What to know about North Dakota State at South Dakota

NORTH DAKOTA STATE (10-3) AT SOUTH DAKOTA (10-2)

WHEN/WHERE: 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the DakotaDome

TV: ABC

RADIO: KQSF-FM 95.7 Sioux Falls, KVHT-FM 106.3 Yankton

STREAMING: ESPN+

RECORD LAST YEAR: NDSU 12-3 (national runner-up); USD 3-8

SERIES: NDSU leads 57-27-2

LAST MEETING: USD beat NDSU 24-14 on Sept. 30 in Fargo

LAST WEEK: NDSU beat Montana State 35-34 in overtime; USD beat Sacramento State 34-24

RANKINGS: NDSU is unseeded; USD is seeded third

COACHES: NDSU — Matt Entz (5th year, 59-10); USD — Bob Nielson (8th year, 42-44)

The Coyotes and Bison rematch in the FCS quarterfinals in what is latest “biggest game” in South Dakota’s Division I history.

Until now, the Coyotes had never reached the FCS quarterfinals, nor played a game on network television. For NDSU, it’s a 14th consecutive trip to the quarterfinals — just another playoff run amid a span of domination.

The glaring difference for the Bison this go-around? The game is in Vermillion.

This will be just the fifth true-road game for North Dakota State in 51 playoff appearances, and it’s in a place where the Coyotes have excelled this season, going 6-1 and outscoring opponents 182-115.

A large reason why USD is hosting this game is because it defeated NDSU 24-19 in the regular season — a major win which bolstered the Coyotes’ resume while handing the Bison an early-season setback.

It was the type of game nobody saw coming. USD jumped to a 21-3 halftime lead behind a pair of deep touchdowns from Aidan Bouman to Carter Bell, then held on physically to pull off the road victory.

And in the two months since, both sides have become proven winners, each tallying 10 wins and defeating an assortment of ranked opponents to reach this point.

“Like all good teams, they’ve gotten better,” USD coach Bob Nielson said. “They’re a team that has continued to improve through the year.”

NDSU enters the Dome fourth nationally in rushing offense, averaging 5.98 rushing yards per play. The Bison’s ability to punish teams physically has continually improved as the season’s gone on, with its most impressive showing coming last week against No. 6 Montana State.

The Bison rushed for 296 yards, 162 of which coming from running back TaMerik Williams on just 11 carries. Three of NDSU’s touchdowns came on rushing plays of 44, 75 and 29 yards, respectively.

“They hit some big plays,” Nielson said. “That’s one of the things I’ve talked about, is when they’re hitting big plays in the running game, those yardage totals go up in a hurry and so you can’t misfit anything, you’ve got to be consistent with your tackling. And try to avoid as many of those big-hitter plays as you possibly can defensively with a consistency of effort and execution.”

Conversely, NDSU’s defense was vulnerable against the Bobcat’s efficient offense, allowing 279 rushing yards and 230 passing yards. Three of Montana State’s touchdowns came on plays of 25 yards or further. It was similar to the way USD scored against the Bison in the first matchup.

And in the rematch, the battle of both sides to force and mitigate explosive plays may prove the difference.

“We did a good job of minimizing their big plays, making them work hard for the yards,” Nielson said of the first matchup. “It was a strange game from a standpoint of very limited possessions … We did a lot of the things that we needed to do in that game to find a way to win and we’re going to need to do a lot of those same things well this week.”

Jacob Nielson is a sports reporter for the Mitchell Republic. He joined the Mitchell Republic in July 2023 after graduating from Utah State University in 2023 with a degree in journalism and minor in history. He covers a variety of prep and collegiate sports throughout South Dakota.