Brookings, South Dakota — South Dakota State scored on three long touchdown drives in the first half and held off second-ranked North Dakota State for a 27-19 victory Saturday afternoon to retain the Dakota Marker before a crowd of 18,122 at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.
The Jackrabbits, ranked ninth in the Stats Perform media poll and 10th by the Football Championship Subdivision coaches, improved to 7-2 overall and remained in contention in the Missouri Valley Football Conference race with a 4-2 mark. NDSU suffered its first loss of the season, falling to 8-1 overall and 5-1 in league play.
Two plays and 16 seconds into the game, Walter Payton Award candidate Pierre Strong, Jr. broke around right end for a 75-yard touchdown run, setting the tone for a Jackrabbit squad that had lost its previous two home games.
NDSU knotted the game at 7-all midway through the opening quarter on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Cam Miller to Josh Babicz that capped a five-play, 54-yard drive.
The Jackrabbits took the lead for good on the ensuing drive, putting together a 12-play, 75-yard march that was finished off by a 1-yard touchdown run by Strong, his 14th of the season, with 18 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.
SDSU upped its lead to 24-7 with a pair of scores over a two-plus-minute span late in the second quarter. With the aid of a pair of NDSU personal foul penalties, the Jackrabbits strung together their longest scoring drive of the season in terms of plays and time of possession with a 16-play, 80-yard trek that chewed up more than nine minutes following an interception by Chase Norblade. Facing fourth-and-1 from the NDSU 11, the Jackrabbits dug deep into the playbook, directly snapping the ball through the legs of quarterback Chris Oladokun to Strong, who lofted a pass over the defense to tight end Tucker Kraft down the left seam in the end zone for a touchdown.
It was Strong’s third touchdown pass of the season in as many attempts and the fifth of his career in eight total attempts – all completions.
After forcing a punt on the next NDSU drive, the Jackrabbits gained 52 yards on seven plays to set up a 32-yard field goal by Cole Frahm on the final play of the first half.
Frahm opened the second-half scoring with a 45-yard field goal midway through the third period for what proved to be the final Jackrabbit points of the afternoon.
NDSU put together its best drive of the day later in the third quarter, drawing to within 27-14 on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Miller to RaJa Nelson. That finished off a 12-play, 75-yard drive for the Bison.
The Bison had a chance to further trim the deficit as the clocked ticked under six minutes to go, but turned the ball over on downs deep in the red zone. Despite having first and goal from the SDSU 2, the Bison came up empty after three straight rushing plays resulted in the loss of one yard and a pass to the end zone on fourth down fell incomplete.
Pinned deep in their own territory, the Jackrabbits gave up a safety out of punting formation and NDSU followed with a 33-yard field goal by Jake Reinholz with 1:09 to play after the free kick.
The Jackrabbits’ Cale Reeder recovered NDSU’s attempt at an onside kick and SDSU took a pair of kneel-downs to run out the clock.
Strong finished the game with 156 yards on a career-high 23 carries in topping the century mark for the seventh time in nine games this season. Oladokun completed 13-of-22 passes for 157 yards, with Jaxon Janke tallying 118 yards on six catches and Kraft adding five receptions for 42 yards.
Total offense was nearly even as NDSU finished with a slight edge, 365-349. Miller completed 15-of-23 passes for 218 yards and also was the leading rusher for the Bison with 59 yards on 13 carries. Christian Watson was on the receiving end of three passes for 82 yards.
Adam Bock registered a game-high 13 tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack, for SDSU. He also forced a fumble. Isaiah Stalbird added nine tackles and Reeder was credited with a career-high seven stops from his safety position.
Leading tackler for NDSU was Jackson Hankey with 10.
UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits play another rivalry game, traveling next Saturday (Nov. 13) to Vermillion for a matchup against in-state rival South Dakota. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. at the DakotaDome.
