VERMILLION — The University of South Dakota football team opened its conference slate with a bang on Saturday with a dominant 42-13 victory over Southern Illinois in the DakotaDome.

Aidan Bouman had yet another big performance with a season-high 247 yards and two touchdowns on 11-for-17 passing. Travis Theis was the leading rusher with 147 yards and two touchdowns. Charles Pierre had 126 yards and two touchdowns. JJ Galbreath was the first receiver to eclipse the 100-yard mark this season with 100 yards and a score.

With that, here are three observations from the game …

The battle in the trenches was one to watch in this one. Coming into the matchup, SIU led the Missouri Valley Football Conference in sacks but also led the league in sacks allowed. So the Coyotes needed to stand firm on both sides of the ball, and they did just that with high efficiency.

On the defensive side, the front four especially looked good throughout the game. The Coyotes were getting consistent pressure in the passing game and forced Saluki quarterback Hunter Simmons to get rid of the ball quickly on numerous occasions. In the run game, SIU couldn’t get anything rolling as the USD defense was plugging holes and forcing the running back to switch direction at the line. The defense finished with two sacks and six tackles for loss on the day. SIU only averaged 2.4 yards per rush.

Offensively, the line held up extremely well. In pass protection, Bouman had plenty of time to throw and didn’t force the ball out of his hands due to pressure very often. In the run game, the line opened up holes and set the edge on the outside for efficient gains. In the end, the line gave up no sacks and helped the run game average 6.4 yards per attempt.

It’s an encouraging game for both the offensive and defensive line. This was a tone-setting matchup to open up the conference season and both sides of the ball were up for the challenge.

Throughout the offseason and heading into this season, coaches and players alike talked about how they needed the offense to create explosive plays. The offense showed some flashes through three games of underlying explosivity, but Saturday resembled the type of offense the Coyotes have been looking for.

First, Bouman was dropping passes right into the receivers’ breadbasket. He was especially finding success over the top of the Saluki secondary. His two first-half touchdown passes came on plays over the top of the defense and went for 80 and 61 yards. He finished the first half with a season-high 220 yards and two touchdowns.

But the run game was having plenty of success as well. Like usual, Theis was a workhorse and Pierre complemented him nearly perfectly. The Coyote offense averaged over 11 yards per play in the first half and scored a touchdown on five of their seven possessions.

In the end, the Coyotes averaged 8.58 yards per play, a season-high. They also amassed a season-high 549 total yards of offense. In terms of explosiveness, this is a monumental step in the right direction and hopefully signals similar performances going forward.

When you looked at this game on paper, this was a huge game. It’s the conference opener against the No. 17 team in the country. This was a game that the Coyotes looked likely to win and ended up doing so in a dominant fashion.

It was a complete performance on both sides. The offense was explosive as mentioned previously and the defense was very solid overall. The Coyotes outgained the Salukis 549-366 despite running fewer overall plays. The offense was in sync, the defense was flying around and no mistakes were made on special teams. Overall, it’s almost as good a performance to open the Missouri Valley slate as one could ask for.

This adds up to a few different things. One, it’s always important to open up conference play with a victory, especially in a conference where one game could make all the difference. Two, a blowout victory against a top-20 team will look good on the resume when it comes time for playoff seeding. Finally, it’s a huge momentum and confidence boost as the Coyotes embark on what is sure to be a long and grueling conference schedule.

Nathan Swaffar is a sports reporter for the Mitchell Republic. He joined the Mitchell Republic in July 2024 after graduating from the University of Kansas in May of 2024 with a degree in journalism and a minor in history. He covers a variety of prep and collegiate sports throughout South Dakota including USD Football.