Skip to main content
All games

South Dakota State vs Southern Illinois: prediction and projected score

We project South Dakota State 31-19, a 11.6-point margin with 50.4 total points; South Dakota State wins 78% of the time.

Matchup analysis

Our model projects South Dakota State 31, Southern Illinois 19 at Saluki Stadium in Week 11. That is a solid edge: South Dakota State wins about 78% of the time by our estimate, with a projected margin of 11.6 points and 50.4 combined points.

South Dakota State is 6-2 against the 44th-toughest schedule so far, scoring 37.1 and allowing 15.8 points per game (+21.3 per game). Southern Illinois is 4-5 against the 14th-toughest schedule so far, scoring 22.6 and allowing 26.3 points per game (-3.7 per game).

College football is noisy: even a well-rated projection misses the final margin by about 14 points on average. Based on how real results have scattered around our numbers, the final margin should land somewhere between South Dakota State by 34 and Southern Illinois by 11 about 80% of the time.

Southern Illinois gets about 2.1 points for playing at home. South Dakota State is still favoured on the road, so the ratings gap is bigger than the value of playing at home. The game is on ESPN+.

Market lines

Market lines ยท Source: The Odds API, ESPN, Action Network ยท Updated Oct 29, 9:25 AM UTC. Shown for information; not an input to our projections.

No market line has been posted for this game yet.

21+ only where legal. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.

South Dakota State vs Southern Illinois: stat comparison

Basic
StatSouth Dakota StateSouthern Illinois
Points per game37.122.6
Points allowed per game15.826.3
Yards per play6.865.18
Yards per play allowed5.026.19
Rushing yards per game271.5160.1
Net passing yards per game190.6188.9
Rushing yards allowed per game129.8161.1
Net passing yards allowed per game176.9220.2
Turnovers per game0.381.11
Takeaways per game1.131.33
Sacks per game1.631.89
Sacks allowed per game1.252.22
Advanced
StatSouth Dakota StateSouthern Illinois
EPA per play+0.18+0.01
EPA per play allowed-0.04+0.04
Success rate46.5%37.8%
Success rate allowed37.2%39.8%
Explosive play rate14.4%12.3%
Explosive plays allowed9.1%14.4%
Havoc rate17.3%14.3%
Havoc allowed10.9%13.9%
Points per scoring opportunity3.702.40
Points per opportunity allowed3.622.21
Average starting field positionopp 9opp 9
Opponents' starting field positionopp 9opp 8
Offensive plays per game (pace)67.467.3
Situational
StatSouth Dakota StateSouthern Illinois
Rushing EPA per play+0.20+0.08
Passing EPA per play+0.17-0.05
Rushing EPA allowed0.00+0.03
Passing EPA allowed-0.08+0.04
Rushing success rate50.8%40.1%
Passing success rate44.4%33.3%
Run stuff rate13.8%19.2%
Passing-down success rate32.9%32.6%
Passing-down success allowed25.1%31.4%
Third-down conversion rate41.5%38.5%
Third-down rate allowed35.2%40.2%
Red-zone touchdown rate41.1%36.5%
Red-zone TD rate allowed57.3%37.4%

# = rank among 138 FBS teams. Efficiency numbers exclude garbage time. Per-play numbers of teams with a weak schedule are pulled toward their opponent-adjusted values (fully at one standard deviation below an average schedule). Source: play-by-play (cfbfastR / sportsdataverse), aggregated by us.

More: South Dakota State schedule ยท Southern Illinois schedule ยท all Week 11 projections

Share this prediction

Projections are statistical estimates for entertainment and analysis only. They are not betting advice and nothing here guarantees any result.

Free weekly projections email

One email a week in season: the closest projected games, the biggest mismatches and how the model graded out last week. Email address only โ€” no spam, unsubscribe any time.