The Drake football team will play South Dakota in the FCS playoffs on Nov. 29 in Vermillion, S.D.
The Bulldogs clinched their third consecutive Pioneer Football League championship on Nov. 22 with a 17-10 victory over Morehead State, earning an automatic-qualifier spot in the FCS playoffs. Drake ended the regular season with an overall record of 8-3 and went 7-1 in PFL contests under first-year head coach Joe Woodley.
South Dakota enters the playoffs as the No. 11 seed after earning an at-large bid to the postseason. The Coyotes ended their regular season with an overall record of 8-4 and went 6-2 in Missouri Valley Conference play.
Kickoff is slated for noon Saturday at the DakotaDome, with the game to be streams on ESPN+.
Grand View football is top seed in NAIA playoffs
Woodley’s former team earned a first-round bye in the NAIA playoffs. The Vikings are 10-0 and earned the No. 1 seed; they’ll face St. Francis (Ind.) at noon Saturday.
First-year coach E.J. Peterson, a Grand View alum, guided the Vikings to their seventh straight conference championship and 70th consecutive regular-season victory.
Jackson Waring has passed for 2,514 yards and 25 touchdowns (with just three interceptions) for Grand View. Dalten Van Pelt is the team’s leading rusher with 816 yards. Aisea Toki has 38 receptions for 731 yards to lead the Vikings.
The Drake and Grand View sports information departments contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Drake, Grand View football teams ready for playoff openers
Reporting by Register staff report, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
