Week 4 leftovers: Jacks limiting sacks so far

Here are some final notes and thoughts from South Dakota State's 41-3 win over Wisconsin-Oshkosh on Saturday night in Brookings:

Quietly, SDSU wasn't great at pass protection the last two two seasons, giving up 47 and 44 sacks, respectively. This fall, the line has fared better in that department, allowing seven over four games. That's despite starting the season with four new starters and having two starters miss a total of three games already.
Of course, the big test is yet to come in the former of Missouri Valley Football Conference action.

The No. 10-ranked Jacks (3-1) have allowed a total of nine points over the last two games. That's their best showing in a two-game span since Weeks 1 and 2 of the 2009 season, a campaign that extended into the playoffs.
Also, SDSU hasn't allowed a first-half score since Week 2. Cornerback Je Ryan Butler credited that to a recent pregame comment made by coach John Stiegelmeier – he called the Jacks a second-half team. Butler said that fired up the defense to be good from the start.
"We always have to adjust in the second half," Butler said. "But we try to minimize the mistakes in the first half."

SDSU auctioned off two steers at halftime of the Beef Bowl game. The going rates: $6,500 and $9,000. No word if one is the more expensive steer is tastier.

Redshirt freshman cornerback Chris Balster got some reps at safety on Saturday with Nick Mears (the team leader in solo tackles) out due to injury and in light of the lopsided score.
Stiegelmeier admitted after the game that the staff quietly considered during the week how to handle reps for certain players in the event that the decision was in hand early. He also said the decision to let All-American running back Zach Zenner play one series in the second half was made at halftime.
SDSU made good use of the extra reps with three players (Brandon Andrews, Dom Wright, Larves Jones) making their first catches of the season. Also, CB Trey Carr got the first kick return attempt of his career (it went for 39 yards) and LB Dallas Brown made a career high nine tackles or two more than he totaled in the first three games.

SDSU used only three defensive calls the entire game, an attempt to allow its players to go and make plays against the multiple looks used by the D-III Titans.

Jacks senior Jason Schneider has moved into ninth on the career catches list at 129. The most for an SDSU player exclusively at the FCS level is 152, a mark shared by JaRon Harris (2005-08) and Glen Fox (2006-09).

Coming into the game, SDSU was 3 of 3 on field goals. But the unit went 2 of 4 against Oshkosh. Justin Syrovatka missed a 31-yarder in the second quarter when the wind didn't impact the ball the way he anticipated. The other failure wasn't a miss, but a high snap that holder and backup quarterback Tyler Finnes had to eat.

Terry Vandrovec also posts regular updates on his Twitter page.