TARLETON STATE (10-3, 6-2 UAC) AT SOUTH DAKOTA (9-2, 7-1 MVFC)
WHEN/WHERE: 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7 at the DakotaDome in Vermillion
TV: ESPN+
RADIO: KQSF-FM 95.7 (Sioux Falls), Coyote Sports Network
STREAMING: ESPN+
RECORD LAST YEAR: USD 10-3; TSU 8-3
SERIES: First meeting between teams
LAST TIME: First meeting between teams
RANKINGS: USD seeded No. 4, TSU seeded No. 13
COACHES: USD — Bob Nielson (ninth year, 51-47); TSU — Todd Whitten (15th year total, 139-84)
Following a bye week because of a top-eight seed, the FCS Playoffs have finally arrived in Vermillion. USD faces no easy task to open its playoff path with a battle against 13th-seeded Tarleton State.
While the Coyotes sat idle last week, the Texans put forward a fairly convincing performance in the first round of the playoffs. Tarleton State defeated Drake 43-29 to advance to a second-round matchup with USD. The Texans found themselves in this position despite falling behind 14-3 in the first quarter, but they were clearly the better team the rest of the way.
The bye came in very handy for the Coyotes, who weren’t fully healthy near the end of the season. Head coach Bob Nielson said the overall health outlook of the team is in a positive place at the moment and should continue to be through the week.
“That was a really physical football game against North Dakota State, we’re getting some guys with bumps and bruises healed up a little bit,” Nielson said. “As I would project right now, everybody that played in the game [against NDSU] is going to be available this week. And we're looking at maybe progressing some guys along that didn't play and hopefully get them back through the course of this week would be a possibility as well.”
The big injury question surrounds first-team all-conference tight end selection JJ Galbreath. Galbreath missed the final three games of the regular season after sustaining an injury near the end of USD’s loss to South Dakota State. Nielson was non-committal to Galbreath’s status for Saturday’s matchup but said the veteran tight end is trending in the right direction.
“We’ll know more here by mid-week,” Nielson said. “He's making good progress in rehab. It was an injury that requires time and he's getting really close to where he would be. We'll find out a little bit more this week as the week progresses, probably be a late-in-the-week decision.”
One of the areas USD will have to watch out for when it comes to Tarleton State is big play ability. Chunk plays played a huge role in the Texans’ first-round victory over the Bulldogs. They had 10 plays of 15 yards or more, eight of those went for 20 or more. The Texans averaged only 6.5 yards per play in the game, but those chunk plays came in critical moments as well.
That capability to move the ball downfield in a hurry is certainly something that caught USD’s attention. Nielson said the passing game especially will be an area of focus for the Coyote defense to slow down.
“They hit a couple of big pass plays, they're very talented on the perimeter and what they do oftentimes is they’ll create one one-on-one situations out there,” Nielson said. “So you’ve got to do a good job battling those 50/50 balls and making sure that you keep people in front of you. I really thought that was where they separated themselves in that game from Drake. In the second quarter, they made some big plays through the air and generated a couple of touchdowns there that got them in the lead going into halftime, and then they never looked back from there.”
One aspect that Nielson talked about, not regarding either USD or Tarleton State’s on-field play was the fan support from the Coyote supporters. Multiple times this season, fan support for big games in the Dome has made a difference in games. One doesn’t need to look any further than the sell-out crowd on hand for USD’s shocking win over NDSU just a few weeks ago.
Nielson said he’s hoping the fans will continue to come and show support in a similar fashion with at least one guaranteed playoff game this Saturday and a possibly second next week if USD defeats Tarleton State.
“Come watch some playoff football in the Dome,” Nielson said. “We've got a great opportunity to be able to host a game this week. That great crowd, including a great crowd of students that we had [against NDSU], I had a great time at the game. They certainly saw a great game, going to see another great game this week with two really good teams.”
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