The South Dakota State football team picked up its first win of the 2024 season, taking down the No. 12 University of the Incarnate Word, 45-24, in the Dairy Drive.

After being handed its first loss in two years to the Oklahoma State Cowboys last week, SDSU came out Saturday night hungry to get back in the win column.

In front of a crowd of 19,321 including over 4,000 students at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium, the sixth largest in stadium history, SDSU racked up 515 yards of total offense to pull away for the victory.

“The fans were awesome,” said SDSU head coach Jimmy Rogers. “To come to a full stadium, and our guys to have that type of energy and momentum just from the spirit of the student section. The students have taken it upon themselves to make a difference in the game, and they need to keep doing that because it is a huge part of our success.”

But it wasn’t smooth sailing to start for the Yellow and Blue, UIW’s up-tempo offense was effective in the passing game which led to a few big plays.

“Week one we played against some tempo that was pretty fast, and I can say that Incarnate Word was faster,” said safety Matthew Durrance. “So just handling that, especially those first couple drives when it’s scripted out so it’s even harder. But once we handled that tempo, you just got to get aligned and things start falling into place.”

After SDSU opened the game with a drive into UIW territory, senior kicker Hunter Dustman missed a 37-yard field goal, hitting the right upright in the South endzone.

Immediately following the missed field goal, Incarnate Word drove right down the field on a nine-play, 61-yard drive that took just under four minutes to set up a field goal attempt for kicker Brack Peacock from 36 yards away to take an early 3-0 lead.

SDSU came back with back-to-back scoring drives following the early deficit, Dustman would nail a field goal from 30 yards out and the offense would finally reach the endzone on a 41-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Mark Gronowski to sophomore tight end Greyton Gannon.

“I think there’s just a culture in that room that’s continued to grow and passed down from age group to age group,” said Gronowski on SDSU’s depth at tight end. “I got to talk to Zach Heinz after the game and he was really happy and proud of those guys because he was coaching them up all last year.”

But the UIW passing attack remained vigilant in the first half, as Cardinals starting quarterback Zach Calzada would connect on a 5-yard touchdown pass to receiver Jalen Walthall.

Calzada had arguably the best performance out of any quarterback against the Jacks in years, completing passes at a 79% clip, throwing for 351 yards and three touchdown passes.

“Give credit to them, that quarterback is elite,” said Rogers. “I don’t know if anybody has ever done that in my entire time here. He was a winner and he had elite talent to throw the ball to. At times we missed tackles, at times they just made the one-on-one jump ball.”

The biggest key to SDSU’s victory was the continued success it found on offense, as the Jacks were never forced to punt throughout the entirety of the game.

“We didn’t have a punt today. We continued to move the ball when we wanted to move the ball,” said Gronowski. “We kind of stalled out a little bit, but some of those are our mistakes we’re going to fix throughout the season and learn from them come film time on Monday.”

Gronwoski connected with Grahm Goering late in the first half on a back shoulder throw for a 22-yard touchdown to give SDSU the 17-10 lead going into the halftime break.

But again, UIW continued to put pressure on the Yellow and Blue.

Immediately after the halftime break, the Cardinals broke loose on a screen pass for a 69-yard touchdown from Calzada to Walthall on just the fourth play of the drive, silencing the sellout Dykhouse crowd for the time being.

“When we came out, we held them to third down, and then we gave up a huge play,” said Rogers on the long touchdown. “We need to execute. That’s on me.”

In a tie game early in the second half, SDSU showed why it’s the No. 1 team in the FCS. The Jacks produced four consecutive touchdown drives in the second half to pull away for the victory.

First, The Yellow and Blue ground out an 11-play, seven-minute drive capped off by a Gronowski touchdown pass to sophomore receiver Griffin Wilde.

After a UIW punt, another Jackrabbit tight end would get involved as Brody Gormly ripped a 61-yard catch-and-run to set up the first rushing touchdown of the game by Amar Johnson from six yards out to give SDSU its biggest lead of the game late in the third quarter.

Calzada threw his third touchdown pass to receiver Roy Alexander from 35 yards out to start the fourth quarter, but that would be the last of the scoring in the game for the Cardinals.

Johnson punched another one in from 3-yards out and the Jackrabbit defense would force its first turnover of the game on a fumble recovery, while Gronowski and Wilde connected on a 25-yard touchdown to seal the victory.
The SDSU rushing attack was excellent in the victory racking up 230 yards, averaging 5.5 yards per carry.

Amar Johnson led all rushers with 19 carries, 112 yards, and two touchdowns. Angel Johnson had six rushes for 42 yards, while backup quarterback Chase Mason had four carries for 30 yards in a few two-quarterback formations.“I thought they worked awesome,” said Gronowski on the two-quarterback formations. “If you ask anybody on our team who the top five athletes are on this team, Chase is definitely in that group. So a guy like that, you need to get him on the field in some way, some fashion, and I thought we implemented it really well today.”

Gronowski finished 21-for-32, passing for 285 yards, four touchdown passes and one interception to end the first half.
Wilde was dominant for the second week in a row, catching 10 passes for 106 yards and two touchdowns. Goering had three catches for 50 yards and a score, while Gannon caught two more balls for 47 yards and a score.

Adam Bock was his usual self on defense, racking up nine tackles, including three for a loss, while Durrance stepped up big recording eight tackles and a fumble recovery in a rather thin safety group.

“We were down Colby [Huerter] and we were down Cale [Reeder], and I feel like the biggest thing you can is play for them,” said Durrance. “That’s the biggest way we can make it up to them is going out there and delivering out best. We had a few slip-ups, but me and the younger guys stepped up when we were needed.”

Despite the loss, UIW had two receivers finish with over 100 yards in the loss, Alexander caught nine passes for 128 yards and a score, while Walthall had seven for 137 yards and two scores.

While it might not have been the prettiest of wins, SDSU continues to show improvement with a revamped roster.
“This is a completely different team and things maybe won’t come as easy, but maybe they will,” said quarterback Mark Gronowski. “Maybe we’ll continue to get better and be better than last year’s team. But this is this year’s team, and I’m excited to see what these boys can do.”

Up Next
The Jackrabbits are home yet again next week as it takes on the Division-II and in-state foe Augustana Vikings in the Beef Bowl. Kick-off from Dana J. Dykhouse is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Midco Sports and ESPN+.