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The Western Illinois Leathernecks will host the South Dakota Coyotes in Missouri Valley Football Conference play on Saturday.
The game (2 p.m. ET start time) won’t be on regular TV anywhere, but you can watch it live right here on ESPN+, the digital streaming service from ESPN that has exclusive coverage of dozens of college football games and other live sports every week, all the 30-for-30 documentaries and additional original content (both video and written) all for $4.99 per month.
You can sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then watch South Dakota vs Western Illinois live on your computer via ESPN.com, or on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or other streaming device via the ESPN app.
South Dakota vs Western Illinois Preview
The Coyotes dropped their second game in a row last week, losing to the Southern Illinois Salukis 48-28 at home to fall to 3-5 overall and 2-2 in MVFC play.
South Dakota assembled just one scoring drive in the first half, punting twice, throwing two interceptions, losing a fumble, and missing a field goal en route to a 34-7 halftime deficit.
“I don’t think our guys played with the execution and intensity that they needed to. That’s our fault, and I’ll take the blame on that,” South Dakota head coach Bob Nielson said, according to the Argus Leader. “We left a lot of plays on the field, and for the second week in a row we’re talking about turnovers and big plays. We just made it look too easy for them and when you turn the ball over five times, that’s never a good thing.”
All five of South Dakota’s turnovers belonged to senior quarterback Austin Simmons, who lost a pair of fumbles and tossed three picks.
“It’s just execution. It’s not anything they’re doing, it’s what we’re not doing,” Coyotes junior linebacker Jack Cochrane said, per the Argus Leader. “There were a variety of things that can’t happen when you play a good football team.”
The Coyotes defense surrendered 525 yards from scrimmage, the second-most they’ve ceded this season; the Houston Baptist Huskies hung 596 yards on South Dakota in HBU’s 53-52 victory in September.
“We have four games left against four good teams,” Cochrane said, per the Argus Leader. “We’re not going to roll over and sulk. We’re a good defense, we’ve shown that. We weren’t today, but we know what we can do and what we’re capable of.”
The Leathernecks are still winless eight games into their season. They dropped their fourth MVFC tilt last week, falling to the Youngstown State Penguins 59-14 on the road.
The Western Illinois defense surrendered touchdown drives on four of Youngstown State’s first five possessions.
“You have a slow start and get buried a little and it’s hard to get out of it,” Western Illinois head coach Jared Elliott said on his weekly radio show, according to ChicagoNow.
The Penguins more than doubled up Western Illinois in yards from scrimmage, 524-260, and won the turnover battle 3-1.
The Leathernecks have the MVFC’s worst turnover differential, at -10. They’ve thrown 10 interceptions and lost 10 fumbles — each figure is the second-highest in the league.
“We’ve seen how that’s hurt us, and it’s nagged us all year,” Elliott said, per ChicagoNow. “Those are things we’ve got to do better. This game is simple. It’s about the ball.”