Matt Zimmer: Breaking down the USD Coyotes football schedule
· Yahoo Sports
Jun. 5—VERMILLION — By the time the FCS playoffs reached the quarterfinal round last December, the USD Coyotes were the last team standing from the Dakotas.
They went 10-5 to qualify for the playoffs for the third straight year, and then coach Travis Johansen left after a single season to be the defensive coordinator at Rutgers.
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Enter Matt Vitzthum, USD's third coach in the last three seasons.
He inherits a team with several question marks, none bigger than the quarterback position, where three contenders are vying to replace all-time great Aidan Bouman.
If those shoes prove too big to fill, it could be a struggle for the Coyotes. Then again, USD appears to have found the formula for sustained success, enough to the degree that most who follow the FCS expect them to remain a contender every year regardless of personnel.
It feels like 2026 will be a good litmus test for that theory.
Making matters more challenging? This is a tough schedule. There are no real gimmes in the non-conference slate, and they get three of last year's Valley playoff teams on the road, not to mention the bye doesn't come until November.
Here's a week-by-week look at the Coyotes' 2026 slate.
The Yotes jump right into things with a pretty challenging opener, as they take on a Blue Devils squad that's coming off consecutive NEC titles. CCSU went 8-5 last year and 6-1 in Northeast Conference games, then went one-and-done in the playoffs with a 27-19 loss to Rhode Island.
The NEC is obviously an inferior conference to the Valley and no, I haven't done the homework yet to delve into how much talent is returning from last year for the Blue Devils, but a team coming off consecutive FCS playoff appearances is worth taking seriously, especially for a USD team that has stubbed their toe (or almost stubbed their toe) in recent early season non-conference home games (Houston Christian, Northern Colorado, etc.).
Speaking of UNC, the Coyotes return the favor in this home-and-home series by making the trip to Greeley, and while they did defeat the Bears last year in Vermillion, it was a sort-of ugly win. UNC was entering their third season under Ed Lamb, having gone 1-22 in his first two years. Were it not for an impressive goal line stand at the end of regulation, the Yotes would have lost to that team at home. They managed to escape with an overtime win, and while USD ended the year 10-5, the Bears went 4-8. UNC hasn't had a winning season since consecutive 6-5 campaigns in 2015-2016, and those two seasons represent their best seasons at the Division I level. Seriously, the former North Central Conference power has been one of the worst football teams in the FCS for going on 20 years.
But they improved by three wins last year and a few of their eight losses were by one score.
This one feels a little trap-gamey for the Yotes. Perhaps last year's close call will inspire them to dominate.
The red-turf warriors were an FCS powerhouse under Beau Baldwin more than a decade ago, winning the national championship in 2010 and reaching double digit wins five times between 2010 and 2016 before Baldwin left to be the offensive coordinator at Cal.
The Eagles haven't been the same since, in part from the school not keeping up with other FCS powers in supporting the program. They've gone a respectable 57-47 under current coach Aaron Best, but since going 10-3 in 2021 they've endured four consecutive losing seasons. They were 5-7 last year, 4-4 in the Big Sky.
This feels like a game the Yotes should win, but again, we've seen them take a minute to get their feet under them in September before. While each of their first three non-conference opponents are teams they probably should beat, none of them are in the realm of what anyone would call a patsy.
Most of the FBS games the Jacks and Yotes have played over the years are regional — Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Iowa State, etc., so it's always fun when one of them steps outside the central time zone.
I've been to Albertsons Stadium in Boise and it's a pretty cool facility in a pretty cool town.
Boise State went 9-5 last year, finishing in a four-way tie for first in the Mountain West, led by running back and first round pick Ashton Jeanty. He's gone now, and the Broncos have left the Mountain West for the new Pac-12.
The Broncos are one of the most successful and well-known Group of Five-Six teams in college football's recent history, having made the move up to the FBS in 1996 and won 17 conference title since doing so. They're 277-70 since Dirk Koetter took over the program in 1998 and became the first of a handful of coaches to use Boise as a springboard to a blueblood job.
