BROOKINGS — Fans of the South Dakota State Jackrabbits and South Dakota Coyotes went to bed Saturday night cursing the play of their offenses.
USD came in leading the Valley in total offense and scoring offense, but they mustered just 275 yards and 10 offensive points in their 20-17 overtime loss.
SDSU was averaging 39 points per game prior to playing consecutive rivalry games against NDSU and USD and mustering just 29 points across the two (23 in regulation).
USD rushed for just 82 yards against the SDSU defense. SDSU ran for 166, but averaged just 3.8 per carry, while their downfield passing attack was largely contained for the second straight week.
USD essentially took points off the board with dropped passes and penalties. SDSU moved the ball well at times (329 total yards) but couldn't finish drives. They had just 39 yards on 16 plays in the fourth quarter.
Nothing is harder to watch than offenses stuck in neutral, but how about giving the defenses some credit?
SDSU forced seven punts, intercepted a pass on a trick play deep in their own territory, harassed and hit USD quarterback Aidan Bouman often and turned the Coyotes away on nine of 12 third downs.
USD's defense forced five punts, forced a fumble and returned it for a touchdown, turned the Jacks away on a 4th and short and limited Mark Gronowski to just over eight yards per completion. Safety Dennis Shorter was a menace, forcing the fumble that led to six, leading all players with 12 tackles and laying a couple big hits on receivers to break up would-be completions.
"Defense played great," said USD coach Bob Nielson. "Everybody talks about everyone else's defense. Nobody talks about ours. We've got a great defensive football team and they showed that today. Certainly did enough on that side of the football to put us in position to win the game."
In both rivalry games, SDSU's offense was gifted one last chance to win. Against the Bison, the Jacks couldn't take advantage. Against USD, they did.
"Those are probably the top two defenses we're gonna face all year long," Gronowski said of NDSU and USD. "I'm sure we're gonna face both those teams in the playoffs, so when we come back and play them again we're gonna have to change some things up and execute a little better."
The passing game for SDSU was better than against NDSU, largely because Gronowski was careful and sharp. He went 20-for-27 and that included a few drops. He didn't force throws into coverage when receivers weren't open, he rushed for 54 yards and when receivers did find even a crack of daylight, he hit them with pinpoint accuracy.
Still, the Jacks couldn't get anything going in the fourth quarter, and for the second week in a row didn't have much of a downfield passing attack to speak of. And Gronowski acknowledged there are things they can do better.
"I wouldn't say there's a sense of frustration," the senior said. "I believe it's all about the execution. There were some holding calls that put us behind the sticks. We've got to work on first down efficiency. Everyone talks about third down but you can increase that with better first downs.
"We've just got to continue to finish. We move the ball well sometimes and then we stall out. We have to get back to the drawing board and work on execution."
Coach Jimmy Rogers, a former defensive coordinator himself, was quick to credit both defenses, but said the Jacks will certainly work to improve on offense.
"(The Coyotes) were great on defense," Rogers said. "They made some plays and made it hard for us to move the ball. We have to execute and finish those drives. We're capable of it, we just got to put it together.
"We can't kill ourselves," he added. "We've got to catch balls when they're thrown to us. We've got to hang on to those throws. We're working on fixing the issues on offense (but) I'm not gonna speak on it until I watch the film."
ETC: USD's Charles Pierre entered the game leading the Valley in rushing yards and touchdowns. He had three carries for three yards. SDSU's leading rusher, Amar Johnson, had 17 yards on 10 carries but did score two touchdowns....Chase Mason didn't see as much action as last week in his changeup quarterback role. He had four rushes for 14 yards, one completion for no gain and one catch for a loss of a yard....USD attempted three passes from non-quarterbacks. Receiver Carter Bell connected with Jack Martens on a 30-yard pass while running back Travis Theis was 0-for-2. He threw a perfect lob to JJ Galbreath that was dropped, while the other was intercepted by Graham Spalding. Bouman was 20-of-32 for 163 yards and no interceptions....Gronowski completed passes to nine different receivers, including himself, when he grabbed a batted pass out of the air and gained three yards. Gronowski has rushed for 131 yards in the last two games....Gary Bryant had 11 tackles for USD, while Nate Ewell had nine. Mi'Quise Grace, who had the fumble return touchdown, also had the game's only sack. Adam Bock led SDSU with 10 tackles while Caleb Francl and Colby Huerter had seven....SDSU was called for a handful of pass interference penalties, but at least one was intentional. Tucker Large, who returned to action after missing several games with an injury, tackled USD's Bell. Rogers said that's what they coach their defensive backs to do if they're beat, as they'd rather take the 15-yard penalty than give up a touchdown....SDSU improved to 6-6 all-time in overtime games. USD fell to 9-7. It was the first overtime game in the series....While USD has not won in Brookings since 2000, that dry spell consists of seven games.
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