After shutout loss, Coyotes look toward California trip for first win
The Coyotes are looking for success this weekend as they travel to California to face off against UC Davis.
South Dakota is coming off a 34-0 loss to Kansas State, in which they were able to gain some positives such as quarterback Ryan Saeger’s career-high 205 yard passing performance.
But the team trailed the entire game after giving up an opening kickoff touchdown. Still, Saeger saw fight in his teammates that he knows will carry the team later in the season.
“We didn’t just lay over and die, but we’ve got to start putting some points on the board and punching it in the end zone,” Saeger said.
Both wide receiver Eric Shufford and safety Tyson Graham also had standout performances. Shufford led the Coyotes in receiving with six receptions for 79 yards, and Graham accounted for seven tackles and two forced fumbles. One of Graham’s forced fumbles came on the one yard line, when the defense was able to come up big with their backs against the wall.
“We take pride in the red zone and not letting teams score,” Graham said. “We don’t want to be easy, and to get that going we just created more momentum and just got us more excited. We just kept fighting no matter what the score was.”
Transitioning from a Division I team to a Division I-AA team does not mean much for the Coyotes. The focus stays the same: establishing who they are and being as efficient as possible.
“Not a thing. We know who we are, we know what kind of offense we want to run. We know what kind of defense we are,” Glenn said. “We know what we do in special teams. It doesn’t make any difference who were playing, we have to play our game and if they saw our game they’d know what we’re going to do.”
Saeger agrees with his coach. The Coyotes will need to dictate play to steal a win on the road.
“Mental focus has to be just as sharp,” Saeger said. “This is a big game for us as a team, to go and grab one on the road would be great for our team.”
The Coyotes are no stranger to UC Davis, having played in 2013, 2011, 2010 and 2009. USD has won the last two match-ups, but every game between the two programs have ended within four points.
“Every game seems like it’s been a one or two point game or possibly a three point game and they’ve gone right down to the wire so I doubt this one will be any different,” Glenn said.
Glenn recognizes the need to turn yards into points.
“We had a lot of yards (against Kansas State). We just didn’t have any field position,” he said.
Against Kansas State, USD managed less than two yards per rush. They’ll look to improve that significantly to move scoring drives down the field.
USD will travel to Davis, Calif., on Friday with kickoff at 8 p.m.
(Photo: Turning toward his sideline teammates and coaches, junior linebacker Jet Moreland takes signals on defense Saturday night against Kansas State. Jacob Lutz / The Volante)
