Turnovers Doom SDSU Football

staff

Jason Salzman & Adam Zobel

Mistakes often lead to trouble for any football team.

Too many mistakes on the road against a ranked football team will usually lead to a long afternoon and the losing end of the score.

Mistakes were plentiful last Saturday in Omaha as the SDSU Jackrabbit football team fell to Nebraska-Omaha 34-17, dropping the Jacks to a 0-2 start in the NCC and upsetting Coach John Stiegelmeier.

“I’m very disappointed,” Stiegelmeier said.

SDSU jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead on a Keith Witt field goal before the Mavericks took advantage of two fumbles and a short punt to take a 13-3 lead late in the second quarter.

The Jacks then drove down the field and trimmed the lead to 13-10 when Brian Janecek caught a 30-yard scoring strike from Brad Nelson right before halftime.

The Jackrabbits took the opening kick in the second half with a chance to take the lead, but Nelson was intercepted, setting up a Maverick touchdown drive to extend the lead to 20-10 halfway through the third quarter.

SDSU then struck back with a 13-play, 79-yard drive that was capped by a 1-yard plunge by Anthony Robinson.

Unfortunately, that touchdown would prove to be the last scoring drive of the afternoon for the Yellow and Blue.

UNO took control of the football game in the fourth quarter with two touchdowns, the first of which was set up by a deflected punt that gave the Mavericks another short field to work with.

Nelson ended the game with 224 yards passing, one touchdown, and two interceptions.

Janecek led the receiving corps with 60 yards while Josh Davis added 58 yards.

The running attack was limited to 75 yards as Anthony Watson was hampered with a shoulder injury suffered during the NDSU game.

The Jackrabbit defense was led by 17 tackles from Justin Landis. Scott Connot added an interception and 12 tackles.

The football team returns home to the friendly confines of the SDSU campus this weekend as they host ranked North Dakota in the annual Beef Bowl. The game against the Fighting Sioux will be the first home game for the Jacks since the season opener.

“I’m always very excited to play at home,” Stigelmeier said.

Kickoff at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium will be at 7 p.m.