The South Dakota Coyotes will travel to Cedar Falls and take on the Northern Iowa Panthers. The Coyotes were about to pick up their first meaningful victory over rival North Dakota, while the Panthers lost a tough road game to North Dakota State.
HISTORY: These two FCS powers first met in every season from 1947-1982, before resuming their series in 2008. Northern Iowa leads the head-to-head series 27-17, and they've won the last three meetings.
South Dakota Coyotes
21)South Dakota was able to defend the border and bring home the Sitting Bull trophy after defeating North Dakota at home. The Coyotes took a three-point lead into halftime and held off the Fighting Hawks for the 20-13 win.
Carson Camp appears to be the real deal behind center. The freshman quarterback performed well in his second border war with North Dakota, going 16-23 for 179 yards and two scores. Camp is up to 1,147 passing yards with nine touchdowns to two interceptions.
Redshirt freshman Travis Theis is coming off of the best game of his career. Despite not scoring for the first time this season, Theis ran for a career-high 138 rushing yards, bringing his season total to a team-leading 380 yards and five touchdowns.
Leading receiver Carter Bell had a quiet game last week, but he leads SD with 23 catches and 371 receiving yards. Senior wideout Caleb Vander Esch caught a season-high eight passes for 92 yards, including an 18-yard touchdown in the win over North Dakota.
Northern Iowa Panthers
17)Northern Iowa suffered their second loss of the season last weekend to North Dakota State. The Panthers kept things close early, but the Bison broke away in the third and cruised to victory, handing UNI the 34-20 loss.
Theo Day replaced two-year starter Will McElvain in Week 2 and had looked solid prior to last weekend. The MSU transfer had a rough day, going 12-31 for 257 passing yards, with a touchdown. He didn't turn the ball over, but he was harassed by the Bison defense, and taken down five times.
Day will look to rebound here, and so will the run game. No back gained over 40 yards last weekend, but KU transfer Dom Williams leads the team with 367 rushing yards, and he scored for third straight game in a row against ND.
Isaiah Weston and Quan Hampton give the Panthers solid options on the outside. Weston is one of the best deep threats in the FCS, and he leads UNI with 415 receiving yards and four touchdowns. Hampton has caught four passes in four of five games and he leads the team with 24 catches.
Predicted Winner: Northern Iowa
The Panthers really need to get back on track here, and with their schedule only revving up even more, look for them to get back in the win column here.
