Jacks take Showdown Series in 37-14 romp over Coyotes

BROOKINGS – South Dakota State handled its business in a hurry on the last day of the regular season, backing up its billing as a heavy favorite and eradicating potential rivalry-related weirdness.

Now comes the hard part: Waiting to find out their postseason fate.

The No. 16-ranked Jackrabbits scored on their first five possessions and pitched a three-quarter shutout in rolling to a 37-14 victory over the University of South Dakota on Saturday before a crowd of 10,631 at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium. They not only won for the third week in a row to get to 8-4 overall and 5-3 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, they put on another offensive exhibition.

Senior quarterback Austin Sumner threw for a career high 395 yards – the second-most in school history – and three touchdowns against no turnovers in a little more than three quarters of action, leading SDSU to 547 yards. That's a season high, besting the mark set last week that topped the number from the previous week. Clearly, the offensive is clicking with the four-year starter Sumner back at the helm after a two-month absence due to injury.

The Jacks got help, too, in the form of losses Indiana State and Youngstown State, two conference foes that had been part of a crowded four-loss pool.

Will it be enough to land an at-large invitation to the 24-team FCS postseason for the third year a row? They'll find out at 10 a.m. today during a selection show on ESPNU.

"I'm not confident – I'm not worried about it either," SDSU coach John Stiegelmeier said. "It's out of my hands. We did what we were supposed to do, and we did it hopefully with an exclamation point. That's all we can do."

The Jacks were emphatic from the start, getting into the end zone on the fifth play of the game. Sumner passed for 199 yards with two touchdowns in the first quarter, connecting on 10 of 11 attempts.

Sixteen minutes in, SDSU had four scores and USD had two first downs. The Coyotes (2-10, 0-8) got going in the second quarter only to miss a field goal, commit a turnover on downs from first-and-goal at the 2-yard line and throw an interception in the end zone.

All of their points came in the final 11 minutes, bruising fullback Drew Potter setting up two touchdowns with a series of physical runs against the Jacks reserves. The 6-foot-2, 250-pound sophomore finished with a game high 103 yards on eight carries – his only totes of the season.

"They just really took it to us," said USD coach Joe Glenn, whose injury-depleted club finished winless in conference play for the second time in three years. "It was over before it started, really. They really got after us, and we couldn't do much."

That's become a theme in the series. SDSU has won six in a row against the Coyotes, and hasn't trailed in the last five.

The Jacks had their full arsenal on display during the meaningful moments of this meeting, seemingly impervious to the cold or the rock-hard field. All-American running back Zach Zenner scored two first-half touchdowns on his way to 130 yards of offense. Senior all-conference receiver Jason Schneider caught four passes for 85 yards and a score – all in the first quarter. Jake Wieneke, a leading candidate for the Jerry Rice Award, made six grabs for 177 yards in moving up to second in FCS history for receiving yards by a freshman (1,318).

Sumner finished 16 of 28 with no stains on his yellow uniform, getting plenty of protection from an offensive line that's struggled at times this season.

"Our mind set going into the game was we wanted to start fast," said the Brandon Valley grad, who surpassed the 9,000-yard mark for his career. "We want to put one in (the end zone) right away, kind of set the tone for the game, and we did that."

He continued, noting that SDSU left some points on the field later in the game, something that will have to change going forward. Yes, Sumner thinks the Jacks will be included in the bracket.

Glenn agreed. Rivals or not, facts are facts.

"If they don't get in something's really wrong," he said. "Again, the system's broken. They'll get in."

First Quarter

SDSU—Zenner 10 run (Syrovatka kick), 12:46.

SDSU—Schneider 28 pass from Sumner (Syrovatka kick), 8:12.

SDSU—Wieneke 18 pass from Sumner (Syrovatka kick), 3:39.

Second Quarter

SDSU—FG Syrovatka 32, 14:05.

SDSU—Zenner 50 pass from Sumner (Syrovatka kick), 7:34.

Third Quarter

SDSU—FG Syrovatka 21, 8:38.

Fourth Quarter

SDSU—FG Syrovatka 34, 13:30.

USD—Shufford Jr 10 pass from Earl (Bergner kick), 10:34.

USD—Hale 10 pass from Saeger (Bergner kick), 2:10.

A—10,631.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—USD, Potter 8-103, Kilgore 17-82, Earl 2-10, Saeger 1-(minus 11). SDSU, Zenner 18-76, Mengarelli 9-28, Gandy 4-18, Lujan 1-2, Team 2-(minus 4).

PASSING—USD, Earl 20-44-1-226, Saeger 2-4-0-28. SDSU, Sumner 16-28-0-395, Lujan 2-2-0-32.

RECEIVING—USD, Donovan 6-94, Shufford Jr 6-67, Van Roekel 4-41, Meyer 2-20, Kilgore 2-11, Potter 1-11, Hale 1-10. SDSU, Wieneke 6-177, Schneider 4-85, Zenner 2-53, Goedert 2-37, Mengarelli 1-26, Wesley 1-25, Andrews 1-13, Landberg 1-11.