# 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.

## Preseason
### MVFC poll

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

## Schedule

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

## Game summaries
### Montana

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

### At Oklahoma

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

### Houston Baptist

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

### At Northern Colorado

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

### Indiana State

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

### At Missouri State

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

### At Northern Iowa

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

### Southern Illinois

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

### At Western Illinois

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

### Youngstown State

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

### At North Dakota State

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

### South Dakota State

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

## Ranking movements

Ranking movements Legend: RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Final |
| STATS FCS | RV | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Coaches | RV | | | | | | | | | | | | | |