USD claims ‘signature win’ over ranked Northern Arizona
The University of South Dakota Coyotes football team got a big win heading into their bye week. In what’s likely head coach Joe Glenn’s biggest win in the DakotaDome to date, the Coyotes knocked off the no. 23 ranked Northern Arizona Lumberjacks 28-21.
“I think this was a signature win – one of those that coach Glenn was talking about this week,” quarterback Ryan Saeger said.
Glenn’s team dominated in the first half, jumping out to a 20-0 win.
“It was a signature win and one we’ve been looking for, but now we’re head into a really good conference,” Glenn said. “We’ve improved the last couple weeks and we’re in a heavyweight division, but we’ve been banging pretty well lately.”
Glenn said his team needed to be good in all three facets of the game if they wanted to beat a ranked opponent, and that’s exactly what they did.
The offense racked up 389 yards and the defense intercepted Lumberjack quarterback Kyren Poe three times, including the first two possessions of the game, setting up two Coyote touchdowns.
Punter and kicker Miles Bergner also excelled in the game, making both of his field goals to improve to 8-8 on the year while punting the ball twice inside the Lumberjacks’ 10 yard line.
Saeger led the way for the offense. He wasn’t asked to do a whole lot with his arm, completing only six passes for 85 yards. Most his damage in the victory came with his legs, rushing for a team-high 108 yards and two touchdowns.
“I wasn’t expecting to get 100 yards on the ground, but I think I’ve been able to show I can run the ball if I need to,” Saeger said.
Lumberjack head coach Jerome Souers said he thought, despite the loss, his team showed a lot of fight, but in the end his team couldn’t stop Saeger.
“One of the biggest factors was Saeger’s mobility and his ability to pass into run,” he said. “They had some quarterback-designed plays that were really good for him and I thought he made some clutch plays.”
As a team, the Coyotes ran the ball 56 times for 304 yards. While not totally uncommon for a team that prefers to grind it out on the ground, it’s still a high number of rushes in one game.
“The way the game was going, the tempo we needed was to milk the clock, especially in the second half,” Saeger said.
The 20-0 lead at half looked like a cakewalk for the Coyotes, but the Lumberjacks came roaring back in the third quarter. A six-yard touchdown reception by Northern Arizona receiver Nick Butier made it a 20-14 game with 9:25 left in the third quarter.
Junior defensive end Drew Iddings, who finished the game with three tackles for loss, including the team’s first sack of the season, said they came out flat in the second half.
“It got to our heads that we were up by so much,” Iddings said. “But then we settled down and got back to what we were doing originally, which was just stopping them.”
Glenn said football is a game of momentum, and the Lumberjacks simply grabbed all the momentum in the first six minutes of the half.
“We just couldn’t knock them out or shake them out for their lunch money,” Glenn said.
The start of the half looked as usual for South Dakota, forcing a Lumberjack three and out. But junior wide receiver Eric Shufford, Jr. muffed the ensuing punt return, which was all the Lumberjacks needed for a new breath of life.
“Right after that I told my teammates I needed to get it back,” Shufford, Jr. said. “They didn’t let me get down on myself.”
Shufford, Jr. would live up to his word. With 14:09 left in the game he caught a nine-yard touchdown pass and threw a fake pass on the PAT, giving the Coyotes a 28-14 lead, which ended up putting the game out of reach for Northern Arizona. The touchdown reception came with some improvising out of Saeger, who rolled to his right, which gave Sufford, Jr. enough time to get open in the back of the endzone.
“It wasn’t there initially, but on the fly we made an adjustment and (Saeger) threw it where I could get it and I went down and grabbed it,” Shufford, Jr. said. “It was really on (Saeger) for making a play.”
The Coyotes now have a bye week before they head to Carbondale, Ill. to face Southern Illinois University. This will be the Coyotes first time facing Southern Illinois since they’ve been in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
In the meantime, Iddings said, the team will go to bed happy with today’s performance.
“We wanted to go out there and play Coyote football and prove we’re better than what we’ve shown in the past,” Iddings said. “It’s a big win for us and this program to beat a ranked team in the dome. I agree that it’s a signature win.”
(University of South Dakota sophomore quarterback Ryan Saeger steps back to pass during Saturday’s 28-21 victory over Northern Arizona University in the DakotaDome. Malachi Petersen|The Volante)
