VERMILLION, S.D. (KELO.com) –Northern Iowa certainly played like its playoff life depended on it.
Theo Day passed for 380 yards and accounted for six touchdowns in the Panthers’ 58-14 road win at South Dakota Saturday inside the DakotaDome. It was UNI’s first trip to Vermillion since 2018.
UNI moved to 6-5 overall and 5-3 in the Valley, which makes it eligible for an at-large bid to the 24-team playoff field which will be announced Sunday. South Dakota saw its season end at 3-8 overall and 2-6 in the Valley.
UNI scored touchdowns on its first six possessions while the defense forced two turnovers and didn’t allow a South Dakota first down until the middle of the second quarter. The result was a 42-0 lead before 20 minutes had come off the game clock.
Day passed for 303 yards and five touchdowns in the first half. He handed out touchdowns to five different receivers including Sergio Morancy who had four catches for 135 yards. Day also ran for a 3-yard touchdown in the first half. UNI outgained USD 418-111 in the first 30 minutes.
South Dakota got 132 yards passing from Aidan Bouman and 95 yards rushing from Shomari Lawrence. Bouman threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to JJ Galbreath near the end of the first half and snuck in from 1-yard out for the final score of the game with 9:18 left in the fourth quarter. The final yardage tally was 593-236.
It was a cruel finish for South Dakota’s 11 seniors, who were honored in a pregame ceremony. It was also the end of a season in which the Coyotes’ faced the nation’s toughest schedule and did so without an offensive coordinator for all but two games.
After the game, South Dakota athletic director David Herbster addressed the media regarding the future of the program.
“Our team experienced adversity and challenges beyond the toughest schedule in the country,” said Herbster. “Through injuries and other adjustments that put us at a disadvantage all year long. Was this the season we hoped for? Of course not, and I think Bob (Nielson) would be the first to tell you this is not what we want Coyote football to be. What Bob has done extremely well is compile an incredible group of young men who represent themselves, their families, their communities and this University extremely well. I’ve always believed that there’s more to coaching that what you see on a scoreboard.
“We all believe in Bob and his ability to lead our team. That’s me, our president, this department, and this University. He’s won two national championships in his career, and we have three playoff appearances in the last 35 years here at USD and Bob is responsible for two of those. With our support, we know we can achieve our goals of winning championships. That said, Bob will remain the head coach at the University of South Dakota for the foreseeable future and we will be extending his contract.”
Coach Nielson followed.
“Let me start by saying I appreciate David Herbster’s comments, the support, the confidence that he and President (Sheila) Gestring, as well as the entire USD community have demonstrated.
“Obviously, this isn’t the season we wanted and it’s been a disappointing year, but it hasn’t deterred at all my belief and my commitment to win a championship here at University of South Dakota. Now we got work to do, as this game showed, although I have to give UNI a lot of credit. But I’m certainly excited about the future, where we can go, and as I told our team in the locker room, we got some fuel now. If that score doesn’t fuel you into the offseason, then you’re in the wrong place.”
