South Dakota falls to Southern Illinois 22-10 in FCS playoff opener

VERMILLION -- After University of South Dakota quarterback Carson Camp's fourth turnover of the day, his coach Bob Nielson found Camp on the sideline and put his arm around him.

Near the end of the Coyotes' 22-10 loss to Southern Illinois in the opening round of the FCS playoffs at the DakotaDome, Nielson saw a coaching moment.

"Hey, you get in that situation again — and we're going to be in that situation again — just slide,” Nielson said he said to Camp. “You're trying to do too much there."

He wanted Camp to look past this game. The freshman quarterback has taken care of the ball all year. Saturday's game doesn’t define his play. Nielson said he wanted to “make sure he knew we were proud of him.”

It was the Coyotes' fist home playoff game since 1986, back in the Division II days, and the entire team will want to look past it.

"We'll learn from this game,” said Camp, who completed 19 of 31 passes for 202 yards. “This season.”

His fumble late in the game didn't change the final score. But it capped a rough day for Camp, who also threw three interceptions.

South Dakota finished the season at 7-5, 5-3 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

USD's offense struggled mightily against Southern Illinois (8-4, 5-3). The Coyotes scored for the first time on a field goal early in the third quarter, then scored a touchdown with 8:50 left in the game. But Southern Illinois came right back and made it a two-score game again on the next drive.

The loss ends a strong bounce back season for South Dakota on a sour note. Following a lopsided loss to North Dakota State in the last week of the regular season, the Coyotes added another rough performance Saturday. A team that, in its best moments, perhaps looked better than any USD team in the FCS era, was not sharp in its last two games.

The season's end brings reflections on a season of growth for a team that won just one game in the shortened spring season.

"This team, I think, there were a lot of naysayers about this football team when we started the season," Nielson said. "We think we had a chance to compete for a national championship. And this team did."

The Coyotes started the game well enough. Nate Thomas, who has taken the starting carries at running back the last several games, continued to run strong. He finished with 12 rushed for 62 yards. Camp hit wide receiver Jaevon McQuitty for a 29-yard pass early. But his second pass went straight into the arms of Southern Illinois defensive back Qua Brown.

Then, bad turned even worse. After the 37 yards USD gained on its first drive, it only mustered 28 the rest of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Coyotes gained just one net yard and one first down. That came when running back Travis Theis, who finished with seven carries for 24 yards and a score, spun through tackles for a new set of downs.

The Coyotes gained two more yards on a reception by wide receiver Kody Case. Then two straight sacks of Camp negated nearly all of those yards.

South Dakota went to the half with just 66 yards of offense.

The defense held the Salukis to just 13 first-half points, stopping them on most drives despite giving up 223 yards. However, USD defensive back Cameron Tisdale roughed the holder on a field goal, and Southern Illinois converted that penalty into a touchdown.

It was the "same basic scheme" the Coyotes saw from the Salukis on film, USD linebacker Jack Cochrane said.

There weren't many mistakes by the defense, but the USD offense couldn't help the cause.

“One yard of offense doesn't define our offense,” Camp said of the second quarter. “Just kind of took forever to get going.”

In the third quarter, things got a little better, but barely enough to keep the Coyotes within two scores.

Backup and wildcat quarterback Johnathan Lewis earned an ovation after he hit Brett Samson for a 30-yard pass play, then ran for seven yards. Wide receiver Jeremiah Webb caught a pass and shook a Saluki defender to again move the Coyotes into the red zone. Another first down. But on the next three plays, Camp threw an incompletion, USD took a false penalty start that pushed it back to the nine and Camp threw another incompletion.

On the next play, USD receiver Brett Samson found a spot in the corner of the end zone and boxed out some space by the pylon. Camp threw towards him, but not far enough. Brown stepped in and picked it off.

Camp was pushed to the turf. He sprung up, looked back and started a slow walk back to the sideline. It's a walk he has not made often this season, but this game was different.

“It's just going back in the tape and we'll get things figured out,” he said. “We'll be back next year.”

With their win, Southern Illinois advances in the FCS playoffs. The Salukis play North Dakota State next weekend in Fargo.

Follow Sioux Falls Argus Leader reporter Michael McCleary on Twitter @mikejmccleary.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota falls to Southern Illinois 22-10 in FCS Playoffs 1st round