Jackrabbit defense silences Coyotes as SDSU rolls in South Dakota Showdown

Oct. 9—BROOKINGS — It didn't take long — a single eight-play drive spanning just under four minutes, to be exact — for South Dakota State's defense to solve the University of South Dakota offense. As such, once the SDSU offense found its stride in the second quarter, the Jackrabbits began to roll.

Behind a defense that surrendered a field goal on the game's opening possession and nothing more, SDSU methodically pulled away from USD in the 116th installment of the South Dakota Showdown football rivalry, winning 28-3 in front of a capacity crowd of 19,332 at Dykhouse Stadium.

Taking out the Coyotes' initial eight-play, 50-yard drive and a 14-play, 37-yard final trip down the field that at one point reached the SDSU 2-yard line — a possession that would not have had an impact on the outcome even if it ended with a score but was ultimately snuffed out anyway — USD's offensive output was a paltry 49 yards on 26 plays (fewer than 1.9 yards per play). In between the first and last drive, USD had the ball nine times, excluding a kneel-down in the final seconds of the first half. The Coyotes ran four or fewer plays on all nine possessions, with those ending with six punts, two interceptions and a blocked field goal attempt.

SDSU's defense was impenetrable, allowing the Jackrabbits to strike back in the rivalry series following consecutive losses to the Coyotes in Vermillion with the largest margin of victory (25) by either side since a 31-3 Jackrabbit victory on Oct. 7, 1995, at the DakotaDome.

"I would say the greatest thing about our defense isn't technique, isn't speed, isn't depth; it's confidence," said SDSU coach John Stiegelmeier. "... We play great schemes and all that stuff, but when you play with guys that are confident, good things happen. And good things happened today."

When SDSU's offense eventually came alive, it was on the back of a defensive stop that created a swing in momentum from which the Coyotes never recovered. The Jackrabbits had their miscues, too, with two turnovers on top of a blocked field goal attempt of their own, but the impact was hardly felt.

With USD threatening to go ahead by two scores early in the second quarter after SDSU mishandled a punt deep in its own territory, Cale Reeder intercepted USD quarterback Carson Camp in the endzone. SDSU made good on the takeaway, with Mark Gronowski finding Jaxon Janke over the middle for a 28-yard touchdown pass to cap a nine-play, 80-yard drive and give SDSU a 7-3 lead, an advantage it never relinquished.

"I feel like that was a big play in the game," said SDSU cornerback Dalys Beanum, who snagged an interception of his own in the first quarter. "I don't know if anyone believed the defense was getting off the field (without giving up points). When Reeder got that pick, that was really big and changed the momentum of the game, for sure."

Later in the quarter following three straight three-and-outs between the two offenses, SDSU running back Isaiah Davis rumbled for a 47-yard touchdown, shedding multiple Coyote defenders during the first 25 yards of the run before breaking free to put the Jackrabbits up 14-3.

Following the score, USD appeared to get a spark from its special teams when returner Wesley Eliodor took the kickoff back 69 yards to SDSU's 26-yard line. But the possession that followed was less inspiring. Two rushing attempts gained six yards before Camp was sacked for a 6-yard loss. A false start penalty pushed USD back an extra 5 yards, and Eddie Ogamba's 50-yard attempt was blocked by Beanum. The Coyotes did not return to the red zone again until the final moments when the game had long since been decided.

"We knew we were going to have to do a lot of things right, but offensively we did not play well enough to win. That's my fault," said USD coach Bob Nielson, who took over play-calling duties three games ago after a sluggish start to the season. "We had the ball three times in the red zone and scored three points. You can't do that."

In its defense, the USD offense barely possessed the ball in the second half.

SDSU took the second-half kickoff and went 70 yards in eight plays, the last of which saw Davis stride into the endzone from 5 yards out for a 21-3 lead. After moving 18 yards in four plays on their ensuing possession, the Coyotes punted the ball away and did not get it back until the fourth quarter.

The Jackrabbits squeezed the last bit of drama out of the contest with a 15-play, 80-yard victory march that melted more than eight minutes off the clock. When Davis charged in for his third score of the day on fourth-and-goal from inside the 1-yard line, the extra point that followed made it a four-score deficit that set the final margin.

"I thought [offensive coordinator Zach Lujan] had a great plan," Stiegelmeier said. "When we can go 15 plays and eight minutes, I'll take that. That discourages everybody from USD's fans on down to their program, so I'll take that any day."

Davis paced the Jackrabbit offense with 108 yards and his three touchdowns on 15 carries, while backup running back Amar Johnson gained 53 yards on 14 totes. In addition to 43 rushing yards, Gronowski went 12-of-20 through the air for 136 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Janke was on the receiving end of four Gronowski completions, totaling 76 yards and his trip to the endzone.

For USD, backs Travis Theis and Shomari Lawrence each carried 13 times and combined to gain 112 yards. Camp completed 5 of 12 attempts for 44 yards and two interceptions in addition to being sacked seven times by the swarming SDSU front.

"They did a good job getting pressure on [Camp] even with their four-man rush, and I don't want to say it rattled him but I think he felt that. As a result, he never really got in any kind of rhythm," Nielson said. "We ran the ball OK — I wouldn't say we ran the ball well — against a pretty good rush defense. But you have to be able to throw it to compliment [the run], and we didn't throw the ball very well today. You can't throw the ball for 44 yards in college football."

SDSU (5-1, 3-0 MVFC) is on the road for another rivalry clash next week, as the Jackrabbits face off with North Dakota State for the Dakota Marker on Oct. 15, in Fargo.

Meanwhile, USD (1-4, 0-2 MVFC) looks to recover from back-to-back losses with a trip to Illinois State, also on Oct. 15.