VERMILLION, S.D. - The last time North Dakota traveled to Vermillion, S.D., the Fighting Sioux handed the Coyotes a 34-31 overtime loss. This year, South Dakota (3-2, 1-0 GWC) took care of business as the Sioux (2-3, 0-1 GWC) fell to USD 27-17 in front of a DakotaDome crowd of 9,596.
The Coyotes were led by quarterback Dante Warren, who not only picked up 268 yards on 20-for-32 passing, but added another 44 yards via a dozen rushes. Warren hit Will Powell for a pair of touchdowns, including a 20-yard scoring pass. Warren's biggest play of the game came when he found Jeremy Blount on the far sideline for a 65-yard pass to give USD a 14-3 lead.
"That was a critical time in the game," said head coach Chris Mussman. "That's exactly what we didn't need at that point in the game. We needed to get a stop.
"It wasn't like they were doing anything we didn't know they were going to do, we just got beat on things we knew were coming."
USD's Kevin Robb was credited with nine points with three PATs and field goals of 35 and 45 yards. He tried to make it 12 points, but his 43-yard attempt in the third quarter was brought down by junior Broc Bellmore (West Fargo, N.D.). The block was Bellmore's second of the season and third against South Dakota.
The Coyotes kept a tight lid on the Sioux passing game, which was a major factor in their past two victories. Despite a season-high 20 completions, senior quarterback Jake Landry (Grand Forks, N.D.) was held to 172 yards and his favorite target, redshirt freshman Greg Hardin (Bellevue, Neb.), picked up just 30 yards on a trio of receptions and was held to just a single touchdown for the first time in three games.
Making many of the offensive plays for UND was junior running back Josh Murray. The Pepin, Wis., native led the team in both rushing (102 yards) and receiving (37 yards). He also picked up 73 yards on kickoff return.
Defensively, junior cornerback Dominique Hawkins (Plymouth, Minn.) led UND with 10 tackles (six unassisted). Seniors Ryan Kasowski (LB, Grand Forks, N.D.) and Kris Ankenbauer (DB, Murphy, Texas) came away with six stops apiece. Kasowski picked up UND's lone sack when he hit Dante Warren for a loss of seven yards.
The Coyote defense was paced by Adam Broders, who recorded 10 stops (four unassisted) and was credited with a fumble recovery and an interception. Shea Williams finished with eight tackles and Chris Frierson recorded six stops and the team's other interception.
South Dakota amassed just four plays on its opening drive before the Sioux took over on their own 13-yard line. Landry went to Murray on all but two plays to move the ball 59 yards and set Zeb Miller up for a career-long 44-yard field goal.
With less than 20 seconds remaining in the first quarter, USD gained a 7-3 lead, its first advantage of the afternoon. The Coyotes used nearly eight minutes to march the ball 79 yards. Set up with a second and goal from the 3-yard line, Powell pulled the ball in with one-hand in the far side of the end zone for the score.
The score remained at 7-3 advantage Coyotes until USD found the end zone midway through the six-minute mark of the second quarter. After forcing UND to a three-and-out, Warren found Blount deep on the far sideline for a 65-yard touchdown pass to give the Coyotes a 14-3 with 5:40 remaining in the opening half.
With another Warren to Powell touchdown with six minutes left in the half, UND went into the lockerroom trailing the Coyotes 21-3.
"We talked to the guys all week about not letting them get off to a fast start," said Mussman. "They did and we got put in the hole."
The Fighting Sioux came out of the gate strong in the second half using just 1:24 to move the ball 72 yards for the score. Landry found Hardin on an 11-yards pass play and with the kick from Miller, UND had cut the margin down to 11 points. USD, however, answered back with a 35-yard field goal three minutes later to up its advantage to 24-10.
Forty-four seconds into the final quarter, the Coyotes added some insurance as Robb hit again, this time from 45 yards out.
The Sioux pulled together another scoring drive midway through the quarter to pull within 10 points. On the ensuing drive, USD was forced to punt after just three plays. With another opportunity to score, UND was again on the move, but the drive came to an abrupt close as Landry's pass was intercepted by Broders.
The Fighting Sioux will return to the Alerus Center next Saturday to celebrate Homecoming as they host Southern Utah. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.
GAME NOTES: Captains: Jake Landry, Ryan Kasowski, Ross Cochran, and Ty Boyle ... With 48 yards in the opening half, senior quarterback Jake Landry moved to No. 10 all-time at UND in career passing yards (regular season only) ... At 2:12 in the third quarter, Broc "Block" Bellmore pick up his second blocked kick of the season and the sixth of his career. He is UND's all-time record-holder in single-season blocked kicks (four; 2009) and single game blocked kicks (two; vs. South Dakota - Oct. 3, 2009; at Central Arkansas - Nov. 28, 2009) ... North Dakota leads the series against South Dakota 59-29-5 (34-10-1 home, 25-19-4 away) since 1903. The Fighting Sioux are one of only two teams to beat USD in the DakotaDome over the last six seasons. UND's 2007 victory in the dome broke a 23-game home winning streak for South Dakota ... The last time UND traveled to Vermillion, S.D., for Dakota Days was in 1980. When playing South Dakota on its homecoming, the Sioux trail the Coyotes 6-2-1. On five of these nine occasions, one team has been rendered scoreless ... When playing on Oct. 2, UND is 10-7 overall, 7-1 at home, and 3-6 on the road ... With the loss to South Dakota (Oct. 2), head coach Chris Mussman's career record shifted to 14-12, his conference record moved to 3-5, and his record against non-conference remained at 11-7 ... All-time, the Fighting Sioux are 604-361-30 (.608) on the gridiron ... The ??Nov. 13 game at Montana will mark the 1000th football game in UND history.
- Go Sioux -
