VERMILLION, S.D., Nov. 6 - South Dakota scored 21 unanswered second period points, then withheld Southern Utah's come-back attempts in the second half en route to a 45-21 Great West Conferrence win. The loss put a big kink in the Thunderbirds Great West Conference championship hopes, as SUU finished the season 2-2 in league play while South Dakota moved to 1-2 with a game at Cal Poly next week. SUU dropped to 4-5 overall while USD improved to 4-5.

            The teams went 14:50 of the first period before South Dakota got the first points of the game on  a 17-yard touchdown pass from Noah Shepard to Will Powell but Southern Utah answered almost immediately, as Cade Cooper hooked up with Tysson Poots on a 65-yard pass play on the final play of the quarter to bring SUU even.

            Southern Utah lost two interceptions and a fumble in the second period, however, and the Coyotes were able to convert two of the three into touchdowns to put SUU into a 28-7 halftime hole.

            The Coyotes drove the length of the field after Poots' touchdown, taking a 14-7 lead on a 2-yard Isaac Newton run. Austin Minefee then fumbled on the ensuing kickoff, giving USD the ball at the 27 yard line, which led to a on-yard Shepard run for a score.

            On SUU's next possession Cooper threw one of his season-high four interceptions deep in South Dakota territory. The Coyotes were still able to capitalize, however, going 84 yards on eight plays, with the score coming on a 45 Chris Ganious run with 2:53 to play.

            Southern Utah rallied in the second half, pulling to within 28-14 on the second Cooper-to-Poots touchdown of the day. After a 27-yard Dustin Nowotny field goal SUU cut the deficit to 31-21 on a one-yard pass from Cooper to Daryl Brown, but South Dakota put the game away with two late touchdowns, a seven yard Ganious run and then a five yard run by Marcus Sims with nine seconds to play.

            Southern Utah finished with 325 yards of offense, including 278 passing as Cooper - who was battling the flu - had his third-highest total of the season. Cooper complete3d 20-of-35 passes, with six of those going to Poots for 150 yards.

            South Dakota passed for 235 yards and rushed for 334 more to finish with 569 total yards. Ganious and Newton each passed the 100-yard rushing mark, with Ganious finishing with 170 and Newton with 113.

-- SUU --