The Yotes will be pretty big underdogs here, in a game that closes out a fairly difficult non-conference slate.
Geez, five weeks in and where's the breather? While the Yotes could be 3-1 entering conference play it won't be easy, and even if they are 3-1, they'll have likely exerted an awful lot of effort to get there, with plenty of miles logged.
Then they get the Penguins, a playoff team a year ago that returns the Walter Payton Award winner in quarterback Beau Brungard. Assuming he's healthy when this game rolls around, there's a good chance the Penguins will be the favorite.
Yes, Indiana State won in Brookings last year. They also lost at home to Murray State. Maybe they'll be markedly improved in 2026, and it does seem like the Coyotes always seem to get bad-but-improving teams at home when they just need/want an easy win.
Barring major strides from the Sycamores in the first month of the season this should be a decisive USD victory.
The Yotes beat the Salukis in Carbondale in a high-scoring, multiple-overtime thriller late last year in one of the most memorable performances of Aidan Bouman's career. It basically clinched a playoff spot for USD and eliminated SIU.
Bouman's gone, of course, while SIU returns their dual threat quarterback DJ Williams. Plus the Salukis have a history of playing as well or better on the road than they do at home.
This should be a good one.
The Racers have gone 2-22 in two seasons under Jody Wright. That says more about the Murray State program than it does about Wright, but by year three the rebuild (or build) should start to show some results. Are the Racers ready to climb the MVFC ladder? To do so would mean being able to at least compete with some of the Valley's stronger teams, especially at home.
For USD, there are plenty of unknowns heading into this season with a new staff and still-to-be-determined new quarterback, but if they've indeed reached a level that many of us (including this writer) believe they have, a win at Murray State should be slam dunk regardless of circumstances.
The Coyotes' season was teetering on the brink last year when they welcomed UND to the Dome, and with the Fighting Hawks coming in ranked 8th in the country, many expected them to officially put USD's playoff hopes on ice.
Instead the Yotes pulled a 26-21 upset, kicking off a 3-game winning streak — all against ranked teams — to send them back to the playoffs (where they extended that winning streak to five before falling in the quarterfinals to Montana).
UND seems to be a trendy pick as a sleeper this year, and it makes sense. NDSU is out of the picture, and 2nd-year coach Eric Schmidt, by all accounts, is building momentum in Grand Forks.
With the Jackrabbits looming a week later, the Coyotes can't get caught looking ahead here.
Is this the year the Yotes finally take down the Jacks in Brookings? There have been some close calls — very close calls — but it hasn't happened.
From where things sit right now it doesn't look like this will be the year. The Jacks are loaded at every position group, while the Yotes have more holes to fill.
That doesn't mean, however, that those holes won't end up being filled adequately. USD has taken its program from 'every few years good' to 'good every year' status, and the expectation in 2026 is that even with another new coach and a new quarterback, they will be a contender.
A Halloween win on their rivals' field given the disparity in returning talent would be a huge one for the Coyotes.
If the Coyotes are in the playoff race or contention for a seed, this will be a pretty good time for a bye. They'll be banged up from playing 10 games in 10 weeks and likely desperate for a week of recover as they look ahead to what they hope is a December playoff push.
If, however, they're not in the playoff hunt by this time, the late date of their bye week will likely be at least a partial culprit.
It's been disappointing to see the UNI program go from a rival and peer of North Dakota State to a team that needs Murray State and Indiana State on their schedule to get a league win.
Maybe they'll be significantly better this year in Todd Stepsis' second season. I'll be surprised if they're better enough to win in Vermillion.
A challenging finish to a challenging schedule, the Redbirds were national runners-up last year, and while they lost several key players, namely star quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse, they should still be a top-10 FCS team.
They bring back much of their offense outside of Rittenhouse, and have USC transfer Gage Roy on hand to compete for the QB1 job with returning sophomore Beckham Pellant.
The defense has questions in the front and back end but will have one of the top linebacking corps in the Valley.
This could be one of the most consequential games of November in the FCS.