BROOKINGS – Jackrabbit fans, I have to be honest with you.
You may be a little spoiled.
South Dakota State defeated Incarnate Word 45-24 in front of a sellout crowd of 19,321 at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium on Saturday night, and for most of the evening it felt like the home stadium’s opening party was a little muted.
The evening began with Jack, SDSU’s mascot, posing with the back-to-back national championship trophies that this team won in 2022 and 2023. But if the 12th-ranked Cardinals were to give in and let the Jackrabbits pull off a stress-free victory, no one told them anything.
The Jacks won, but they didn’t dominate.
They didn’t score first. They allowed big plays. They made mistakes. They only led by seven points at halftime and then gave up the lead early in the third quarter.
The stadium was quiet and the many fans who followed the games with their mobile phones in hand, ready to comment and criticise in real time, were not happy with what they saw.
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All of that is understandable. Until last week’s 44-20 loss to Big 12 power Oklahoma State, the Jackrabbits had won 29 straight games, two straight FCS championships, and last year they were rarely tested by even the best teams in the country, even in the playoffs. The loss to Oklahoma State was one thing. But now that SDSU is back to playing regular FCS opponents, they should be able to march to victory with ease. Apparently.
Well, that didn’t happen, but by the time the Jacks had extended their lead enough for coach Jimmy Rogers to comfortably let off the gas, it was hopefully clear that this was indeed a meaningful, impressive and admirable victory.
The Cardinals were ranked No. 12 in the nation when they started. They won 10 games in 2021, won 12 games and reached the FCS semifinals in 2022, and were 8-2 last year. And this year’s roster is loaded with the kind of FBS transfers that, when properly integrated into a program, can make a team an instant contender.
If Saturday night was any indication, the Cardinals are a contender.
“That was a really good football team,” Rogers said. “They made a lot of great plays against us. They have great offensive skills. You have to give them credit for that.”
UIW has certainly caused problems for SDSU.
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Quarterback Zach Calzada completed 31 of 39 passes for 351 yards and three touchdowns and also rushed for 43 yards. He made impressive throws, ran hard and endured contact without slipping at the feet of defenders.
His stats are the kind that would normally make Rogers sick, but listen, Calzada is no ordinary FCS quarterback. He started 10 games for Texas A&M in 2021. His receivers Roy Alexander (nine catches, 128 yards) and Jalen Walthall (seven catches, 137 yards) seemed to be on par in skill with the receivers SDSU faced last week in Stillwater.
“That quarterback is elite,” Rogers said. “To complete 31 of 39 passes against our defense — I don’t know if anyone has ever done that in all my time here. He’s a winner who had elite talent to throw the ball to, and sometimes we missed tackles and sometimes they just caught 1-on-1 jump balls.”
However, the Incarnate Word defense was not quite as impressive as the Cardinals offense and certainly not up to the challenge of slowing down what has quickly become the new three-headed monster of the Jackrabbit offense: quarterback Mark Gronowski, running back Amar Johnson and wide receiver Griffin Wilde.
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They were a little rusty at the beginning, perhaps a legacy from last week, but the Jacks still managed three scoring drives in the first half (it could have been four if they hadn’t missed a field goal). They really stepped it up in the second half.
Gronowski completed 21 of 32 passes for 285 yards and four touchdowns. He targeted Wilde, the sophomore from Sioux Falls, 10 times, and the result was 10 catches for 106 yards and two touchdowns.
And Johnson ran for 112 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries, though he never rushed for more than 13 yards. Yes, the Jacks would love to see their tailback hit a home run, but averaging six yards per run without ever gaining even 15 is a sign of impressive consistency. The Jacks never punted. They gained 515 yards on offense.
“This is a completely different team (than last year),” Gronowski said. “It might not be as easy as last year, but maybe it will be. Maybe we’ll continue to improve and be better than last year’s team. But this is this year’s team and I’m really excited to see what these guys can do.”
Next week, the Jackrabbits host Augustana, their longtime rivals in the North Central Conference who correctly thought it was better to stay in Division II over twenty years ago when SDSU moved up. It should be a fun week, but it should also be a comfortable win for the Jackrabbits.
Then it’s on to Southeast Louisiana for another exciting game between FCS and FCS. After that, the conference games begin.
If SDSU arrives in Cedar Falls on October 5th with a score of 3-1, you can consider it a success.
This year is going to be a lot harder than last year, Jacks fans. Embrace the difficulties and enjoy the ride.
Matt Zimmer is a Sioux Falls native and longtime sportswriter. He graduated from Washington High School, where he played football and baseball and developed a lifelong love of the Minnesota Twins and Vikings. After graduating from St. Cloud State University, he returned to Sioux Falls and began a long career as an amateur baseball and sports reporter. Email Matt at [email protected].
