The last time South Dakota and Southern Illinois played football, four quarters weren’t enough.

Neither were four overtimes.

USD finally escaped Carbondale last November with a 53-51 win in five overtimes, rallying from 10 points down in the fourth quarter before Larenzo Fenner ended it with the winning two-point catch which sealed a playoff birth. DJ Williams threw for 303 yards, ran for another 89 and helped turn the afternoon into complete chaos.

Now the Salukis are coming to Vermillion.

And this one matters plenty without needing five overtimes.

South Dakota is 4-2 and 1-1 in the Valley, back inside the top 10 of the Stats Perform poll at No. 10.

Southern Illinois is 3-3 and 1-1, still hanging onto the No. 25 spot.

The loser walks out of Saturday with two conference losses before the middle of October.

That’s enough.

That’s More Like It

South Dakota needed last Saturday.

After consecutive road losses at Boise State and Youngstown State, the Coyotes came home for Dakota Days and handled Indiana State 44-14.

The defense forced five turnovers.

USD scored 34 points off them.

The Coyotes led 30-0 at halftime.

And two areas that had become legitimate concerns both looked much better.

Indiana State ran for only 113 yards after Boise and Youngstown had combined for 668 rushing yards against USD.

On the other side, South Dakota ran for 204 yards, with Charles Pierre Jr. going for 109 yards on 15 carries and two touchdowns.

That’s encouraging.

I’m just not ready to declare either problem completely fixed.

Southern Illinois should tell us more.

Don’t Get Hung Up on 3-3

Southern Illinois comes to the Dome at .500.

That record is a little strange.

The Salukis lost 34-31 at West Florida to open the season.

They beat Samford.

Beat SEMO.

Lost at Illinois.

Then hammered Murray State 46-6 before falling 28-16 to Youngstown State last weekend.

There have been some uneven moments.

There has also been an injury at quarterback that makes the early offensive numbers a little misleading.

Which brings us to the obvious place to start.

Meet #1 DJ Williams

USD already knows this guy.

#1 DJ Williams was one of the best offensive players in the FCS last season.

He threw for 2,846 yards and 22 touchdowns.

He ran for 847 yards and 18 more touchdowns.

That rushing total was a Southern Illinois single-season record for a quarterback, and Williams finished eighth in Walter Payton Award voting.

This season hasn’t had the same clean start.

Williams was injured in the second quarter of the opener at West Florida after completing just 3-of-8 passes. He had already rushed five times for 46 yards before leaving.

He then missed the Samford game entirely because of the knee injury.

Williams returned against SEMO and promptly accounted for five touchdowns, including four on the ground.

So when you look at his cumulative 2026 numbers, remember that one of his five appearances was basically a quarter and a half of football.

He’s currently at 992 passing yards through those five appearances.

And if you’re wondering whether the knee injury has taken away the running threat, last Saturday provided a decent answer.

Williams ran for two touchdowns against Youngstown State.

He’s still very much a quarterback USD has to account for in the run game.

At Least USD Has Seen This Before

There is one thing working in South Dakota’s favor.

This won’t be the first mobile quarterback the Coyotes have prepared for.

Maddux Madsen gave them a version of it at Boise.

Beau Brungard gave them the extreme version at Youngstown.

Now comes Williams.

And Southern’s game against Youngstown gives us a pretty useful comparison.

Brungard ran for 170 yards against USD.

Against Southern Illinois?

69 yards on 16 carries.

Youngstown still ran for 184 as a team and won the game, but SIU did a much better job keeping Brungard from completely taking over with his legs.

That matters because USD knows exactly what happens when the quarterback run game gets loose.

The Coyotes don’t need Williams turning Saturday into another 25-carry afternoon where the defense spends the whole game trying to find him.

#6 Kyle Thomas

Williams also has a pretty good target.

#6 Kyle Thomas is a 6-foot-3 Northern Illinois transfer who barely had a role in the Southern offense last season.

That’s changed.

Against Youngstown State he caught:

8 passes

155 yards

That was his second 100-yard game of the season.

Thomas gives Williams a legitimate downfield target, and Southern has other experienced weapons around him.

So selling out to stop the quarterback run comes with a cost.

