Vermillion, S.D. » Southern Utah's road woes continued Saturday afternoon at South Dakota.
Chris Granious and Issac Newton each rushed for over 100 yards and the Coyotes rolled to a convincing 45-21 win over the Thunderbirds at the Dakota Dome.
Southern Utah dropped to 4-5 overall and 2-2 in the Great West Conference.
The Thunderbirds, who were trying to string together their first three-game winning streak since 2000, dropped to 0-5 on the road this season.
The game was tied, 7-7, before South Dakota scored three touchdowns during an eight-minute span of the second quarter.
Southern Utah tried to rally and trailed only 31-21 early in the fourth quarter after a one-yard touchdown pass from Cade Cooper to Daryl Brown.
But South Dakota put the game away when Granious, who rushed for 170 yards in the game, scored on a seven-yard run with 7:16 remaining.
A five-yard run by South Dakota's Marcus Sims with nine seconds remaining accounted for the final margin.
With the win, South Dakota snapped a four-game losing streak. The Coyotes improved to 4-5 overall and 2-2 in the Great West.
Cooper, Southern Utah's senior quarterback, struggled against the Coyete defense. He completed 20 of 35 passes for 278 yards.
Cooper threw for three touchdowns, including 35- and 65-yarders to Tysson Poots.
| So. Utah | 7 | 0 | 7 | 7 | -- | 21 |
| S. Dakota | 7 | 21 | 3 | 14 | -- | 45 |
SD » Powell 17 pass from Shepard (Nowotny kick), :10.
SUU » Poots 65 pass from Cooper (Griffith kick), :00.
Second Quarter
SD » Newton 2 run (Nowotny kick), 10:55.
SD » Shepard 1 run (Nowotny kick), 8:31.
SD » Ganious 45 run (Nowotny kick), 2:53.
Third Quarter
SUU » Poots 35 pass from Cooper (Griffith kick), 4:32.
SD » FG Nowotny 27, :00.
Fourth Quarter
SUU » D.Brown 1 pass from Cooper (Griffith kick), 11:47.
SD » Ganious 7 run (Nowotny kick), 7:16.
SD » Sims 5 run (Nowotny kick), :39.
Attendance » 7,148.
SUU SD
| First downs | 16 | 30 |
| Rushes-yards | 12-47 | 54-334 |
| Passing | 278 | 235 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 20-35-4 | 19-29-2 |
| Return Yards | 62 | 41 |
| Punts-Avg. | 4-54.5 | 3-48.0 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 3-1 | 1-0 |
| Penalties-yards | 5-50 | 6-92 |
| Time of Possession | 18:01 | 41:59 |
Individual Statistics
Rushing » S. Utah, Gray 8-44, Minefee 1-12, Cooper 3-(minus 9). South Dakota, Ganious 22-170, Newton 18-113, Shepard 10-44, Sims 2-9, Breske 1-0, Flanagan 1-(minus 2).
Passing » S. Utah, Cooper 20-35-4-278. South Dakota, Shepard 19-29-2-235.
Receiving » S. Utah, Poots 6-150, Sitake 5-53, Gray 3-14, Jessop 2-34, J.Ursua 2-16, D.Brown 2-11. South Dakota, Flanagan 9-109, Nowotny 3-42, Ganious 3-41, Skelly 2-11, Powell 1-17, Landry 1-15.
