BROOKINGS — South Dakota State slowly pulled away from Northern Iowa on Saturday and came away with a 31-3 Hobo Day victory at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.
The Jacks scored in each quarter on Saturday afternoon and held the Panthers to just one field goal to earn the win.
“It wasn’t perfect, but it was us,” said SDSU head coach Dan Jackson. “We need to continue to get better, but I love how we find ways to get it done.”
SDSU forced a three-and-out to start and the Jacks moved the ball into UNI territory right away. Chase Mason was then sacked on 3rd and 5 and that set up a 41-yard field goal from Eli Stader and he pulled the kick wide left.
Isaiah Johnson picked off Matthew Schecklman on the first play after the missed kick and the Jacks took over at the UNI 37. SDSU cashed in on the turnover as Mason ran it into the end zone from two yards out and the Jacks led 7-0 with 4:31 left in the first quarter.
UNI moved into field goal range on its next drive and Max Bartachek came on for a 36-yard attempt early in the second quarter. His kick was blocked by Cody Cotton and the Jacks got the ball at their own 45.
However, they went three-and-out after the blocked kick and Bartachek would have another attempt. This time he made the field goal from 30 yards out to cut the lead to 7-3 with 4:23 to play in the first half.
SDSU answered with a six-play, 75-yard drive and Mason plunged into the end zone from two yards out again to make it 14-3 with two minutes left in the half.
The Jacks would have a chance to get more points before the end of the half as Cullen McShane punched the ball out and Joe Ollman hopped on it at the SDSU 47. SDSU moved into field goal range and Stader had a chance at redemption just before halftime. His attempt was from 44 yards and this time it was knocked down by the wind and ended up short.
SDSU had three three-and-outs to start the second half and it took the Jacks until just over a minute left in the third quarter to add to their lead. Greyton Gannon took a screen pass 22 yards to the end zone and put the Jacks up 21-3.
Mason said when the Jacks get a first down right away, they move the ball better. He said they need to be better on first down moving forward.
“There’s always ups and downs during the game but you just have to get the drive going. Once we get going, there’s no stopping us. … We just have to focus on the play in front of us and not worry about what’s happening. It starts on first down, and if you can be efficient on first down, it helps with second down and third down,” Mason said.
The Jacks would score two more times in the fourth. Mason found a wide open Andrew Gustad after a nice play fake for a 11-yard touchdown to make it 28-3 with 11 minutes left. Stader would come on one more time and this time he knocked it through the uprights from 30 yards out to make the final 31-3.
After going 1-for-3 on kicks from 30 yards or more on Saturday, Stader moved to 2-for-6 on the season from that distance. SDSU also had a punt blocked early in the second half, but then Jalen Lee came away with an interception on a trick play from UNI.
Jackson said there were ups and downs in special teams on Saturday. He liked some aspects, but was disappointed with others and said SDSU needs to make sure everything is running smoothly when the games are closer.
“I thought there were some bright spots [with the special teams play]. When you look at blocking the field goal and the kickoff coverage units have been phenomenal. … The field goals, it’s a challenge from that distance and we just need to learn that, especially with specialists that are not used to playing in our stadium. The blocked punt, that is unacceptable too. We can’t have a punt blocked. To [have that happen] and win by 28 points, those things are great, but we need to make sure that we sure all of that up for the tight games,” Jackson said.
SDSU forced five turnovers on the day including Johnson and Lee’s interceptions and Ollman’s fumble recovery. Chase Van Tol and Myles Green also had interceptions. The four interceptions were the most for SDSU since the Jacks had six picks against UC Davis in the first round of the FCS Playoffs in 2021.
Lee said SDSU did a good job of capitalizing on some mistakes that the Panthers made in the passing game.
“We just read our keys, did our job and trusted the tendencies that we studied all week and just played ball. Our standard is 10 points or less every week and we met that standard today,” Lee said.
SDSU had 380 total yards. Mason finished the day 18-of-30 with 249 yards and two touchdowns. Alex Bullock had five catches for 82 yards and Goering had four catches for 51 yards. Gannon had two catches for 48 yards.
The Jacks had 120 yards rushing. Julius Loughridge led the way on the ground again for SDSU with 76 yards on 19 carries. James Basinger had 10 carries for 37 yards.
The Panthers had 221 total yards of offense. Ollman led the SDSU defense with eight tackles. Van Tol had four tackles and two sacks.
SDSU gave up 30 points in a win over Youngstown State last week and Jackson said that the defense felt like that was too many points even though they came away with the win.
“We were excited to get that win and to show the character that we did, but 30 points is not the standard here for defense. Our players had an edge about them in practice and the leadership really stepped up there. … I was proud of how they prepared throughout the week and it wasn’t just that they were so sound tonight, because they were, but I was excited about the playmaking,” Jackson said.
The Jacks will play at Murray State next Saturday at 6 p.m. They then host North Dakota State for the Dakota Marker Game on Oct. 25.
