The Jacks began their NCC schedule with a 24-0 defeat at the hands of the North Dakota State Bison Saturday evening at the Fargodome.

SDSU’s passing game was at its usual potency, but turnovers and a running game limited to only 11 net yards spelled doom on this Saturday evening.

The Jacks were driving deep inside Bison territory at the end of the first half when quarterback Brad Nelson was sacked. Nelson fumbled the ball and NDSU’s Mike Sheppard returned the fumble 69 yards to give the home team a 10-0 halftime lead.

The Bison put the game away in the second half with two touchdowns, one being set up by an SDSU fumble.

Nelson finished the game with 204 yards passing before giving way to backup Andy Kardoes, who had 55 yards passing.

Leading receivers for the Jacks were Brian Janecek with five receptions for 62 yards and Josh Davis’ six grabs for 56 yards.

Redshirt freshman standout Anthony Watson was limited by the Bison defense to only 12 yards rushing on 11 attempts.

The Jackrabbit defense was led by Chris Coauette’s ten tackles and nine stops by Justin Landis.

A low point of the game occurred in the fourth quarter when SDSU was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Davis had been instructed by an official to throw the ball after a play; however, the official then turned away as Davis threw the ball past the offical, prompting the line judge to throw the flag and assess a 15-yard penalty against the Jackrabbits.

Reaction from the team after the game indicated a sense of disgust and bitter disappointment over the oucome of the game and the team’s performance.

“It was crappy,” Coach John Stiegelmeier said.

The schedule, does not get any easier for the SDSU Jackrabbit football squad as they travel to Omaha this weekend to face a ranked Nebraska-Omaha team in the final stanza of a stretch that has included four consecutive away games. UNO blanked South Dakota this past Saturday 34-0 at the Dakotadome. Kickoff in Omaha is at 1 p.m.