South Dakota Walks Off No. 6 North Dakota 26-23 in Overtime, Grabs Share of MVFC Lead

North Dakota spent the previous Saturday beating the No. 1 team in FCS. It spent this Saturday learning that the Missouri Valley Football Conference does not hand out weeks off.

South Dakota built a 17-point lead, watched North Dakota erase every bit of it, and then won 26-23 in overtime when redshirt freshman quarterback Austyn Modrzewski found redshirt freshman receiver Brayden White in the back corner of the end zone. More than 8,000 fans were packed into the DakotaDome in Vermillion, and they lost their minds.

The Coyotes, No. 8 in the Stats Perform poll going in, improved to 7-2 and 4-1 in the MVFC, tied with Youngstown State for first place. North Dakota, No. 6 in that poll and fresh off a 21-10 win over then-No. 1 South Dakota State, fell to 6-3 and 3-2.

The Coyotes come out swinging

South Dakota coach Matt Vitzthum said his team "came out of the locker room and threw the first haymaker," and that might be underselling it. Bohdie Ing opened the scoring with a 47-yard field goal. Jackson Proctor capped an 87-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown run. Then UND quarterback Jerry Kaminski fumbled on a scramble deep in his own territory, South Dakota took over at the UND 20, and Modrzewski hit Tysen Boze for a 4-yard touchdown. It was 17-0 after one quarter.

North Dakota finally got on the board early in the second quarter when Kenten Laughman drilled a career-long 46-yard field goal. Braden Mohr added a sack, bringing his season total to 8.5. But Kaminski also lost a second fumble late in the half, this one in South Dakota territory, which killed a promising drive. Ing added a 46-yarder with 1:44 left, and South Dakota went to the locker room up 20-3.

UND went 0-for-5 on third down in the first half. Against a top-10 team on the road, that is how you end up down 17.

North Dakota's 17-point answer

Whatever was said in the visiting locker room worked. UND opened the second half with a 15-play, 78-yard drive that ate 7:24 and ended with Javance Tupou'ata-Johnson's 1-yard touchdown run. The Fighting Hawks went 3-for-4 on third down on that drive alone, and suddenly it was 20-10.

From there, the North Dakota defense took over, and South Dakota did not score again in regulation. Ethan Boll finished with a game-high 11 tackles. Tyler Erkman had a career-high 10. Lance Rucker, in just his second game back after missing the first seven, added a season-high eight. Grant Noland broke up his 14th pass of the season, tying a UND single-season record that had stood since 1977.

With 3:57 left, Deng Deng hauled in a 23-yard catch to the South Dakota 1, and Matt Lawson punched it in on the next play to make it 20-17. UND got the ball back with 1:46 to go, and Kaminski went to work. He opened the drive with a 15-yard run, and on fourth down, he hit Sam Strandell for 32 yards. South Dakota did not help itself in the fourth quarter, drawing two pass interference flags on third down. The drive stalled after three straight incompletions, but Laughman made a 45-yarder with 46 seconds left. Tie game, and a dome full of people who suddenly felt very nervous.

Overtime: a flag, then two freshmen

North Dakota got the ball first. On the third play, Kaminski threw a short touchdown pass to Lawson, and for a moment it looked like the comeback was complete. Then came the flag for holding. A false start followed, Kaminski came up short on a third-and-15 run, and UND settled for a 38-yard Laughman field goal and a 23-20 lead. Laughman finished 3-for-3 and has made six straight.

South Dakota needed two plays. Charles Pierre Jr. ran 11 yards to the 14. Then Modrzewski lofted one to the back corner, and White came down with it. Game over.

"So what, now what mentality," White said of how the Coyotes handled watching a 17-point lead disappear. "Just next play. Control what we can control."

White also pointed to the work behind the moment. "It means a lot to have my coaches and teammates trust me and put me in that opportunity," he said. As for the connection with his quarterback, the answer was simple: "Just the chemistry, everyday we're throwing so just keep building on what we have going on." The 1985 and 1986 Coyote teams were in the building for the occasion, and the two freshmen gave them a finish worth the trip.

The players who decided it

Modrzewski completed 15 of 22 passes for 159 yards and two touchdowns. He has now thrown a touchdown pass in nine straight games and moved into sole possession of fifth on South Dakota's single-season passing touchdown list. White caught six passes for 101 yards, the first 100-yard game of his career, and leads the team with eight receiving touchdowns. Pierre ran 21 times for 128 yards, his 11th career 100-yard game, and did the dirty work every time the Coyotes needed a first down.

On defense, Tim White led South Dakota with eight tackles, while Wade Abrams and Jaylen Boehm-Peterson had seven each. Abrams and Gabe Hardman are tied for the MVFC lead with three forced fumbles apiece, which tells you this defense has a habit of taking the ball away.

For North Dakota, Deng had a career-high eight catches for 88 yards, and Strandell had a career-high five for 76. Mohr leads the MVFC and ranks third in FCS in sacks. The rest of the story is simple. Two Kaminski fumbles turned into seven South Dakota points, and a holding call erased an overtime touchdown. In a three-point game, that is the whole ballgame. The full numbers are in the official box score (opens in a new tab).

A rivalry that has flipped

North Dakota leads the all-time series 64-35-5, a rivalry that dates to 1903 and ran through the North Central Conference and the Great West before both landed in the MVFC. But South Dakota has now won four straight. There has been no trophy on the line since the Sitting Bull Trophy was retired in 2000, and nobody in Vermillion needed one Saturday night.

What it means

The MVFC race is a mess, in the best possible way. South Dakota and Youngstown State are tied at 4-1, with South Dakota State right behind them. In the new Stats Perform poll, South Dakota jumped to No. 6 and North Dakota slid to No. 9.

And nobody got a breather. Next on the schedule were Halloween road games for both: South Dakota at No. 5 South Dakota State in Brookings and North Dakota at No. 4 Youngstown State. For UND, the lesson is uncomfortable. Beating the top team in the country one week does not count for much if you spot the next opponent 17 points. The Fighting Hawks proved they can play with anyone in this league. They also proved that slow starts in this league get you beat. Both schools have the details in their recaps, from South Dakota (opens in a new tab) and from North Dakota (opens in a new tab).

The last word

"Championship level teams find ways to win games like that," Vitzthum said.

He is not wrong. South Dakota did not play its best game, gave back a 17-point lead and still walked off the field with the win. In the Missouri Valley in late October, that is what contenders do.

Sources: South Dakota Athletics and North Dakota Athletics recaps, Dakota News Now, Valley News Live and Opta Analyst. More FCS and college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: UND Athletics/Leighton Chamblee.