Coyotes prep for D-Days matchup with number 11 UNI
A trip to Ohio to open Missouri Valley Conference play was fruitless for USD this past weekend. Youngstown State took the lead early in the first quarter and did not look back. The Penguins led 20-3 at halftime and despite a second half surge from USD, the Coyotes lost 20-30.
With that loss, USD dropped to 1-3 on the season. Once again it was simple mistakes that kept the Coyotes from stealing a win. Two interceptions from junior quarterback Chris Streveler were the difference in Youngstown.
For the Coyotes, the mistakes need to be corrected for them to win games late.
“You’ve just got to work on things that are correctable. I think the things that we’ve identified, many of which are correctable, those will be points of focus this week in practice,” said Coyote head coach Bob Nielson.
With a young team that is still developing, USD needs to iron out some kinks in their game.
“The other thing is I think our guys are learning,” Nielson said. “For us to win games we’ve got to play closer to perfect than what we’ve played over the past couple weeks.”
Now that the Missouri Valley gauntlet is underway, there is little rest for USD between tough games. The Coyotes now square off against 11th ranked Northern Iowa.
The Panthers are 2-2 on the season with losses to Montana and Eastern Washington and wins against Iowa State and Illinois State.
When UNI gets to Vermillion, USD is in for a fight.
“Every week is a battle in the Missouri Valley obviously. It’s a tough conference so you’ve just got to come in and work as hard as you can every week and stay focused and you never get ahead of yourself,” Streveler said.
Not only is the game the first game back in the DakotaDome after three weeks away, it is also Dakota Days.
“It definitely gives us a lot more energy, too. Especially in the game on defense on third downs when the crowd gets involved, that’s something that can help us affect the offense as well with them not being able to hear or also not being able to coordinate with their hand gestures that will take them out of their zone,” senior linebacker Tyson Graham said. “That will give us the edge especially seeing this place loud; when it’s full it gets pretty loud in here.”
While this is Graham’s last D-Days, as a transfer this will be Streveler’s first homecoming game.
“Everyone’s been talking about it, it’s my first D-Days,” Streveler said. “I’m excited the Dome was rocking when we played Weber, it’s kind of nice to be at a home game here and I’m excited — it’s always fun playing in the Dome.”
Streveler isn’t the only one who will be experiencing D-Days for the first time. This year will be Nielson’s first and he is excited for the crowd that will come with the festivities.
“I’m really excited to be back home. It seems like we’ve been on the road forever with the two road games and the bye week,” Nielson said. “I know our guys are excited to be back at home and really excited to see a great crowd like we had that first week against Weber, I thought that made a big difference for us.”
However, with all the joys of D-Days comes distractions. As a senior, Graham is well aware of what goes on during D-Days and is careful to make sure the team keeps its collective head together.
“There’s something going on at least every night and it’s very easy to get distracted, especially with the rest of the student body doing it and your other peers doing it,” Graham said. “You’ve just got to tell them to keep a straight head and don’t lose focus of the main goal and the main goal is beating UNI on Saturday. Right now we’re just trying to limit the distractions and focus on what’s at hand.”
For Nielson, he is confident his team will keep their wits about them this week.
“I talked to our guys about our focus this week is on one thing and that’s winning the football game on Saturday. Honestly, if you’ve got to worry about stuff like that, you’re probably not in a good place,” Nielson said. “I’m confident our guys understand what their responsibility is and what they’ve got to do to be the best football team on Saturday.”
The team has bought in on their goals and they don’t want to let anything derail them.
“At this point I don’t feel like we should have to say anything. We’ve all got pretty high goals for this team and expectations so if people aren’t living up to those expectations, then obviously that’s not something we’re looking for,” Streveler said. “I don’t think we’re going to have any problems with that this week. We seem really focused and I think everyone’s really focused about the game and excited for that.”
Despite the looming distractions of homecoming, the Coyotes are focused, and the 11th ranked Panthers do little to shake that focus.
“It’s going to be smash mouth football all fourth quarters. That’s just how it is in the Missouri Valley, as you can see now with the scores that have been happening, it’s pretty much open,” Graham said. “We’ve just got to go out there and continue to play South Dakota football and worry about the guys that are here and continue to let our play do the talking.”
USD takes on Northern Iowa this Saturday at 2 p.m. for the 102nd Dakota Days.
“This team has a lot of potential and there are a lot of things I see in this team that hasn’t really been here since my time here. As long as we continue to play together and fight together the sky is the limit for us,” Graham said. “I’m just excited for D-Days week of course, my last one, so I’m just ready to try and bring the fans, and of course the team, a victory.”
