Bulldogs’ Season Ends After 38–17 Playoff Loss to Coyotes

The Drake Bulldogs were the sole team to represent the Pioneer League this year in the FCS Playoffs and sadly their season has come to an end as they couldn’t keep pace in their game as they fell 38-17 against the South Dakota Coyotes. This game was a rematch that had the Bulldogs looking for revenge as they had lost to the Coyotes earlier in the season 42-21. When just looking at the final score we see that the game was a blowout but coming out of the half it was a 17-10 game with the Bulldogs trailing. After the half things got out of hand as Drake couldn’t come up with answers on either side of the ball, and that led to the final score. But how did we get the final results that we have? We have to look at multiple things, and the first is Drake’s opening drive. 

The opening drive looked like one that was going to end with a touchdown. They were running and passing well. Then back-to-back penalties set them back and the drive stalled out leading to a field goal that just barely got in as it bounced off the upright and then went in. The defense on its first drive of the game got put on its heels early as South Dakota marched its way down the field before Drake finally stood tall and held them to just three points leading to a 3-3 tie after both teams first possession. Drake would then struggle with penalties again on their next drive leading to no points for the Bulldogs. After this drive we then saw an early glimpse into how the remainder of this game would go on defense as South Dakota again marched right down the field. Drake got a huge boost on defense after a penalty, but the very next play saw the Coyotes airing out a 23-yard pass into the corner of the endzone for a touchdown. This touchdown didn’t faze Drake though as they answered back with their very own touchdown. This made the game 10-10 late into the first half, but Drake’s defense struggled to cover the Coyotes receivers as they gave up a 57-yard pass that set up South Dakota on the one-yard line leading to an easy score making it 17-10. Both teams did nothing after this leading to halftime. 

Then the second half began with South Dakota nearly having a house call on the kickoff as they took the ball all the way to the Bulldog’s 35-yard line. Then just a couple of plays later a receiver was left wide open leading to an easy score and a 24-10 lead over Drake. Drake then knew that they needed to respond with points so they did everything that they could to get into scoring position. After giving up a sack the Bulldogs decided to put the kicking unit on the field. That's when things got wild as the Bulldogs then shifted into a single-back set with almost the entire offensive line split out wide left. The Bulldogs snapped the ball and found an open receiver running down the middle of the field. The quick pass resulted in easy yards but the Coyotes rallied quickly and brought the receiver down just short of the first down as they needed to get to the 2-yard line but instead got to about the 2.5-yard line. This led to a turnover-on-downs, one that the Coyotes would fully take advantage of. The Coyotes could smell blood and like a strong pack rattled off a 52-yard run, the first play after the turnover-on-downs. From there the “Yotes” kept up their hungry pace as they added yet another score making it 31-10.

From there things slowed down as the Bulldogs couldn’t do anything while the Coyotes started running out the clock. About midway through the fourth with the backups on the field the “Yotes” put together one final drive leading to seven more points and a 38-10 lead. After this, Drake put together one final drive that ended up with them scoring with just 9 seconds left on the clock leading to the final score of 38-17.

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The final stats in this game saw the Bulldogs put up 330 total yards, with 162 coming from the pass and 168 from the run. It was a game that saw them commit 11 penalties that resulted in 81 yards being given up. This was also a game that saw the Bulldogs struggle on third and fourth down as they went 5-13 on third down, and 1-3 on fourth down. Now Drake goes home as they look ahead to next season where they will try and win another PFL Title.