COLUMN: Division I status brings a new experience to USD sports

I’m not sure if you have heard yet, but the University of South Dakota football team willltake on a Football Bowl Subdivision and Big 10 opponent Northwestern on Saturday.

It is an exciting week for not only the team, but for anyone at USD. The Student Government Association is selling a Chicago Game Day package to students wishing to travel to watch this game and spend time in downtown Chicago after the football game.

Besides the logistics of the Northwestern football game, USD is still working on fixing some problems it faced in the previous two games.

Coming off a bye week and still holding onto a 1-1 record, USD needs to keep improving on their run defense. Without a doubt teams will know the strengths and weaknesses of USD and right now the biggest weakness has to be the run defense. Montana, and even Colgate, opened plenty of eyes with the ease they could move the ball on the ground.

I am sure throughout the bye week, this was an area of focus for the team and it should continue to improve as the year goes on. Regardless it will be an aspect the team, fans and media will continue to pay close attention to.

In a perfect world, USD will have fixed this problem completely and hold its own in the very strong and competitive Missouri Valley Conference. Of the 10 teams in the MVC, four can be found in the top 15 of the FCS weekly poll.

Without a doubt, USD is entering the MVC in a tough year. However, the young Coyotes should be able to make a statement against these tough and veteran MVC teams during the conference schedule this season.

Currently, three MVC teams are still undefeated; these include North Dakota State, Youngstown State and Illinois State. With conference play starting this week, except for USD and NDSU, look for the MVC standings to shuffle around once again.

Following this week’s game against Northwestern, USD will then begin an eight-game conference schedule, which will be the Coyotes’ first true taste of what being a Division-I team really means.

Coyote fans all-around should be excited at this first opportunity to see their team in action for eight straight weeks of strong competition, ending with a huge, renewed rivalry game against South Dakota State University. Get excited Coyote football fans, because it will be a fun year for USD football fans.