South Dakota State looks onto conference play in the Valley as they play the University of Northern Iowa on Saturday.
Last season, the Jacks and Panthers battled out for Hobo Days where SDSU won in a convincing 41-6 fashion.
The game will be played at the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa with kickoff slated for 4 p.m. You can stream the game on Midco Sports and ESPN+ or listen in on the Jackrabbit Sports Network radio station.
“I don’t know if it is necessarily the UNI Dome as much as it is they’re just a great football team regardless of what their record shows, they are always better than their record is when they play us,” said head coach Jimmy Rogers on playing Northern Iowa.
South Dakota State
The defending National Champions come into this matchup at the No. 1 spot in the nation while boasting a 3-1 record on the season.
South Dakota State is fresh off a bye week after beating Southeastern Louisiana 41-0.
“Last week we just spent time improving on ourselves and really focusing and trying to polish the things we need to get better at,” Rogers said.
Mark Gronowski has thrown for 755 yards this season with a 59.82% completion rate. In his fourth year starting under center, Gronowski has thrown for six scores and five interceptions.
The Illinois native has rushed the ball 25 times, resulting in 74 yards and two touchdowns.
Amar Johnson takes the majority of the rushes this season, with 56 attempts to his name. The first-year starter has rushed for 376 yards and four touchdowns this season.
Kirby Vorhees has shown strides of his own in the backfield with the loss to injury of Angel Johnson. Vorhees, a redshirt freshman has racked up 234 yards this season with three touchdowns.
In the receiving game, Griffin Wilde has been Gronowski’s favorite target this season. The Sophomore leads the team in catches with 24, receiving yards at 306 and receiving touchdowns with three.
Grahm Goering has brought in 11 catches on the year with two scores for a total of two touchdowns.
On the defensive side, Adam Bock leads the team with 32 total tackles (15 solo, 17 assisted). Caleb Francl and Mathew Durrance follow suit with 23 and 21 respectively with defensive back Dayls Beanum bringing in 19 of his own.
With 1.5 sacks on the season, Dawson Ripperda leads the team in the category while totaling 16 yards lost. Six other Jackrabbits have amounted to one sack of their own this season.
Steven Arrell, Colby Humphrey and Colby Huerter all have intercepted a quarterback this season, tied for the most on the team.
Northern Iowa
UNI comes into this matchup with a 2-2 record on the season with losses to FBS opponents in Nebraska and Hawaii.
Their two wins of the season came from Valparaiso (35-7) and St. Thomas (17-10).
Aidan Dunne has thrown for 436 yards this season with a completion rate of 56.32%. Dunne has thrown for three touchdowns this season while only throwing one interception.
The Panthers have two rushers over 270 yards in Tye Edwards and Amauri Pesek-Hickson. Edwards has racked up 355 yards and a pair of touchdowns while Pesek-Hickson has rushed for 278 yards and two touchdowns.
Dunne joins the pack as the third-leading rusher on the team with 79 yards. The Iowa native also has a touchdown on the ground.
Sergio Morancy leads UNI in receiving yards with 125 this season on ten receptions and has found the goal line once.
Desmond Hutson has brought in 12 catches this season for 78 yards while Layne Prior and Pesek-Hickson each have a receiving score.
With 33 tackles on the season, Jonathon Cabral-Martin leads the team in the category. Ben Belken and Tucker Langenberg follow closely with 25 tackles each. Langenberg has amounted to 3.5 tackles for loss, the most on the team.
Zach Mehmert has tallied 1.5 sacks on the season while Langenberg, Robbie Peterson Jr. and Fletcher Marshall Jr. each have an interception to their name.
Up Next
South Dakota State will be back home for their Hobo Day matchup against Youngstown State on Oct. 12 with a kickoff set for 2 p.m.
