VERMILLION, S.D.—Hail South Dakota!
Coyote quarterback Carson Camp threw a 57-yard prayer that was answered by Jeremiah Webb in the end zone on the final play of South Dakota’s improbable 23-20 win against rival and No. 7/4 South Dakota State Saturday inside the DakotaDome.
Leading 20-17, the Jackrabbits threw incomplete on 4th-and-1 with eight seconds left one play prior that, following an official review, left one second on the clock. Camp, facing a three-man rush, made one defender miss and gave enough time for Webb and company to reach the end zone. Camp’s heave was batted into the air before Webb secured it for the winning score that sent a sellout crowd into a frenzy.
It was Webb’s first collegiate touchdown. Earning more playing time due to last week’s injury to Kody Case, Webb caught five passes for 153 yards. The third-year freshman from Chicago entered the game with three career catches for 32 yards.
Camp passed for a season-high 288 yards and completed 19-of-27 passes. He scrambled and threw an 18-yard touchdown to Caleb Vander Esch on 3rd-and-goal near the end of the first half to put USD on the board and cut State’s lead to 10-7 at the break. South Dakota scored on three of its four second-half possessions.
“Really proud of our kids, really happy for our kids,” said South Dakota head coach Bob Nielson. “Obviously a unique way to end a game, but as crazy as that play was I really think our kids deserved to win that football game. They played hard, played physical football. Missing a couple of field goals and some opportunities to put some points on the board put us in a bad position at the end, but our kids kept believing. We talk about that all the time, and made an unbelievable play at the end.”
It’s a play that very well could secure the Coyotes’ second FCS playoff berth, and a little luck is only fitting for a team that’s suffered three losses where one play could have shifted the result. Better yet, South Dakota can win a share of its first Missouri Valley Football Conference title with a win at North Dakota State next weekend in Fargo, North Dakota.
South Dakota took its first lead of the game at 14-13 on a 13-yard touchdown run by Nate Thomas with 4:45 left in the third quarter. It capped an 8-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that answered a Jackrabbit field goal on the first possession of the second half. Thomas ran 16 times for 90 yards.
Mason Lorber’s 37-yard field goal extended USD’s lead to 17-13 early in the fourth quarter. Lorber entered the game having made 10 field goals in a row, but hadn’t attempted one in either of USD’s prior two games. He missed from 40 yards out in the first quarter and from 36 in the second quarter that kept points off the board.
State regained the lead on a 4-yard touchdown plunge from all-American Pierre Strong Jr., who carried nine times for 41 yards and survived a fumble on the drive. The score made it 20-17 with 6:10 remaining. Strong rushed for 103 yards, but needed 28 carries to get there and his longest run from scrimmage was 10 yards.
Camp threw 15 yards to Vander Esch and 21 yards to Carter Bell to work South Dakota into Jackrabbit territory on the ensuing possession, but State stuffed a 4th-and-inches run at the 28-yard line with 1:59 left that seemingly ended the game.
A 16-yard, 3rd-and-6 completion from Chris Oladokun to Jadon Janke made a comeback more improbable, but apparently, not impossible.
Credit a defense that held Strong to three 3-yard runs prior to the fourth down. That unit was led by all-Valley linebacker Jack Cochrane who finished with a team-high eight tackles and earned his fourth interception of the season. He also became just the seventh player in program history to reach 300 career tackles.
It was South Dakota’s second straight win over its rival in a series with 115 chapters. The Coyotes outgained the Jacks 422-348. USD punted once and SDSU twice. Camp threw an interception on the first play of the game for the Coyotes’ only turnover. Oladokun was intercepted twice in the first half, the second of which led to South Dakota’s first score.
