A 35-21 victory at home over Youngstown State and a loss by North Dakota State at Northern Iowa has Illinois State (8-1, 5-1 MVFC) tied atop the conference standings with the Bison. The Redbirds will look to maintain that position with a win Saturday, when they square off with the South Dakota Coyotes (2-8, 0-6 MVFC) at the DakotaDome at 1 p.m.

In front of a then-Hancock Stadium record-crowd of 11,868, Illinois State defeated South Dakota by a score of 28-14. Freshman quarterback Blake Winkler completed 9-of-20 pass-attempts for 181 yards, tossing a career-high three touchdowns in the game. Marshaun Coprich recorded his fourth-straight 100-yard rushing performance, fi nishing with 108 yards on a career-high 34 attempts, while scoring a touchdown. The Redbird defense came up big for the secondconsecutive week, forcing three South Dakota turnovers and limiting USD to just 14 points.