BROOKINGS South Dakota State pulled away from Drake on Saturday night for a 37-21 victory at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.
“I think Drake has a good football team,” SDSU head coach Dan Jackson said. “I thought that coming in. I thought they played really sound football. … I think we need to play better and execute better and limit some penalties. A lot of those were critical penalties that extended drives for them or eliminated us an opportunity to get the ball. I think we need to convert [on third and fourth downs] and stay on the field and generate some explosive plays to lead to more scoring.”
It was a bit of a slow start for the Jacks (3-0). The Bulldogs (1-1) went 75 yards in five plays on their opening drive and it was capped off with a 31-yard touchdown pass from Xavier Washington to Hank Foley.
SDSU would drive to the Drake 24 yard line and faced a fourth and five. The Jacks would go for it and Chase Masons deep pass to Lofton OGroske fell to the turf and the Bulldogs took over.
Drake would go three and out and a poor punt from Ryan Schroeder gave SDSU the ball on the Drake 40. Four plays later, Mason hit Alex Bullock on a screen pass and he worked his way into the end zone from nine yards out to tie the game with 6:34 left in the first quarter.
On the first play of Drakes next drive Washington was sacked by Joe Ollman and he knocked the ball free. Dawson Ripperda hopped on it and the Jacks took over at the Drake 19. Washington was hurt on the play and did not return.
Julius Loughridge would then find the end zone for the first time at SDSU as the senior transfer scored from 15 yards out to make it 14-7 with six minutes left in the first quarter.
The Jacks forced another three and out and would take over at their own 40. They faced a fourth and one on the 49 and Loughridge was stuffed and the Bulldogs took over. Drake got points off of the turnover on downs as Harry Balke hit a 41-yard field goal on the first play of the second quarter to make it 14-10.
SDSU then went 66 yards in 12 plays and freshman tailback James Basinger extended the lead for the Jacks. He plunged into the end zone from two yards out to make it 21-10 with just over eight minutes left in the first half.
The Jacks looked like they were going to get more points before the end of the half. They faced another fourth down and this time it was fourth and two on the Drake six yard line. Mason kept it and ran toward the sidelines, but stepped out of bounds before the line to gain and Drake got the ball back.
The Bulldogs worked their way into field goal range and Balke came on for a 44-yard attempt with seconds left. He pushed the kick to the left and the Jacks took a 21-10 lead into halftime.
SDSU drove down the field with ease to open the second half. The Jacks went 65 yards in eight plays and Loughridge ended the drive with a four-yard touchdown run to make it 28-10.
Drake would answer with a seven-play touchdown drive as third-string quarterback Logan Inagawa ran in from three yards out. He then threw a swing pass to Nick Hermen to cut the lead to 28-18.
The Jacks drove into field goal range and Eli Stader came on for a 38-yard field goal and he pulled it to the left. SDSU would then come up with the first turnover of the night as a ball that went off the fingertips of a Drake receiver and Noah Thompson dove and reeled it in.
SDSU would go three and out and this time freshman Ryan Harrington trotted onto the field for a 37-yard field goal attempt. He split the uprights and SDSU extended its lead to 31-18 with just under two minutes left in the third quarter.
That lead held until SDSU found the end zone again midway through the fourth quarter as another freshman found the end zone. This time it was Corey Blaire Jr. and he scored from two yards out. Mason missed OGroske on an out route on the two-point conversion and SDSU led 37-18 with just over eight minutes to play.
Drake would then go on an 18-play drive that took up the final eight minutes of the game and opted to kick a 24-yard field goal to make the final 37-21.
SDSU had 436 total yards and 211 of them came on the ground. Loughridge led the way with 83 yards on 20 carries. Mason had 51 yards on eight carries and Blair had 50 yards on six carries.
Loughridge said he was happy that he and the other running backs were able to find the end zone after they were shuout the first two games of the season.
“The past three games the offensive line has been blocking great and blocking really hard. The past two weeks we didn’t have a running back touchdown and so the O line was kind of kicking at us [running backs] and this week I was happy that we were able to get in. … It’s not easy to score at this level and we had two freshmen do it, so I was very proud of them,” Loughridge said.
Mason finished 18-of-25 for 225 yards. OGroske had six catches for 78 yards. Bullock had five catches for 39 yards and Graham Goering had three catches for 65 yards.
The Bulldogs had 295 total yards of offense. The SDSU defense had four sacks and 10 tackles for a loss.
SDSU will have a bye next week. The Jacks will then close out the non-conference portion of the schedule against Mercyhurst in Brookings on Sept. 27.
Jackrabbit senior offensive lineman Quinten Christensen said he thinks that it’s a good time for the bye week after a game where the Jackrabbits did not play their best.
“We just got done playing three tough games and I don’t get to pick when the bye week is, but I think it’s a very good time for it to happen. I do think we need to go back and watch film and really practice and get in some individual work and work on what we need to get better at. Because this team has a lot of potential and talent, but the little details and us biting ourselves in the foot [have hurt us at times]. I think the bye week is going to be very important and we need to focus and take it seriously,” Christensen said.
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