BROOKINGS — South Dakota State will begin Missouri Valley Football Conference play on Saturday with a game at Youngstown State.
The No. 24 ranked Penguins (3-1) will be the third ranked team that the Jakrabbits have faced this season. YSU opened the season with a 24-15 win over Mercyhurst, who SDSU just beat 51-7. The Penguins then beat Robert Morris 56-17 before falling 41-24 to Michigan State. They then beat Towson on the road 31-28 last weekend.
SDSU head coach Dan Jackson said he’s looking forward to the challenge of facing the Penguins to open the MVFC portion of the season.
“It’s time to reset our mindset as we head into Missouri Valley Football Conference play and I’m really excited to start that off at Youngstown State. They’re a really good opponent and I’ve always enjoyed going and playing out there at the Ice Castle. They have a really good football team and I’m excited for us to make another jump on Saturday,” Jackson said.
The Penguins are led by junior quarterback Beau Brungard. Brungard leads the MVFC in rushing yards with 131.5 per game. He ran for 264 yards in the win over Robert Morris and had four rushing touchdowns in the game.
Jackson said Brungard is tough to stop on the ground because he knows where to go behind his offensive line and is tough to bring down.
“[Brungard] follows his blocks well. He understands what the defense is in front of him and what fits work for a defense and he knows when to make his cuts and what his offensive linemen are going to do in front of him, whether they’re going to kick a guy out or log a guy and get him inside. I think his lateral quickness is pretty special, with his ability to make cuts, but then when he gets out in the open field he’s run away from some guys that you didn’t expect him to run away from. He’s also just uber competitive,” Jackson said.
Brungard is averaging 188.8 passing yards per game and has four touchdowns and one interception. He’s completing 66% of his passes.
SDSU faced Brungard last season and he was 16-of-27 for 169 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. He ran for 59 yards in the Jacks’ 63-13 win over the Penguins.
Jackson was not the head coach last season but he said it’s going to be a challenge to stop Brungard because of the designed runs the Penguins have for him.
“It’s more of a challenge to [go up against designed quarterback runs than scrambling quarterback runs] because you just need one extra defender [when it’s a designed run],” Jackson said. “When it’s designed for the quarterback and the running back is going to lead block for him, you really need one more defender.
“Whereas when they’re making plays and creating and scrambling, you have your rules with how you’re going to defend that and you have zone eyes on him and you can kind of vice that. But it certainly adjusts what you do schematicaly. Thankfully we’ve seen some guys that we anticipated some big time run game from them so we’ve banked some reps against that. It won’t limit us in what we do but it definitely changes what we do with having another hat in the box.”
SDSU scored a season-high 51 points last week and scored on each of its nine possessions in the win over Mercyhurst. Despite the win, the Jacks are still trying to find stability in the backfield.
The Jacks ran for 126 yards in the win and four players had five carries or more. Senior transfer Julius Loughridge had a season-low 11 carries and 33 yards. True freshman James Basinger led the way 53 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries. Fellow true freshman Corey Blair Jr. did not play last week due to injury, a week after he had a career-high 50 yards and a touchdown in a win over Drake.
Jackson said he thinks that now that Basinger has four games under his belt, he can make a jump and solidify himself as the No. 2 back. He added that Blair will also see more time when he comes back from injury.
“I think James Basinger, getting the carries that he did, you’ll see big leaps with him. When guys haven’t played a lot in games, you’ll see bigger growth. Sometimes at practice versus the scouts, our scouts do a good job, but at practice it seems that every play goes for a big gain because it’s getting blocked up perfectly. Then you get into a game and it’s not perfect and they give you a look you didn’t expect, you have to have the instinct to be able to react. Now that he’s had those reps I would expect him to make a jump,” Jackson said.
This will be SDSU’s second road game of the season. The Jacks beat No. 5 Montana State 30-24 in double overtime on Sept. 6. Jackson said there isn’t anything different he wants to see from his team away from home this time around, but there are some things that he could do differently.
“I think there’s things that I could do better. There’s just little details that when we go on the road we’re going to evaluate the schedule and the flight, when we’re feeding them and when’s the appropriate down time and making sure they’re ready to go when it’s time to kick off. … As much as our guys love home games and a sell out, that is extremely special to them, there’s something about going on the road. It’s just you guys. You and your brothers and you’re taking a trip together and there’s opportunity for them to bond and grow,” Jackson said.
Kickoff between the Jackrabbits and Penguins is scheduled for 5 p.m. Central time. You can watch the game on ESPN+ or listen to the game on AM 570 WNAX. It will also be broadcast on a big screen TV trailer on Main Avenue at the Fall Classic in downtown Brookings.
