For the fourth year in a row, the Dakota Marker will stay in Brookings, after the top-ranked Jackrabbits roll past No. 10 North Dakota State 33-16.
The Yellow and Blue extended their winning streak to 23 straight in front of a crowd of 19,431 fans, the largest attendance in Dana J. Dykhouse history, surpassing the 2019 Dakota Marker game that saw ESPN’s College Gameday come to town.
SDSU has not lost to the Bison since the 2019 game in Brookings and have since beaten them in five consecutive meetings, including last year’s 45-21 national championship victory.
And this season’s result was not too different than that fateful day in Frisco, as the Jackrabbits were efficient offensively, and forced three Bison turnovers to take home the win.
The biggest difference between these teams in the past five meetings? The Jackrabbits have dominated in the turnover battle.
“When you can force turnovers, that just gives the ball back to our offense,” senior linebacker Adam Bock said. “And they make plays with it so it’s huge being on the positive side of that.”
In their five-game winning streak against North Dakota State, the Jackrabbit defense has forced 10 turnovers, while the offense has not had a turnover against the Bison since 2019.
“We just focus on ball security, and I feel like we’ve done a great job of that all year,” quarterback Mark Gronowski said. “If you end up having the ball more than the other team, you’re going to win the game.”
The Bison came into this game hoping to upset the undefeated Jacks, but with the loss, they have now contributed to this historic South Dakota State win streak on three separate occasions.
However, NDSU was able to make a statement early in this game, as they drove right down the field on the opening drive, converting on a fourth-down trick play to set up a 1-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Cam Miller to receiver Zach Mathis.
“Every team has their openers, they’re going to give their best shot right away,” Bock said. “So, we always say ‘handle the openers and then play from there’. But it’s definitely tough giving up those first points.”
The Bison drained over seven minutes of clock in their opening drive and felt the momentum swing their way with an early 6-0 lead, but the celebration was short-lived as defensive tackle Ryan Van Marel was able to bulldoze his way through the line of scrimmage and block the extra point.
“That’s an individual effort,” said coach Rogers on the two blocked kicks in the game. “The kid [Van Marel] who blocked the first kick blocks them all the time, that might be his sixth or seventh in his career, he’s done an unbelievable job throughout his career giving great effort.”
The Jackrabbits responded with a methodical drive of their own, draining nearly seven minutes of clock on a drive that ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by senior tailback Isaiah Davis.
Davis, who finished with 106 rushing yards and a touchdown on 17 carries, has reached the century mark in rushing 20 times in his career.
After trading touchdown drives in their opening drives both teams would trade field goals on their second drives.
NDSU kicker Griffin Crosa would drill one from 27 yards out, followed by Hunter Dustman 31 yards away.
With the score 10-9 in favor of the Rabbits, things would turn for the worse for NDSU.
It started with a three-and-out from the Bison offense that was followed by a 46-yard touchdown pass from Gronowski to wide receiver Jadon Janke.
“We knew they were going to bring in some pressure and give us some one-on-one opportunities and try to make me make plays and make our wideouts make plays,” Gronowski said. “And we got a good matchup with Jadon Janke, I’ll take him against anyone in the country.”
Gronowski, a junior from Naperville, IL, finished 12/19 for 213 yards and two passing touchdowns while adding 10 yards on the ground.
On the very next play for the Bison offense, senior tailback TaMerik Williams would fumble, with Isaiah Stalbird jumping on the loose football.
The Jacks would settle for a field goal with just under two minutes to go in the first half.
The Bison had an opportunity to put points on the board before half, but Grosa missed the 50-yard field goal attempt.
Coming out of halftime, the Jackrabbits looked confident, but not satisfied.
The offense started the second half similarly to the first and finished off the six-play, 75-yard drive with a 7-yard shovel pass from Gronowski to Jadon Janke.
Jadon Janke would finish the game with five catches for 89 yards and two touchdowns.
Down by 18, the Bison needed to find a spark if they wanted to make a comeback. And on the ensuing kickoff, they found that spark.
RaJa Nelson, a senior wide receiver for the Bison, would return the kick from Dustman 77 yards, all the way down to the SDSU 20-yard line.
With a drive that started at the feet of the red zone, NDSU failed to record a single yard and was forced to settle for a field goal.
But the special team’s unit for the Jackrabbits would make up for the long return they allowed, and defensive end Jarod Depriest would block the second kick of the day on the 38-yard attempt from Crosa.
The Jackrabbit offense would be forced to punt after the blocked field goal, but the defense would force its second turnover of the game from a Graham Spalding interception by Miller.
Gronowski and Co. were able to capitalize on the turnover, setting up Dustman for a 44-yard field goal with just under 12 minutes to go in the game.
Down by 21, NDSU would form a solid drive that ended in another touchdown reception for Mathis from 10 yards out.
And after a punt from Jackrabbits, the game wasn’t completely out of reach for the Bison.
But right on cue, the Jackrabbit defense does what it has done all season and forces another turnover. Linebacker Jason Freeman would intercept a deflected pass from Miller to seal the victory.
Dustman would tack on his fourth field goal of the day, a new career high for the senior out of East Bethel, MN, to cap off the 17-point victory for the Yellow and Blue.
“We were really locked in to just winning the game,” coach Jimmy Rogers said on the victory, Saturday. “I think at the end there we forgot that it was the marker game, you could see we forgot to rush the trophy.”
The Janke twins would play a crucial role in the Jackrabbit’s victory at receiver, as Jaxon Janke would add four catches for 79 yards to go along with brother Jadon’s two-touchdown day.
Overall, the Jackrabbit defense made the biggest impact out of any unit in this game, forcing three turnovers while blocking two kicks that would take a combined four points off the board for the Bison.
“Felt like there was seven points that we left off the board,” NDSU head coach Matt Entz said. “It’s college football, you got to have a guy who can make a 50-yarder I don’t care about the wind. Then we had two blocked, which we’ll get back and look at it to see what the issues were.”
On the defensive side, Freeman would lead the team in tackles with 12, including 1.5 tackles-for-loss and the game-sealing interception. Safety Tucker Large would finish with eight tackles and a long punt return in the special team’s unit.
For the Bison, Miller finished 18/29 passing for 167 yards, two touchdowns to go with two interceptions. Miller was also the leading rusher for the NDSU, running for 93 yards on 17 carries.
Four players each caught four passes from Miller in the loss, wide receiver Eli Green led with 47 yards, Mathis had 39 yards and two touchdowns, Nelson had 36 yards receiving, and running back TK Marshall rounds it out with 13 yards.
The Jackrabbits are now 9-0 overall and 6-0 in Missouri Valley Football Conference play and can clinch the MVFC regular season title with a win next week.
Up Next
The Jackrabbits hit the road one final time in the regular season next Saturday against Youngstown State. Kickoff is slated for 11 a.m. central time in Youngstown, OH.
