CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — South Dakota State came out of its bye week firing on all cylinders as the No. 1 ranked Jackrabbits dominated Northern Iowa 41-3 on Saturday afternoon. 

The Jackrabbits (4-1) forced four turnovers on the day and blocked a punt. SDSU head coach Jimmy Rogers said it was nice to see his team play well in all three phases of the game.

“We played our best football up to this point [today]. Our offense, [defense] and special teams. It all came together tonight. It came together with a flurry of turnovers in the first half, which was huge, and then we came out defensively and really put a nail in the coffin [in the second half], which was huge,” Rogers said.

SDSU went three-and-out on its first possession but the Jackrabbits got the ball back quickly. After UNI’s first two plays went for first downs, Jarod DePriest punched the ball out of Tye Edwards hands and Kobe Clayborne recovered it on SDSU’s 46 yard line. 

Six plays later Mark Gronowski connected with Kentrell Prejean for a 16-yard touchdown. It was the first touchdown of Prejean’s career and the Jacks led 7-0 with 8:43 left in the first quarter.

SDSU forced another turnover later in the quarter as Steven Arrell intercepted Aidan Dunne and the Jacks took over at the UNI 34. The Jackrabbit drive stalled in the red zone but Hunter Dustman knocked through a 22-yard field goal on the second play of the second quarter to make it 10-0.

Then SDSU took full control in the second quarter. The Jackrabbits blocked a punt with 9:33 left in the first half and Noah Thompson scooped it up and returned it 49 yards for a touchdown to make it 17-0. 

“That was a great call by coach [Pat Cashman],” Rogers said. “We set up the block on one side and they called timeout and we flipped it. So they set the protection on the side we originally were and we were able to get free on the back side and Noah Thompson was able to have some savvy to not just jump on the ball and he housed it for us.”

Max Baloun then stripped Dunne on the Panthers next possession and DePriest hopped on it. Two plays later Chase Mason faked a hand off to Gronowski and ran it into the end zone from six yards out to make it 24-0 with 8:16 left in the half.

UNI got on the board with 1:25 left in the first half as Caden Palmer hit a 41-yard field goal. However, the Jackrabbits put more points on the board before the end of the half as Dustman made a 41-yard field goal of his own to make it 27-3 at halftime.

SDSU’s defense picked up right where it left off after halftime as Adam Bock picked off Dunne on the third play of the second half. He returned it inside the UNI 10 and then Gronowski found Graham Goering for a 7-yard touchdown to make it 34-3 with 12:39 left in the third.

Rogers said he and the coaches emphasized getting takeaways during the week and his team responded.

“We did a good job of attacking the ball in the air and finding the ball when it was tucked away and getting punch outs. We talked about it during the week and it came to fruition today,” Rogers said.

The Jacks kept their foot on the pedal as they forced a three-and-out and then Angel Johnson went 66 yards to the house on a screen pass to push the lead to 41-3 with just over 10 minutes to play in the third quarter.

“That’s a full team touchdown with guys blocking on the perimeter,” Rogers said. You give your best players the football and watch them go.”

Angel Johnson finished the day with two catches for 78 yards and had 31 yards on six carries. Amar Johnson had 40 yards on 10 carries and four catches for 28 yards. Kirby Vorhees had 45 yards on eight carries.

Gronowski was 15-of-21 with 155 yards and two touchdowns. Goering had three catches for 52 yards and Griffin Wilde had three catches for 39 yards. 

SDSU outgained UNI 390-246. DePriest led the Jacks with six tackles, two tackles for a loss and one sack. Colby Heurter had five tackles. Bock, Caleb Francl, Matthew Durrance and Bryce Hawthrone all had four tackles.

SDSU will head back to Brookings next weekend and host Youngstown State for the Hobo Day game. Kickoff between the Jackrabbits and Penguins is set for 2 p.m.