VERMILLION — It took 60 minutes and then some.
It took a historic rushing day from a previously unsung Coyote running back.
Even then, the University of South Dakota football team had to buckle down late to pick up win No. 1 for the season on Saturday, topping Northern Colorado 24-17 in overtime at the DakotaDome.
The win is also the first under first-year head coach Travis Johansen.
“You want to give the guys a positive outcome after working that way,” Johansen said. “When any athlete, or person in life, gets positive reinforcement working that way there’s more belief, there’s more confidence. I think our resilience showed up a little bit on top of some better execution.”
With less than two minutes to play in regulation, Northern Colorado extended the game on a fourth-down conversion to get the critical first down needed. On the next play, quarterback Eric Gibson found wide receiver Carver Cheeks for a 40-yard reception to get inside the 10-yard line.
After the Bears had it first-and-goal inside the two-yard line, USD’s defense held strong which led to Northern Colorado’s kicking unit replicating a hurried fire drill with zero timeouts remaining to nail a game-tying field goal from Jacob Willig to tie it up at 17-all with 3 seconds remaining on the clock.
In the overtime, South Dakota got the ball first and answered the call with a 13-yard rushing touchdown from sophomore running back L.J. Phillips Jr. to take a 24-17 lead with Northern Colorado earning the chance to respond and extend the game.
After the score from Phillips Jr., the Coyotes had to make a defensive stand once again with their backs against the wall down the stretch.
And that, they did.
Linebacker Matt Walsh sealed the victory for South Dakota on a fourth-down deflection in the back of the end zone, marking Johansen’s first victory as a head coach.
Trey Houchin / Mitchell Republic
As USD prepared for Northern Colorado in practice during the week, the Coyotes had to turn to backup running back Phillips Jr. after receiving massive injury news from junior running back Charles Pierre Jr. holding him out for the remainder of the 2025 season. Pierre Jr. suffered a knee injury at the end of the first half at Lamar Sept. 6.
But Phillips did not waste his opportunity in his first career start as a Coyote.
He finished with 301 rushing yards on 35 carries and two rushing touchdowns. Phillips Jr.’s 301-yard rushing performance against the Bears sits at No. 2 all-time in program history for rushing yards in a single game, and places him fifth all-time in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
“Shout out to the offensive line, they made me look pretty,” Phillips Jr. said. “And I just want to thank God, you know, being a student-athlete is hard. Sometimes my confidence is kind of low, so I just want to thank God for this one, and the offensive line.”
Despite being out gained by Northern Colorado’s offense (427 yards), South Dakota tabbed 406 yards — 307 rushing and 99 passing yards — and converted 23 first downs.
Defensively, safety Roman Tillmon led the Coyotes in total tackles with 14, while linebacker Gabriel Hardman, Walsh and linebacker Wade Abrams finished with nine each. Tillmon recorded a forced fumble, as defensive lineman Caden Crawford tabbed two tackles-for-loss, 1/2 sack and 7 total tackles.
South Dakota (1-2) will be back at home for the second-straight week against Drake at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20, inside the DakotaDome.
Trey Houchin is a sports reporter for the Mitchell Republic. Trey graduated from Northwest Missouri State University in 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in sports media and covers a wide variety of topics. A Missouri native, Houchin can be reached at [email protected].
