VERMILLION — The University of South Dakota football team opened its conference slate with a bang on Saturday with a dominant 42-13 victory over Southern Illinois in the DakotaDome. Aidan Bouman had yet another big performance with a season-high 247 yards and two touchdowns on 11-for-17 passing. Travis Theis was the leading rusher with 147 yards and two touchdowns.
Charles Pierre had 126 yards and two touchdowns. JJ Galbreath was the first receiver to eclipse the 100-yard mark this season with 100 yards and a score. With that, here are three observations from the game .
.. ADVERTISEMENT The battle in the trenches was one to watch in this one.
Coming into the matchup, SIU led the Missouri Valley Football Conference in sacks but also led the league in sacks allowed. So the Coyotes needed to stand firm on both sides of the ball, and they did just that with high efficiency. On the defensive side, the front four especially looked good throughout the game.
The Coyotes were getting consistent pressure in the passing game and forced Saluki quarterback Hunter Simmons to get rid of the ball quickly on numerous occasions. In the run game, SIU couldn’t get anything rolling as the USD defense was plugging holes and forcing the running back to switch direction at the line. The defense finished with two sacks and six tackles for loss on the day.
SIU only averaged 2.4 yards per rush. Offensively, the line held up extremely well.
In pass protection, Bouman had plenty of time to throw and d.