2019 South Dakota Coyotes football team

The 2019 South Dakota Coyotes football team represented the University of South Dakota in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by fourth-year head coach Bob Nielson and played their home games in the DakotaDome. They were a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 5–7, 4–4 in MVFC play to finish in sixth place.

2019 South Dakota Coyotes football
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
2019 record	5–7 (4–4 MVFC)
Head coach	Bob Nielson (4th season)
Home stadium	DakotaDome (Capacity: 10,000)

2019 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 1 North Dakota State $^		8	–	0					16	–	0
No. 5 Northern Iowa ^		6	–	2					10	–	5
No. 7 Illinois State ^		5	–	3					10	–	5
No. 10 South Dakota State ^		5	–	3					8	–	5
Southern Illinois		5	–	3					7	–	5
South Dakota		4	–	4					5	–	7
Indiana State		3	–	5					5	–	7
Youngstown State		2	–	6					6	–	6
Missouri State		1	–	7					1	–	10
Western Illinois		1	–	7					1	–	11
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

Main article: 2018 South Dakota Coyotes football team

The Coyotes finished the 2018 season 4–7, 3–5 in MVFC play to finish in a three-way tie for sixth place.

Preseason

MVFC poll

In the MVFC preseason poll released on July 29, 2019, the Coyotes were predicted to finish in sixth place.[1]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	North Dakota State	392 (32)
2	South Dakota State	348 (4)
3	Illinois State	289 (3)
4	Indiana State	279 (1)
5	Northern Iowa	266
6	South Dakota	176
7	Youngstown State	153
8	Western Illinois	128
9	Southern Illinois	89
10	Missouri State	80

Preseason All–MVFC team

The Coyotes had two players selected to the preseason all-MVFC team.[2]

Offense Darakai Allen – WR

Defense Darin Greenfield – DL

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	2:00 p.m.	No. 25 Montana*	DakotaDome Vermillion, SD	ESPN+	L 17–31	5,193
September 7	6:00 p.m.	at No. 4 (FBS) Oklahoma*	Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK	FSOK PPV	L 14–70	82,181
September 14	2:00 p.m.	Houston Baptist*	DakotaDome Vermillion, SD	ESPN+	L 52–53	5,077
September 21	3:00 p.m.	at Northern Colorado*	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	Pluto TV	W 14–6	5,745
October 5	2:00 p.m.	Indiana State	DakotaDome Vermillion, SD	ESPN+	W 38–0	5,255
October 12	2:00 p.m.	at Missouri State	Robert W. Plaster Stadium Springfield, MO	ESPN+	W 45–10	5,784
October 19	4:00 p.m.	at No. 14 Northern Iowa	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	ESPN+	L 27–42	10,201
October 26	4:00 p.m.	Southern Illinois	DakotaDome Vermillion, SD	ESPN+	L 28–48	4,734
November 2	1:00 p.m.	at Western Illinois	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	ESPN+	L 34–38	1,728
November 9	2:00 p.m.	Youngstown State	DakotaDome Vermillion, SD	ESPN+	W 56–21
November 16	2:30 p.m.	at No. 1 North Dakota State	Fargodome Fargo, ND	ESPN+	L 14–49
November 23	2:00 p.m.	No. 5 South Dakota State	DakotaDome Vermillion, SD (rivalry)	ESPN+	W 24–21
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

[3][4]

Game summaries

Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 25 Grizzlies	0	17	14	0	31
Coyotes	0	10	7	0	17

See also: 2019 Montana Grizzlies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
6–12	2014	L, 20–28

at Oklahoma

	1	2	3	4	Total
Coyotes	0	0	14	0	14
No. 4 (FBS) Sooners	14	14	28	14	70

See also: 2019 Oklahoma Sooners football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

Houston Baptist

	1	2	3	4	Total
Huskies	0	17	21	15	53
Coyotes	10	14	14	14	52

See also: 2019 Houston Baptist Huskies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

at Northern Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
Coyotes	0	7	0	7	14
Bears	0	0	6	0	6

See also: 2019 Northern Colorado Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
14–19	2018	W, 43–28

Indiana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Sycamores	0	0	0	0	0
Coyotes	14	10	14	0	38

See also: 2019 Indiana State Sycamores football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–2	2018	L, 48–51

at Missouri State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Coyotes	10	21	14	0	45
Bears	7	0	0	3	10

See also: 2019 Missouri State Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–2	2018	W, 35–28

at Northern Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
Coyotes	21	3	3	0	27
No. 14 Panthers	14	7	14	7	42

See also: 2019 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
19–29–1	2018	L, 28–42

Southern Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Salukis	7	27	7	7	48
Coyotes	7	0	14	7	28

See also: 2019 Southern Illinois Salukis football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–2	2018	W, 31–24

at Western Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Coyotes	7	10	3	14	34
Leathernecks	7	0	10	21	38

See also: 2019 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–5	2018	W, 17–12

Youngstown State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Penguins	7	7	0	7	21
Coyotes	21	14	14	7	56

See also: 2019 Youngstown State Penguins football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–6	2018	L, 17–29

at North Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Coyotes	0	7	0	7	14
No. 1 Bison	14	14	14	7	49

See also: 2019 North Dakota State Bison football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
25–53–3	2018	L, 14–59

South Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 5 Jackrabbits	7	0	7	7	21
Coyotes	0	10	14	0	24

See also: 2019 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
51–52–7	2018	L, 27–49

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	RV
Coaches	RV

References

1. "North Dakota State Picked to Win Missouri Valley Football Crown". www.valleynewslive.com. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
2. "MVFC Announces Preseason All-Conference Team". valley-football.org. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
3. "2019 South Dakota Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved August 1, 2019.
4. "2019 Football Schedule". University of South Dakota Athletics. Retrieved August 1, 2019.