South Dakota edges Illinois State 27-24
VERMILLION, S.D. (AP) - Backup quarterback Austin Simmons led South Dakota to a 27-24 Missouri Valley Football Conference win over Illinois State on Saturday.
Filling in for injured starter Chris Streveler, backup QB Ryan Saeger started and completed four of seven passes before giving way to Simmons, who threw for two touchdowns.
Simmons, a redshirt freshman, was 13-for-30 for 205 yards. He threw a 15-yard TD pass to Riley Donovan and a 26-yarder to Tacari Carpenter.
"Both of them are obviously capable players," USD coach Bob Nielson said of his quarterbacks. "It was good to see Austin make those kinds of plays. We just have to be more consistent."
Illinois State (3-5, 1-4) outgained the Coyotes 474-370, but a strong fourth quarter down the stretch helped USD (4-3, 3-1) beat the Redbirds for the first time after five losses.
"Credit to our guys in the fourth quarter. What a tremendous job by our defense," Nielson said.
Miles Bergner opened the scoring with a 29-yard field goal to give the Coyotes a 3-0 lead with 12:36 to play in the first quarter.
But the Redbirds came right back to take the lead on James Robinson's 17-yard run.
Michael Fredrick's 5-yard TD run with 6:59 left in the quarter gave the Coyotes a 10-7 lead and Simmons followed with a 15-yard TD pass to Donovan.
Simmons' second TD pass, a 26-yarder to Carpenter, staked SDSU to 24-7 lead. But the Redbirds weren't done.
Sean Flattery kicked a 44-yard field goal with 3:00 left in the half to make it 24-10 and Corbin scored on a 2-yard run with 41 seconds left to make it 24-17.
Bergner extended the lead to 27-17 with a 39-yard field goal with 4:46 remaining in the third period.
Illinois State missed an opportunity to cut into the lead when Corbin broke free on a 42-yard run but was chased down from behind and stripped of the ball as he neared the goal line. USD recovered in the end zone for a touchback.
The Redbirds closed within 27-24 on a 42-yard pass from Jake Kolbe to Christian Gibbs with 7:43 to play. But that was the end of the scoring.
Illinois State's last chance ended with a roughing the punter penalty with nine seconds to play.
Kolbe threw for 241 yards for Illinois State. Corbin ran for 108 yards on 12 carries.