SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — South Dakota State sent the Missouri State Bears packing on Saturday in the potential final meeting between the schools, drubbing their FBS-bound opponent 45-9 in front of 7,412 fans at Plaster Stadium.
With the win and North Dakota State's loss to South Dakota, the Bison, Coyotes and Jackrabbits all secure a three-way tie for the Missouri Valley Football Conference regular season title. The Bears could've been the ones sharing the title with USD and NDSU had they beat the Jacks, but SDSU gave them a beatdown in their last game at the FCS level.
The Jacks jumped out to a 14-0 lead, and after the Bears used a trio of field goals to get within a score at 17-9, SDSU scored the game's final 28 points to finish the regular season at 10-2.
Mark Gronowski threw for 258 yards and two touchdowns while Amar Johnson, Angel Johnson, Maxwell Woods and Kirby Vorhees combined for rush for 172 yards, with Vorhees and Amar Johnson each scoring two rushing touchdowns.
Missouri State (8-4) came in averaging more than 37 points per game but the Jacks held them without a touchdown. They limited Bears running back Jacadia Wright to 16 yards on nine carries while quarterback Jacob Clark, who leads the Valley in passing yards and touchdowns, completed just 14-of-31 throws for 186 yards. MSU was 2-for-14 on 3rd downs and finished the game with 220 yards of total offense.
Griffin Wilde had four catches for 139 yards and a touchdown while Kevin Brenner had three catches for 28 yards and one score.
Adam Bock had six tackles and a sack for the Jackrabbits' surging defense, while Tucker Large had five tackles and three pass breakups. Aaron Wolfcale-Holsten had 1.5 of the team's five sacks.
The Jackrabbits, who have won their last four games by a combined score of 176-32, were tabbed as the No. 3 seed in the FCS playoffs on Sunday morning. Montana State grabbed the No. 1 seed, followed by No. 2 NDSU, No. 3 SDSU and No. 4 USD.
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