VERMILLION, S.D. (KELO) — The USD football outscored St. Thomas by 17 points last Saturday, on their way to a 24-nothing rout of the Tommies. Now the Yotes return home for another non-conference game.
Nick Gaes was named the FCS National defensive player of the week, after a dominant defensive performance. The defensive lineman tallied three sacks and seven total tackles, five of which were tackles for loss.
“We weren’t 100% sure that he was going to be able to go. And if he did go, if he would be at full speed or not. And, fortunately, it was in a position where he could go and took advantage of that opportunity,” USD head coach Bob Nielson said.
Now the Coyotes are preparing to host Lamar, a team which features unpredictability offensively.
“Lamar’s going to be one of those teams that’s going to throw RPOs, they’re going to spread the field a little bit more, a spread running game that forces you to do things differently defensively than we did last week,” coach Nielson said.
South Dakota finished with 106 yards on the ground against St. Thomas. Redshirt sophomore Nate Thomas rushed for seven yards a carry and a score.
“It was good to see Nate get in there and play well. We’ve been trying to make sure that he’s confident and ready to go. I think he demonstrated that he’s without question ready to go,” Coach said.
This stretch of the season features plenty of football at the DakotaDome, as USD is home for three of their next four games.
“It’s funny the way our schedule has worked. We haven’t had a lot of situations where we got back-to-back home games, and I think we have it twice in this year’s games. You got to play well at home and find ways to win on the road.” coach Nielson said.
USD will take on Lamar Saturday at 1 p.m.
