Jackrabbits Keep Dakota Marker With 33-16 Win Over Bison

BROOKINGS, S.D. - Top-ranked South Dakota State won the Dakota Marker for the fourth straight season with a 33- 16 victory over North Dakota State on Saturday, Nov. 4, before a record crowd of 19,431 at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.

Isaiah Davis ran for 106 yards and one touchdown, Mark Gronowski was 12 of 19 passing for 213 yards, and Jadon Janke caught two touchdown passes for the Jackrabbits, who won their 23rd straight game to improve to 9-0 overall and 6-0 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

North Dakota State (6-3, 3-3 MVFC) held the nation’s fourth-ranked scoring team to four field goals, but three of those came after Bison turnovers as the Jackrabbits intercepted two passes and recovered a fumble.

NDSU’s Cam Miller was 18 of 29 passing for 167 yards and Zach Mathis caught four passes for 39 yards including touchdown grabs of 1 and 10 yards. Eli Green, RaJa Nelson and TK Marshall each had four receptions.

SDSU’s No. 1-ranked defense held NDSU to 4.5 yards per carry and the Bison converted only 4 of 12 third-down opportunities. Miller was NDSU’s leading rusher with 17 carries for 93 yards.

North Dakota State opened the game with a 12-play, 75-yard scoring drive. The Bison faked a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-1 from the SDSU 25 and Miller found tight end Joe Stoffel for 23 yards over the middle to set up the 1- yard TD pass to Mathis one play later.

South Dakota State responded with a 13-play, 75-yard scoring drive with Isaiah Davis getting seven carries for 46 yards, including a 27-yard burst to the NDSU 1 before scoring on the next play.

Griffin Crosa’s 29-yard field goal early in the second quarter put NDSU ahead 9-7, but it was all SDSU from there as the Jackrabbits scored 23 unanswered points.

South Dakota State had a 20-9 halftime lead after NDSU missed a 50-yard field goal wide right. The Jackrabbits also blocked a 37-yard attempt in the third quarter and a PAT kick in the first quarter, snapping Griffin Crosa’s streak of 127 consecutive conversions.

Safety Cole Wisniewski tied a career-high with 11 tackles to lead the NDSU defense, safety Sam Jung tied a careerhigh with eight tackles, and cornerback Jayden Price made a career-high six stops. Defensive end Dylan Hendricks had two tackles for loss including a sack.

North Dakota State is scheduled to host Southern Illinois at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, in the annual Harvest Bowl. SIU is 6-3 overall and 3-3 in the conference after a 14-7 home loss to South Dakota.

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