This story was updated to add new information

VERMILLION, S.D. —  South Dakota football closed out its non-conference schedule with a bang on Saturday afternoon, defeating Drake 42-3.

The Coyotes (2-1) took control of the game almost immediately as Keyondray Jones-Logan ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown. It marked his second score from a kickoff return in three games.

“It was pretty electric,” South Dakota football coach Bob Nielson said. “I’m not sure how many teams are going to kick the ball to us from here on after those two returns.”

After that first touchdown, USD never looked back, scoring another touchdown before Drake (1-1) scored its only points of the game, a field goal. South Dakota added 28 unanswered after that to effectively end the game.

“From the opening kickoff, our guys showed that they were ready to go. After last week, you get concerned about getting out of routine and the frustration of not playing,” Nielson said. “And as I said after last Saturday, our guys handled the announcement with maturity, and I thought they played hungry today.”

The Coyotes’ offense looked solid in this one, amassing 219 passing yards and 192 rushing yards. On defense, USD didn’t allow a single touchdown and helped the offense outgain the Bulldogs by 200 total yards.

South Dakota quarterback Aidan Bouman completed 18 of his 24 pass attempts for 219 passing yards and a touchdown while Travis Theis paced the Coyotes in rushing yards with 94 and also had a pair of touchdown runs.

Here are a few takeaways from South Dakota’s second win of the season.

Knocking off the rust

This was South Dakota’s first game since the Portland State fiasco last weekend. Last Saturday’s football game between the Coyotes and Portland State was called off due to illness within the Portland State football program.

A case of pertussis (whooping cough) got into the Viking team, according to a release. Pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory infection that affects the lungs, and many members of the Viking football program had been exposed to the disease which led to the cancellation. 

“Going into this year, we had 12 guaranteed opportunities, and that got shrunk down to 11,” South Dakota quarterback Aidan Bouman said. “I’d be lying if I said it didn’t piss us off that we missed an opportunity. So you know, we prepared that much harder.”

South Dakota didn’t look like they had much rust to knock off, scoring 42 points and amassing a total of 413 yards on offense while also holding Drake to zero touchdowns. The only aspect of this game they will want to clean up is their penalties. USD had a total of 14 penalties called against them, which could cost them against better teams.

Keyondray Jones-Logan has been a game-changer for USD

Keyondray Jones-Logan wasn’t surprised to see Drake kicking to him to open the game.

“I think some people kind of think the first time was just luck,” he said postgame.

Well, if they thought it was luck they won’t think that after tonight. Jones-Logan returned the opening kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown, the second time he’s done that through three games this season.

His first came in South Dakota’s season opener against Northern State when the sophomore returned the kickoff 97 yards for the Coyotes’ first touchdown of the season. And on Saturday he actually outdid that return, running back the opening kickoff for a total of 99 yards.

Nielson and Jones-Logan both attributed the touchdown returns to the blocking on the play, but the sophomore has made USD a significantly more dangerous team on special teams.

This is a solid confidence booster for USD ahead of their Valley opener

This wasn’t expected to be a very close game, and to its credit, South Dakota held up its side of the bargain. Although they were expected to win this game pretty easily, the Coyotes can leave tonight pleased with their performance. They looked as good as they have all year on both sides of the ball. Their performance in the passing game was especially encouraging.

“Getting the pass game going is going to be a big area of focus for us,” Bouman said. “And I think we did a decent job of that today.”

This is as good as South Dakota could’ve hoped to play heading into what’s likely to be a highly competitive matchup against a ranked team in Southern Illinois next weekend.

Up next

South Dakota will host Southern Illinois in their conference opener next Saturday, Sept. 28 at 1 p.m.

Jonathan Fernandez covers high school and college sports for the Argus Leader. Contact him at jfernandez1@argusleader.com. Follow him on Twitter at@JFERN31