Coyotes set to host 7-1 Youngstown St.
By falling 28-14 to Illinois State last Saturday, the Coyotes saw their three-game win streak get snapped. If that wasn’t bad enough, the team now plays four ranked opponents in its last four games, starting with No. 10 Youngstown State. The Penguins, who are located in Youngstown, Ohio bring a 7-1 team to the DakotaDome this Saturday.
Senior cornerback Jarrid Bryant, who is second on the team with two interceptions on the season, said they’ll bring a real tough team to Vermillion.
“(Youngstown St.) have a good quarterback, a good running back and some good wide receivers,” Bryant said. “On top of that they have a lot of veteran guys. Just a lot of solid players.”
The Penguins only loss on the season came against Big Ten opponent Michigan State, who they fell to 55-14 back on Sept. 14. Despite being 7-1 on the season and 4-0 in the conference, the Penguins are still in search of that ‘signature win.’ Remaining on their schedule after this week is Northern Iowa, North Dakota State and South Dakota State What goes in the Coyotes favor is the home field advantage they have had thus far in the DakotaDome. On the season, the Coyotes are 3-0 inside the DakotaDome and have the next three games in their own friendly confines.
“It feels lovely. We can definitely use the home field advantage for our next three games,” Bryant said. “We know how well we’ve been playing at the dome and we’ll have a lot of confidence.”
One problem the Coyotes offense has been having all season has been getting off to a fast start and maintaining it. They got on the board with just under three minutes to go last week vs. Illinois State on a 22-yard touchdown run by first-year funning back Jordan Roberts, but wasn’t able to find the end zone again until the fourth quarter.
Junior wide receiver Terrance Terry said the playing well early on will be a key for the offense against Youngstown St.
“We have to come out and play well in the first quarter. We’ll have a good plan and we have to stick to it,” Terry said. “We have to play smarter, play faster and play harder because this is one of the best teams we’ll see all year.”
Roberts, who had his best day, statistically speaking, for the Coyotes finished the game with 21 carries for 85 yards and a touchdown. He received the bulk of the carries because fellow first-year running back Trevor Bouma was on the sidelines with an upper body injury. He wasn’t practicing yesterday and his status for this week’s game is in question.
In the mean time, Roberts, who was Montana’s Gatorade player of the year in 2012, seems ready to carry the load.
“Last week felt great, it felt good to get some more opportunities last week and I’m going to continue doing my best for the team.
Looking past Youngstown St., the schedule doesn’t get much easier for the 4-4 Coyotes. The last three weeks of the season will be against Montana, SDSU and NDSU, who rank 13, 20 and 1 respectively.
