FRISCO, Texas South Dakota State is back-to-back national football champions. The Jackrabbits pulled away from Montana in the second half of the FCS National Championship on Sunday afternoon at Toyota Stadium, winning 23-3.
The win capped off a perfect season for the Jacks and SDSU head coach Jimmy Rogers said his team put in a lot of hard work to get to this point.
I couldnt be more proud of these guys and the whole team. It takes a whole team to get the job done, especially with the hype that surrounds this program. We never paid much attention to it and we stayed consistent and worked extremely hard this season and this is the result. Im proud to go back-to-back and Im proud to do it with these guys. Im blessed to be the head coach at South Dakota State, Rogers said.
SDSU returned all but two starters from last years national championship team. Many of them were playing in their last game for SDSU on Sunday and junior quarterback Mark Gronowski said it was special sending them off with another championship, especially because those seniors lost a title game in spring 2021.
That first [championship victory] was really sweet because it was the first one and we got to see the other team do it three years ago, being up on that stage and we werent. So, I think thats what makes this whole thing so much sweeter. All the guys have put in so much work. We have so many sixth-year guys that have given so much to this program and to be able to do it for them is probably the sweetest part, Gronowski said.
SDSU got off to a great start as the Jacks went 75 yards in 11 plays on their first drive and it was capped off with an Isaiah Davis six-yard touchdown run. Montana answered by going 57 yards in 15 plays but the Grizzlies were stopped on fourth and goal at the one yard line.
Eli Gillman tried to get around the edge and work his way to the end zone but senior linebacker Adam Bock met him at the goal line and kept him out.
Jason [Freeman] did a good job of setting the edge, Bock said. I knew I had the next fit after that. Ive been on the wrong side of that too many times and it was just huge to come up with that in a big time game. It felt awesome to get a little momentum on our side when things maybe werent going the way we wanted to and they were driving down the field. It was a big momentum shift.
The Jacks then had their first mistake of the game as Gronowski underthrew Jadon Janke and it landed into the hands of Montanas Corbin Walker. However, the Jackrabbit defense would stand tall again, holding Montana to a field goal early in the second quarter.
The next big mistake came two drives later when the Grizzlies were forced to punt. The punt bounced off of an SDSU player and Montana fell on it at their own 44. The Grizzlies made it into SDSU territory, but a holding call backed them up and they punted again.
The two teams traded punts the rest of the first half and the Jacks took a 7-3 lead into halftime. Montana head coach Bobby Hauck said its tough to win when you dont capitalize on the other teams mistakes.
Montana got the ball to start the second half and SDSU turned the tables on the Grizzlies as the Jacks forced their first turnover of the game. Clifton McDowell completed a pass to Aaron Fontes and he ran 18 yards, but Brian Williams punched the ball out and DyShawn Gales recovered it at the SDSU 41.
The Jacks werent able to do anything with the turnover as they went three-and-out but the defense forced Montana into a three-and-out on the next drive as well. SDSU then broke through as Gronowski ran 10 yards and dove into the end zone to put the Jacks up 11 with 7:11 left in the third quarter.
SDSU would strike again on its next drive as Gronowski found Jadon Janke in the corner of the end zone for a 23-yard score. The hold on the extra point was bobbled so SDSU only came away with six points and it was 20-3 Jackrabbits.
The Jacks would force another turnover on Montanas next possession. Cade Terveer had his second sack of the game and he punched the ball out this time and Ryan Van Merel picked it up.
SDSU was able to get three points after the turnover as Hunter Dustman kicked it through uprights from 32 yards out to make it 23-3 with just under a minute to play in the third quarter. That was the final score of the game.
Dustman had a great day in the kicking game as he pinned Montana at its own five yard line twice with punts. Rogers said he was proud of the way his punter/kicker played on Sunday.
I thought Hunter was great. He did a great job positioning the ball and keeping them in the corner. Thats what he worked on all week and it came to fruition, Rogers said.
Gronowski bounced back after his interception and was named the Most Outstanding Player in the game for the second straight year. He was 13-of-21 for 175 yards through the air and had 62 yards on the ground. He said he knew the production on offense would come in the second half, they just had to be patient.
[The interception] was a little mistake, but its all about how you respond at the end of it. We came back out and made a couple big plays in the second half but we didnt have a lot of plays after that because of another turnover. But in the third quarter we came out firing and offensively we knew if we just got to our stuff and play our style of football we would end up breaking out, Gronowski said.
Jadon Janke had five catches for 55 yards, Jaxon Janke had four catches for 66 yards and Zach Heins had two catches for 41 yards. Davis had 87 yards on 16 carries.
The Jackrabbit defense held Montana to 273 yards. Bock led SDSU with 11 tackles and Freeman had nine tackles. Terveer and Quinton Hicks each had 1.5 sacks.
SDSU outscored its opponents 146-15 in the FCS Playoffs. Rogers had high praise for his defense after the game.
This is the best defense in FCS history. And Im proud of that and proud of this football team, Rogers said.
Rogers finished his first season as head coach with a perfect 15-0 record. When he became the head coach he mentioned that he didnt feel any different the morning after last years national championship. He said he felt the same on Sunday after winning one as a head coach.
Its who I am by nature. Im going to enjoy this one [Sunday night], but then my mind races to the next one. I dont think [it feels different being the head coach]. I wanted this for a long time. As a player, as an assistant and now as a head coach. Im just blessed to be in this position with this football team. More than anything else thats what I care about, Rogers said.
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