That’s usually how this works.

Southern’s Defense Is Good Too

This needs to be separate from everything involving Williams.

Southern Illinois has been pretty solid defensively regardless of what has happened at quarterback.

The Salukis are allowing 137.5 rushing yards per game.

Opponents are averaging 4.3 yards per carry.

And the number that really stands out?

10 interceptions through six games.

That’s a lot.

Especially considering Austyn Modrzewski is only one game removed from the three-turnover afternoon at Youngstown.

He responded about as well as you could ask against Indiana State.

16-of-23.

196 yards.

Three touchdowns.

Zero interceptions.

Through six starts, Modrzewski now has 18 touchdown passes, second-most in the FCS, and his passer rating ranks second nationally.

Southern should be a much better test.

The Salukis create takeaways.

They’ve also generated 14 sacks.

This is a defense capable of changing a game quickly if USD gets careless.

Is the Run Game Actually Back?

This is probably my biggest question.

The Indiana State numbers looked good.

204 rushing yards.

Pierre over 100.

Much better.

But let’s remember how we got here.

USD ran for 267, 214 and 272 yards in the first three games.

Then Boise held the Coyotes to 36.

Youngstown allowed 185, but Pierre had only 30.

Indiana State was the first game in a few weeks where the rushing offense really looked like the version we saw early in the year.

So was that the correction?

Or was that Indiana State?

Southern is allowing only 137.5 rushing yards per game, so this should give us a better answer.

If Pierre can stack another productive game, suddenly you feel a lot better.

If USD goes back to fighting for three yards at a time, then this remains an issue.

And against Williams, there is an added benefit to running the football well.

It keeps him standing on the sideline.

Last Year’s Game Was Ridiculous

It’s worth going back to it.

Southern led 31-21 in the second half.

USD chipped away.

A field goal.

A touchdown.

Another field goal.

The Coyotes actually took a 34-31 lead with 1:10 remaining.

Southern then drove down and hit a field goal with two seconds left to force overtime.

And then nobody could finish it.

First overtime.

Second overtime.

Third.

Fourth.

Fifth.

Finally, Williams threw incomplete on SIU’s fifth-overtime conversion attempt.

USD answered with Fenner.

Game over.

53-51.

Southern has probably had this one circled for a while.

And there’s another piece of recent history.

South Dakota has won four straight in the series.

The last Saluki victory came in the 2021 FCS playoffs, when SIU came into the DakotaDome and ended USD’s season.

Since then, it’s been all Coyotes.

USD leads the series 7-4.

What I’m Watching

1. DJ Williams’ Legs

This is the obvious one.

Williams doesn’t need 100 rushing yards to change the game.

A quarterback converting third-and-7 with his legs is just as frustrating as a 30-yard run.

USD has spent three straight weeks dealing with mobile quarterbacks.

Hopefully some of those lessons start carrying over.

2. Was Indiana State the Fix?

The run defense allowed 668 yards over the Boise and Youngstown games.

Then Indiana State ran for 113.

That’s a massive difference.

Do it again against Southern and the concern starts to fade.

Give up another huge rushing day and we’re right back where we started.

3. Can Pierre Stack Games?

109 yards against Indiana State.

Now do it against a defense that has actually been good against the run.

USD doesn’t need 250 every week.

It does need enough production to keep the offense balanced.

4. Protect the Football

Southern has 10 interceptions.

USD just saw both sides of this.

Turn it over three times at Youngstown and the game gets away.

Force five turnovers against Indiana State and you’re up 30-0 at halftime.

This isn’t complicated.

5. Another Ranked Team in the Dome

Southern Illinois is the first ranked opponent to visit the DakotaDome this season.

USD has won six straight home games and is looking for No. 7. Saturday is also Hall of Fame Weekend.

Both teams are 1-1 in the Valley.

Both know how damaging a second conference loss would be.

And neither should need much motivation after what happened last November.

No. 25 Southern Illinois at No. 10 South Dakota

Saturday, October 10

1:00 p.m. CT

DakotaDome — Vermillion

ESPN+ / Midco Sports

Last year took five overtimes.

I’d be perfectly fine with a slightly less stressful Saturday this time.