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VERMILLION, S.D. – For the second week in a row, Colgate put a scare into a tough road opponent.

But South Dakota scored 17 second-half points to snap a halftime tie and came away with a 31-21 win over the Raiders at the DakotaDome here Saturday. The Coyotes won their ninth in a row at home and improved to 41-5 inside the dome since the end of 2003.

Tailback Jordan McCord and quarterback Gavin McCarney both topped the 100-yard rushing mark for Colgate (0-2), with McCarney scoring twice on the ground and hitting senior wideout Chris Looney for another score.

But the Coyotes (1-1) scored on their opening two drives of the second half and then clinched the game when Marcus Sims ran it in from five yards out with 9:31 remaining.

“You want to win but our team played exceptionally hard with great effort, which I'm proud of,” Colgate head coach Dick Biddle said. “We kept it in range and wanted to shorten the game with the option to give our defense a chance.

“Our first two games have been against really quality opponents. They've got a great atmosphere here and we handled it very well. And I think our quarterback is the toughest player I've had here in 17 years. He's phenomenal for us.”

Quick-Start Offense
Colgate jumped on top for the second week in a row, this time taking the opening kickoff and marching 79 yards in 14 plays and consuming nearly eight minutes off the clock. McCarney carried it over from three yards out and it was 7-0 Raiders.

South Dakota answered quickly, covering 72 yards in just seven plays to tie the game at 7-7 with 3:47 left in the first quarter. Quarterback Josh Vander Maten scored the touchdown on a 2-yard run.

Colgate answered with another terrific scoring drive, this one covering 67 yards in 11 plays. The Raiders capped it on fourth-and-6 from the South Dakota 22-yard line when McCarney found a streaking Looney, who won the jump ball at the left flag for his first touchdown reception of the year.

“What we had game-planned worked,” McCarney said. “Our offensive line played outstanding. South Dakota was big and physical, but we worked to get the ball into the hands of our playmakers and let them do something with it.”

Andy Burgess' kick made it 14-7 with 13:28 left in the first half.

South Dakota tied it late in the second quarter, Vander Maten eluding a tackle in the backfield and scrambling 18 yards for the touchdown. Kevin Robb's PAT made it 14-14 with 1:14 left in the half.

Second-Half Surge
The Coyotes took their first lead of the game to start the third quarter, driving 64 yards in nine plays and scoring when Jasper Sanders raced into the end zone from seven yards out.

After a Colgate fumble, South Dakota struck quickly to make it a two-score game. Kevin Robb's 34-yard field goal increased the lead to 24-14.

But Colgate earned a second life when junior safety Chad Frey intercepted a tipped pass and put the Raiders in business on the Coyote 35.

“It was a play-action and our linebackers bit on the run,” Frey said. “I saw two guys pop out and I stayed overtop both of them. He threw to the underneath guy and it tipped off his hands and came right to me.”

Four Colgate plays later, McCarney faked a handoff to McCord and waltzed into the end zone from 13 yards out to trim the margin to 24-21 with still 45 seconds left in the third quarter.

After an exchange of punts, South Dakota put together the clinching drive. It covered 65 yards in eight plays and took 4:10 off the clock, with Simms sweeping around left end for the game's final score.

Colgate drove into South Dakota territory on its ensuing possession, but the drive stalled when McCarney was sacked on fourth-and-6 from the Coyotes 41 with 5:30 to play.

McCord's Solid Start
McCord carried 28 times for 125 yards, his second 100-yard effort in as many games this season. McCarney finished with 19 rushing attempts for 108 yards and the two scores. He also completed 10 of 20 passes for 96 yards and a touchdown.

Looney caught three of those passes for 40 yards and his TD reception. Daniel Cason added two catches for 19 yards.

“We're staying on schedule but of course we can improve; we improved a lot from last week,” said McCord, who has 262 rushing yards in two games. “We're just focusing on getting better right now.”

Defensively, senior linebacker Patrick Friel was the tackle leader with 10, including a shared sack. Jonathan Mputu added eight stops and Mike Armiento seven.

“We improved on our tackling, but I still think there's room for more,” said Frey, who added five tackles to his interception. “We also handled the loud atmosphere well as far as our alignments.”

The team statistics were nearly identical. South Dakota led in both rushing (238-237) and passing yards (102-96), but the margins were slim. Colgate won the time of possession category by 32:47 to 27:13.

"We felt like running the option could keep us in it," Biddle said. "When we got behind and had to throw the ball, that's where we struggled. But it was important that we stuck with it. It kept our defense off the field."

Colgate's home opener is next week when Sacred Heart (0-1) visits Andy Kerr Stadium for a 1 p.m. kickoff.