The 2017 South Dakota Coyotes football team represented the

University of South Dakota The University of South Dakota (USD) is a public research university in Vermillion, South Dakota. Established by the Dakota Territory legislature in 1862, 27 years before the establishment of the state of South Dakota, USD is the flagship univ ...

in the 2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by second-year head coach

Bob Nielson Bob Nielson (born September 28, 1959) is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at the University of South Dakota, a position he had held since the 2016 season. Nielson was the head football coach at Ripon College (1989–1990) ...

and played their home games in the

DakotaDome The DakotaDome is an indoor multi-purpose stadium in the north central United States, located on the campus of the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota. Opened in 1979 at a cost of $8.2 million, the 9,100-seat venue is th ...

. They were a member of the

Missouri Valley Football Conference The Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC), formerly the Gateway Football Conference, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivis ...

. They finished the season 8–5, 4–4 in MVFC play to finish in a three-way tie for fifth place. They received an at-large bid to the

FCS Playoffs The NCAA Division I Football Championship is an annual post-season college football game, played since 2006, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). From 1978 to 2005, the game was k ...

, which was the schools first ever FCS Playoff bid, where they defeated Nicholls State in the first round before losing to

Sam Houston State Sam Houston State University (SHSU or Sam) is a public university in Huntsville, Texas. It was founded in 1879 and is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas. It is one of the first normal schools west of the Mississippi River and ...

in the second round.

Schedule

Ranking movements

References

{{2017 Division I FCS playoff navbox

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

South Dakota Coyotes football seasons

South Dakota Coyotes football : ''For information on all University of South Dakota sports, see South Dakota Coyotes'' The South Dakota Coyotes football program is the intercollegiate American football team for the University of South Dakota located in the U.S. state of South ...