After an exciting 2nd round victory over the Redbirds of Illinois State, the Aggies now have to hit the road to Vermillion, South Dakota for a quarterfinal matchup against the Coyotes in a battle of former Great West Conference members. South Dakota comes into this game with a 10-2 record as following...

vs Northern State (D2) - W 45-3 (6-5)
@ Wisconsin (FBS) - L 13-27 (5-7)
@ Portland State - cancelled (3-8)
vs Drake - W 42-3 (8-3)
vs Southern Illinois - W 42-13 (4-8)
@ Murray State - W 59-0 (1-11)
vs Northern Iowa - W 42-17 (3-9)
@ Youngstown State - W 27-17 (4-8)
@ South Dakota State - L 17-20 OT (11-2)
vs Indiana State - W 49-0 (4-8)
@ North Dakota - W 42-36 (5-7)
vs North Dakota State - W 29-28 (11-2)

vs Tarleton State - W 42-31 (10-4)

Their schedule this year was... interesting. We would have actually had a common opponent in Portland State, but that was cancelled due to the Vikings getting whooping cough in the year 2024. They also had a D2 win that is borderline if not totally useless. In conference though, they missed out on playing some of the middle of the road teams and instead got the very best and the very worst and handled their business in both regards. Their only FCS loss being an OT loss to SDSU and then beating NDSU by any margin is impressive. It's not just their record that is impressive though, statistically they are also very strong.

Points per game
USD - 37.42, Opponents - 16.25

Rushing yards per game
USD - 230.3, Opponents - 109.6

Passing yards per game
USD - 217, Opponents - 192.83

Total offense (yards per game)
USD - 441.6 ranks 10th in FCS

Total defense (yards allowed per game)
USD - 286.5 ranks 6th in FCS

Turnover Margin
USD - +5 ranks 34th in FCS

They run a balanced offense, though tends to skew towards running the ball, where they have scored a whole lot of points while conversely also being an excellent team at keeping their opponents out of the end zone. Really one of the only stats that I could find where they weren't putting a beatdown on their opponents is penalties. In penalty yards per game they are about middle of the road in FCS, but that's the worst aspect about your team then you have a pretty solid squad. Let's talk individual players though.

QB Aidan Bouman
USD doesn't throw the ball A TON, but when they do they are effective and efficient. Bouman has completed 180/261 (68.97%) passing attempts this season for 2470 yards with 16 TDs and only 2 INTs. He is not a dual threat guy so we don't really have to worry about him taking off in the run game, but USD takes very few sacks partially due to having an absolutely massive offensive line and also due to Bouman himself being huge for a quarterback standing at 6'5 245.

RB Charles Pierre Jr.
USD features 2 main running backs the first being Charles Pierre Jr. who has 151 rushing attempts on the season for 1153 net yards with 15 TDs. His 7.56 rushing yards per carry ranks 2nd in FCS. He's right up there with Scottre Humphrey and Adam Jones of Montana State. I don't want to say that we "shut them down" per se, but we did a better job than pretty much any other FCS they had this season.

RB Travis Theis
The 2nd half of the two head running monster of the Coyotes. Theis has rushed the ball 155 times for 976 net yards with 16 TDs. He doesn't quite have the same rushing average as Pierre Jr, but his 6.51 yards per rush is just outside of the top 10. Having 2 different RBs basically in the top 10 yards per carry stat just shows you their strength in offensive line play. Run defense has been a strength of ours this season, but they are a VERY good run offense.

WR Carter Bell
The Coyotes don't have gaudy numbers in the passing game, but their leading receiver has been Carter Bell. He's not a big guy, kind of the UCD receiver model, but he's been Bouman's favorite target by a wide margin as he's hauled in 46 receptions for 685 yards and 3 TDs. Next closest receiver in terms of receptions is aforementioned running back Travis Theis with 24.

LB Gary Bryant III
Bryant has been all over the field for the Coyotes leading their team in tackles with 86. He's also chipped in 3 TFLs, an interception, and a forced fumble.

DB Dennis Shorter
Tied for 2nd on the team in total tackles, but leads the team in PBUs with 10 and is tied for most interceptions with 2.

DL Mi'Quise Grace
The Coyotes have a couple of monsters on the defensive line with the first being Grace. He has 18 TFLs and 9.5 sacks on the season. He's 4th on the team in total tackles with 58 and he's forced 2 fumbles as well. Disruptive and a big kid standing at 6'4 255.

DL Nick Gaes
The 2nd monster on the line and just as problematic as Grace. Gaes has 10 TFLs and 8 sacks while adding 43 total tackles on the season.

All-in-all, the Aggies have a very tough road test ahead. This game will come down to the UCD run defense versus a strong USD offensive line and run game and if our battered offensive line can slow down their pass rush. I don't think it's impossible, but not many teams this season have had success in slowing down the Coyotes this year. At least we have the benefit of playing inside of a dome and not outside where the current Saturday forecast calls for a high in the low 40s with some light snow the Friday before.

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GO AGS!