The South Dakota State University defense turned in another strong performance and the Jackrabbit offense put together eight scoring drives in a 39-0 shutout victory over Missouri State Saturday afternoon at Plaster Stadium.
SDSU, ranked 13th in the Football Championship Subdivision coaches’ poll and 14th in the STATS media poll, improved to 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. Missouri State remained winless in league play at 0-5 and fell to 1-7 overall.
The Jackrabbits took the opening kickoff and marched 52 yards on seven plays to open a 7-0 lead less than four minutes into the game, following a 45-yard kickoff return by Je Ryan Butler. Brady Mengarelli, who accounted for 41 yards on the drive, capped the drive with a 13-yard touchdown run on a fly sweep.
SDSU consistently had the ball in Bear territory throughout the first half, but had to settle for three Jay Carlson field goals over its next four drives. Carlson booted a 34-yarder late in the first quarter, then established a new career long on back-to-back kicks with field goals of 41 and 47 yards in the second quarter. The middle of his three field goals came after the Jackrabbits took over on downs at the Missouri State 18 after the Bears fumbled the snap on a fourth-down attempt.
Lujan directed the Jackrabbits on another touchdown drive late in the first half. He first connected with Jake Wieneke on a 47-yard pass play to the MSU 7, then found Matt Raymond in the end zone on the next snap to push the SDSU lead to 22-0.
The Jackrabbits extended their lead to 29-0 on their first possession of the second half as Lujan hit a wide-open Wieneke across the middle for a 48-yard touchdown. Wieneke finished the game with seven catches for 161 yards.
Carlson connected on his fourth field goal – and second 41-yarder – of the game midway through the third quarter before the Jackrabbits closed out the scoring in the fourth quarter on a 14-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Taryn Christion to Connor Landberg. Christion’s fourth touchdown pass of the season capped an 11-play, 87-yard drive that took more than six minutes off the clock.
The SDSU defense, which came into Saturday’s game surrendering an average of 15.9 points per game, allowed Missouri State to cross midfield only once in its first 11 possessions. The Bears were forced to punt nine times in the game and turned the ball over on downs twice.
Junior linebacker Jesse Bobbit led the Jackrabbit defense with eight tackles, including a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss. Chris Balster, starting in place on an injured Nick Mears at strong safety, registered seven stop.
Missouri State linebacker Dylan Cole recorded a game-high 18 tackles.
