher for South Dakota is 5-10 Redshirt Sophomore Charles Pierre Jr. Pierre Jr. has rushed 36 times this year for 254 yards and 3 rushing touchdowns and has added a receiving touchdown. Right behind Pierre Jr. in rushing is 5-11 Senior Travis Theis. Theis is in his 6th season at South Dakota and has accumulated 2,697 total rushing yards and 24 rushing touchdowns in his collegiate career to date. So far this season, Theis has rushed 30 times for 201 rushing yards and 3 rushing touchdowns. In their win last week against Drake, Theis rushed for 94 yards and 2 TD's.
One of the wide receivers for South Dakota is 5-11 Senior Carter Bell. Bell is another 6th year player at South Dakota accumulating 2,265 receiving yards and 16 receiving touchdowns since he started at South Dakota in 2019. This season, Bell has caught 9 passes for 113 yards and has 1 rushing touchdown. Bell was named to the All-MVFC Preseason first team. Another player to watch in the receiving game is 6-4 Senior tight end JJ Galbreath. Galbreath had 579 receiving yards on 36 catches last year and added 5 touchdowns. So far this season, Galbreath has caught 5 passes for 53 yards. Galbreath was named to the All-MVFC Preseason first team.
On the defensive side, 6-4 Senior defensive tackle Nick Gaes leads the team with 3.5 sacks and 4.5 TFL's. Gaes was named to the All-MVFC preseason first team after being 8th in the MVFC last year with 6 sacks. 6-1 Redshirt Sophomore linebacker Gary Bryant III leads the Coyotes in total tackles with 24.
Massey Ratings:
Massey Ratings has South Dakota winning 24-21
Links:
A big one, needless to say.
It would be huge to start the conference season 1-0 with a win on the road at one of the Dakotas, particularly after the disappointing loss last week.
I feel like Southern is the more battle tested of the two, but they are also the most battered. I had this down as a loss at the beginning of the year and with the injuries we are currently dealing with, I still feel the same.
We don’t know who is healthy on the offensive line, we are down our starting QB, TE, likely at least one RB. Our D-line hasn’t been healthy all year, we are down one starting LB, and have a very young CB group who just got torched.
Those things typically lead to loses, especially to good teams on the road. Here’s to hoping Hill and Co. can pull a rabbit out of their hat.
I hate that crappy indoor stadium of there's. Unless our D majorly improves, we will get thumped I'm afraid. They have a decent running game too, with Pierre and 12th year man Theis!!
I watched them hold us to 7 pts in C'dale last year. This year that D might be better. Wis. scored just 21 and besides that, they've only given up 2 FGs...to admittedly weak opponents.
WO DJW, I don't give us much chance to win this one.
