The Herd is two wins away from breaking their own record
This Saturday, November 16, the North Dakota State Bison football team will be playing their last home game of the regular season. They’ll be taking on the University of South Dakota Coyotes to see if they can keep their undefeated season alive.
NDSU is coming off of a home Harvest Bowl victory over Western Illinois. They blew them out 57-21 and reached their 31 straight wins with the last loss coming two seasons ago.
Even with the backups and third strong players on the field for most of the game, NDSU came away with 690 total yards. This included two 40 plus yard touchdown runs for Jalen Busy who was playing his first game for NDSU.
After their loss, Western Illinois is sitting at a 1-9 record on the season. Their single victory was against NDSU’s next competitor, USD.
The Coyotes are 4-6 overall this season and 3-3 in the Missouri Conference. They are coming fresh off of a 56-21 win against Youngstown State.
The game ended their 3-game losing streak and has given them some motivation heading into this Saturday’s game. Their win came thanks largely in part to a dual-threat running game.
Running backs, Kai Henry and Canaan Brooks both ran the ball over 100 yards with three touchdowns between the two of them. Their QB is also a dual-threat, moving the ball on the ground and in the air.
Austin Simmons passed for 180 yards and four touchdowns. Plus, he ran another 72 yards and for one touchdown.
However, in USD’s defense, their passing in this game was well below their season average of 266 passing yards.
The USD defense also did some good work as well. While they struggled to stop the Youngstown’s pass game, they managed to hold the Penguins total rushing yards to under 70.
NDSU will have to focus on stopping USD strong run game for sure, but Trey Lance should have no problem chipping away at USD weak pass defense.
Stopping the run was a bit of a struggle for NDSU this past weekend when they allowed nine rushing first downs and 169 rushing yards. Their season average has been 115 yards allowed.
They also struggled heavily with penalties this past game giving Western Illinois three first downs and 125 total yards over 12 penalties alone.
With a win this weekend, NDSU you will only be one win away from tying the all-time Missouri Valley Conference win-streak record held by a former NDSU team.