RAPID CITY, S.D. ? Defense looms as the pivotal factor when the Haskell Indian Nations University football team tangles with South Dakota Mines today.

“We need to tackle better,” HINU coach Eric Brock said. “We gave up a lot of yards last time on missed tackles alone.”

Kickoff will be at noon at O’Marra Stadium, a Rapid City football facility converted from grass to FieldTurf over the summer.

Haskell opened two weeks ago, bowing to Peru (Neb.) State, 27-6, in Lawrence. The Fightin’ Indians were idle last week.

“We had long two-a-days so it was good to get a weekend off,” Brock said. “A lot of the players were able to get home and rest before playing 10 straight weeks.”

Haskell’s players had plenty of time to rest on a chartered bus Friday. The Indians left Lawrence at 6 a.m., worked out in the afternoon at a high school facility in Chamberlain, S.D., then arrived in Rapid City in the late evening.

“We’ll build on the positives of our first game,” Brock said. “Our tailback (Bubba Wills) graded 100 percent and (quarterback) Marlon Dick graded well, too.”

Both Wills and Dick are red-shirt freshmen. In the opener, the 6-foot-3, 220-pound Dick was playing in his first live game in two years.

South Dakota Mines opened on the road last week and was thumped 63-6 by Southwest Minnesota State, an NCAA Division II school. The Hardrockers are coming off a 1-9 season that included a 12-6 loss to Haskell in Lawrence.

HINU will return to Haskell Stadium next Saturday for a 7 p.m. kickoff against St. Mary College of Leavenworth.