South Dakota Pulls Away from Southern Illinois in the Fourth
Tennel Bryant is listed as a wide receiver, and he scored South Dakota's second touchdown by catching a pass for 56 yards and its third by running 44 yards. One carry all day. Fine by me.
South Dakota never trailed in this one. Jackson Proctor ran in from 13 yards in the first quarter, Austyn Modrzewski found Bryant for the 56-yarder in the second, and it was 14-0. Southern Illinois got one back when DJ Williams threw 7 yards to Kyle Thomas with 1:50 left in the half, and the Coyotes led 14-7 at the break. A pair of field goals (31 yards for South Dakota, 26 for Southern Illinois) left it 17-10 going into the fourth quarter, a one-score game.
Then the fourth quarter happened. Bryant's 44-yard run made it 24-10 with 14:09 to play, and Charles Pierre Jr. ran 12 yards for a 31-10 lead with 8:31 left. Southern Illinois did not score again.
The yardage backs it up. South Dakota gained 492 yards, 224 of them on the ground on just 31 carries, to 277 for the Salukis. Modrzewski was 16 of 20 for 268 yards. The Coyotes lost one fumble, and Southern Illinois did not turn the ball over at all. Clean football, and still a 21-point loss.
South Dakota is 5-1 and Southern Illinois falls to 3-3. The Coyotes averaged better than seven yards a carry, which will do that to a game plan. For fantasy, Bryant (25.4) and Pierre (21.6) were the stars, and the quarterback had a quieter day than his season pace.