By: Howard Woodard
It wasn’t a pleasant weekend for SIU football (2-3) after getting drubbed on the road by the South Dakota Coyotes 42-13. Not a whole went the Dawgs’ way as the now No.4 ranked Coyotes had complete control of this one from the opening kickoff. The difference was South Dakota having their way in the running game, totaling 309 yards on the ground. Two Coyote backs passed the century mark in rushing, leading USD to have 6.4 yards per carry on the day. It allowed QB Aidan Bouman to only attempt 17 passes, but he still had 247 yards and 2 TD by the game’s end. The success on the ground led to explosive plays through the air, including 80 and 61 yard touchdown passes in the first half, respectively. The Coyotes went up 28-0 late in the second quarter, as the Salukis struggled to sustain drives offensively. They did march down the field late on a 44 yd TD catch and run from Keontez Lewis where he got free over the middle of the field. But the Coyotes quickly responded with that 61 yd touchdown pass to go up 35-7. Due to game script, SIU didn’t resort to their running game as much and it wasn’t too successful, gaining 65 yards from their running backs across 18 attempts. Hunter Simmons threw for 306 yards and was 23/41 (56.1%) but the Dawgs couldn’t muster to get back into this one. The Salukis will need to compete better on both sides of the ball, especially defensively in order to get back in the win column. With the absence of QB DJ Williams, they have a much smaller margin for error. They will return to Carbondale on Oct. 5 in a matchup against Illinois State as the No.18 Redbirds will face the No.19 Salukis.
Comments