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South Dakota State holds off Illinois State in battle of top 10 teams
Matt Zimmer
Argus Leader
NORMAL, Ill. – No. 7 South Dakota State and No. 9 Illinois State were locked in a close battle in the second quarter of their game Saturday at Hancock Stadium when suddenly all hell broke loose for the Redbirds.
Spencer Schnell, ISU's star wide receiver, fumbled at his own 5-yard line trying to extend a play that was going nowhere. SDSU turned it into a 5-yard Mikey Daniel touchdown run to take a seven-point lead.
The Redbirds got the ball back and fumbled the snap on the first play. Taryn Christion found Jacob Brown for a 5-yard touchdown pass and it was a two-score lead.
Then the Jackrabbits got the ball back and Christion threw one deep to Cade Johnson, and ISU's defensive back fell and got hurt on the play, allowing Johnson to coast to an 81-yard touchdown.
More:SDSU notebook: Injuries piling up, Stiegelmeier explains onside kick
Three touchdowns in just over three minutes, and SDSU had blown open what would become a 38-28 victory, their first win at Hancock Stadium since 2009 and an important one in their bid to remain in the hunt for an FCS playoff seed and first round bye.
The Jacks (5-2) are as dogged as any team about that one-week-at-a-time stuff, but they know this was a big win.
"I think we knew in the quiet of our hearts what was at stake," said Daniel, who rushed for 84 yards and two touchdowns. "We didn't address it, but we all knew what we had to do. Especially after the loss last week. We knew we had to bounce back."
Added Christion, who threw for 292 yards and three touchdowns. "It's always huge to get a win on the road in the Missouri Valley. We hadn't won on the road yet and that was lingering in everybody's minds. We talked before the game that we felt like we came out kind of flat last week (a 24-9 loss at Northern Iowa), so we really vocalized coming out ready to go."
It worked, as Christion hit Adam Anderson for a 64-yard touchdown pass on the third play of the game, but it looked like a shootout was on tap when Redbird quarterback Brady Davis found Andrew Edgar for an 81-yard touchdown pass exactly one play later to make it 7-7.
Christion then threw an interception in the ISU end zone on the next offensive series, and from there the teams settled into what looked headed towards being a defensive struggle. That's when the Redbirds imploded.
SDSU's Xavier Ward harassed Schnell to force the first fumble, and the second came on the center snap exchange. After the bomb to Johnson, the rout was on.
"We lost the game in a three-minute span in the first half with those turnovers," said Redbirds coach Brock Spack. "The first axiom of winning is not beating yourself and we did that in a lot of ways. But (SDSU) made a lot of great plays, too. They deserved to win."
Leading 28-7 at half, SDSU added a 7-yard touchdown run by Daniel and a 48-yard Chase Vinatieri field goal in the second half, as they mostly ran clock and kept the ISU offense in front of them.
Redbird senior Jake Kolbe, who had been the team's starting quarterback last year but relegated to a backup role this year, entered the game at halftime and threw three touchdown passes to account for the final score, which made the game appear closer than it was.
ISU (5-3) finished with 445 yards of offense, but the Jacks are going to celebrate how their defense played in this one. James Robinson entered the game second in the Valley in rushing, and averaging almost seven yards per carry. The Jacks held him to 10 yards on 13 attempts. Markel Smith, his capable backup, had five yards on five attempts.
"Just playing fast and physical," Ward said when asked how the Jacks slowed Robinson and Smith. "It was just preparing to be mean and physical. That's what it takes."
It was a wild day across the Valley – the same Northern Iowa team that beat the Jacks last week got it handed to them by Western Illinois. Missouri State – whom the Jacks host next week – was getting upset late by Southern Illinois. Indiana State beat Youngstown State and NDSU killed USD's playoff hopes for good.
That means the Jacks are in a good spot with three games to go. But the last couple weeks have shown nothing is certain in this conference.
"It's there – all the goals are there," Jacks coach John Stiegelmeier said when asked to reflect on the big-picture significance of the win. "Our guys buy into the one-game-at-a-time mindset and I'm really proud of the result. (But) does it feel good? It feels unbelievable good to go on the road and beat a really good Missouri Valley football team."
S. Dakota St. 7 21 7 3—38
Illinois St. 7 0 0 21—28
SDST_Anderson 64 pass from Christion (Vinatieri kick), 13:27.
ILST_Edgar 81 pass from Davis (Bohlken kick), 13:11.
SDST_Daniel 5 run (Vinatieri kick), 4:39.
SDST_Brown 5 pass from Christion (Vinatieri kick), 2:24.
SDST_Johnson 81 pass from Christion (Vinatieri kick), 1:27.
ILST_Taula 3 pass from Kolbe (Bohlken kick), 11:50.
SDST_FG Vinatieri 48, 5:41.
ILST_Petkovich 9 pass from Kolbe (Bohlken kick), 3:29.
ILST_Edgar 26 pass from Kolbe (Bohlken kick), 1:09.
SDST ILST
First downs 16 20
Rushes-yards 38-96 29-81
Passing 294 364
Comp-Att-Int 19-29-1 26-41-1
Return Yards 74 68
Punts-Avg. 7-39.9 7-38.0
Penalty-Yards 7-60 6-60
RUSHING_S. Dakota St., M. Daniel 20-84, P. Strong Jr. 5-17, B. Mulholland 2-6, T. Christion 7-(minus 4). Illinois St., J. Kolbe 5-45, B. Davis 5-12, J. Robinson 13-10, S. Schnell 1-9, M. Smith 5-5.
PASSING_S. Dakota St., T. Christion 18-28-1-292, K. Nelson 1-1-0-2. Illinois St., J. Kolbe 15-23-1-183, B. Davis 11-18-0-181.
RECEIVING_S. Dakota St., C. Johnson 8-131, A. Anderson 2-72, J. Brown 3-47, B. Kunz 3-45, D. Campbell 2-8, M. Daniel 1-(minus 9). Illinois St., A. Edgar 9-202, S. Schnell 7-63, J. Robinson 5-42, T. Petkovich 3-38, B. Haley 1-16, T. Taula 1-3.