Once again, South Dakota State football's defense dominates in 28-3 rout against Coyotes

BROOKINGS – South Dakota State struck back in the Showdown Series rivalry on Saturday with a 28-3 win that was one-sided and convincing, but could have played out much differently.

It was almost hard to remember by the time the Jackrabbit defense was done pulverizing the Coyote offense in front of a sell-out Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium crowd of 19,332, but early on, it looked like visiting South Dakota had what it took to extend its winning streak in the series to three, and score its first win in Brookings since 2000.

On the first possession of the game, Coyote running back Travis Theis barged through the line for a 29-yard run, the longest of the season against SDSU’s league-best defense, to set up a 37-yard Eddie Ogamba field goal.

Recap:South Dakota State football takes momentum, cruises to dominant 28-3 win over South Dakota

The Jacks got the ball and went three-and-out.

SDSU’s defense responded with an interception, as Dalys Beanum picked off an underthrown Carson Camp pass.

Then the Jacks went three-and-out again.

SDSU finally got a first down on their third drive, but were forced to settle for a 53-yard field goal try, which was blocked.

The Jacks defense got yet another stop, but Jadon Janke fumbled the punt at his own 9-yard line.

This was where the Coyotes had a chance to truly put the screws to the Jacks. A touchdown would give them a 10-0 lead. SDSU’s offense, spinning its wheels at the time, might have started to panic down two scores. The crowd might’ve gotten restless.

South Dakota State’s defense made sure none of that happened.

Just two plays after Janke’s muff, Camp threw a pass to the far side of the field where Carter Bell had single coverage with safety Cale Reeder. The ball was underthrown again and Reeder snagged it, snuffing out the drive and keeping the deficit at just three.

“I don’t know if anyone believed the defense would get off the field (without allowing points),” said Beanum, who had a blocked field goal in addition to his early interception. “That changed the momentum of the game.”

Indeed, SDSU’s offense took the hint at that point: Time to wake up.

Mark Gronowski immediately led the Jacks on a nine-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a 28-yard strike to Jaxon Janke, giving the Jacks a 7-3 lead that would not be threatened the rest of the day.

The defense forced another three-and-out, and when the offense got it back, Isaiah Davis busted loose for a 47-yard, tackle-breaking run that was reminiscent of Davis’ heroics in the 2021 spring national championship game, and it was 14-3.

Though the Jacks offense would waste an opportunity to add more points before half after Beanum’s field goal block, this game was over, because the Coyote offense had no chance. Not on this day, against this defense.

Aside from Theis’ 29-yard run on the opening drive, there were no holes to run through. When Camp dropped back to pass he was almost immediately running for his life. He was hit hard and often. SDSU registered seven sacks on the day – they had nine all season coming in.

Jackrabbits' defense stifles USD quarterback

Reece Winkelman, who had 1.5 of the sacks, credited scout team quarterback Jeff Becker for getting the SDSU defensive line prepared for hunting down a scrambling quarterback.

“It comes down to preparation,” Winkelman said. “We were prepping for him to run a lot. We closed down the rush lanes, and when you have lockdown coverage on the back end that helps to get home. We gave ‘em a couple different looks, but it was more our effort up front.”

The Coyotes finished with a mere 136 yards of offense and six first downs. Camp was 5-of-12 passing for 44 yards.

“When we threw the football, they got pressure on us,” said USD coach Bob Nielson. “If Carson’s first look wasn’t there, we didn’t have time to get to the second look. You can’t throw for 44 yards in college football.”

Indeed, as impressive as the numbers were for SDSU’s defense, it looked even more dominant in person. Camp was lucky to leave Brookings on his feet.

Adam Bock had two sacks, Reeder had a sack and seven tackles to go with his interception, Jason Freeman had seven tackles and a sack and Cade Terveer had five stops and half a sack.

For the season, SDSU is limiting opponents to 228 yards and 12.2 points per game. This was the second time this year they held an opponent without a touchdown and under 200 yards (the other was in their loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes).

'A lot of good things happened today' for SDSU defense

This is not the first time the Jacks have had an excellent defense to go with what’s traditionally been a very good offense, but, so far, this is definitely the most dominant an SDSU defense has been. After a couple years of sharing coordinator duties with Brian Bergstrom (now the head coach at Winona State), former SDSU linebacker Jimmy Rogers is running solo as the head man of the defense, and his unit is absolutely bringing it, week after week.

“I would say the greatest thing about our defense isn’t technique, or speed, or depth, it’s confidence,” said head coach John Stiegelmeier. “They take the field at the 9-yard line after a muffed punt and they get a turnover. They don’t hang their head. We played great technique and scheme and all that, but when you play with guys that are confident and believe in what they’re doing, good things happen. And a lot of good things happened today.”

USD was so defeated by late in the game that they didn’t bother to run a hurry-up offense when they got deep into SDSU territory. Their final drive of the day covered 14 plays and over six minutes off the clock, but went just 37 yards and resulted in no points when Camp was, you guessed it, sacked on fourth down by Caden Johnson.

The defensive dominance kept most of the crowd – just the second sell-out in stadium history (the first was when ESPN’s College Gameday came to Brookings) – in their seats to the final whistle. The last two chapters of this matchup had gone the wrong way for the blue team, but both of those games happened indoors, at the DakotaDome.

This was SDSU’s first time hosting the Coyotes since 2018, and the crowd (which included some fans dressed in red) was treated to a gorgeous fall day, and then, a dominant win over their rivals.

“I had motivation,” Stiegelmeier joked after the win. “I went out to the tailgate before the game and I had two people remind me to defend the Hail Mary today. As if I hadn’t thought of that. But that’s OK. You want people to be excited and passionate. To see the stands full has an impact. To give energy, which they did, has an impact, and when you stay even when it seems like the game is over, that has an impact. I really appreciate our fans.”

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota State football's defense dominates as Jacks rout Coyotes