By Andrew Holtan
The Brookings Beacon
BROOKINGS – South Dakota State will open up Missouri Valley Football Conference play on Saturday and it will be a top-10 showdown between the No. 2 ranked Jackrabbits and No. 9 Youngstown State.
Each team is 2-1 with their wins having been blow outs and their losses coming to power conference opponents. SDSU senior offensive lineman Quinten Christensen said he and his teammates are excited to go up against a familiar conference opponent.
“100 percent, we’re excited. I’m excited to run the ball on some good defensive lines and get after it. The Valley is kind of known for having physical offense and defensive line play, so I’m super excited,” Christensen said.
This will be the 27th meeting between the Penguins and Jackrabbits and SDSU has won 15 of the 17 matchups in MVFC play. SDSU has won seven straight against YSU, including a 35-30 comeback victory last season.
That game was the beginning of YSU starting quarterback Beau Brungard’s Walter Payton Award-winning season. The then junior threw for 275 yards and three touchdowns and had 130 yards and a score on the ground against the Jackrabbits.
Brungard has kept that up this season. In fact, this past week he was named the FCS National Offensive Player of the Week after his performance in a 70-13 win over Duquesne. Brungard was 20-of-23 for 290 yards passing and a Youngstown State record six passing touchdowns. He added 111 yards and two scores on the ground and the eight total touchdowns were also a school record.
This will be Brungard’s final opportunity to beat SDSU, barring the two teams face in the FCS Playoffs, and SDSU head coach Dan Jackson said he doesn’t think that will give him extra motivation because he’s always motivated.
“I think he’s hungry all the time,” Jackson said. “Knowing this kid and how he plays, he leaves it out there every game. I think Beau is one of those kids that when he steps off the field, he should feel good about his performance, win or lose, because he’s put it all out there.”
The Penguins use Brungard a ton in the run game as he has 47 of their 112 carries on the season. He’s averaged 99.6 yards per game on the ground over the past 16 games, but he did struggle to run the ball in a 43-15 loss to Kentucky in week two as he had 12 carries for 29 yards.
Jackson said the Jackrabbits are going to need to shed blocks and rally to Brungard if they want to slow him down in the run game.
“We’re going to need to get off blocks and hit him. The quarterback run game is something where you just can’t stay blocked. Our defensive line needs to stand up and show who they are in a game like this, and it’s not okay to just be in your gap. You need to be in your gap, you need to get rid of your offensive lineman and you need to add yourself into the run game,” Jackson said.
SDSU is giving up 160.7 yards per game on the ground, but in the Jacks’ two games against FCS opponents they’ve given up a total of 258 yards. A lot of that has to do with a newly built defensive line. The Jacks have had 14 tackles for a loss and five sacks so far this season. They also forced a safety against New Haven last week.
Jackson said before the year that he wanted to have a lot of depth along the defensive line and on Tuesday he said that’s coming to fruition as the Jacks are a quarter through the regular season.
“We’ve played a lot of guys,” Jackson said. “I think we played all 18 guys that suited up against both Stetson and New Haven. So, we’re getting some depth there. I think the top five guys that are veterans are playing very well. They haven’t played a ton yet outside of the Northwestern game, but we’re also starting to find out who the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth players are.
“… [Defensive line] coach [Logan] McCormick is trusting those guys; they’re proving him right by going in there and doing their job and making plays. That allows the coaching staff to be more confident substituting them in.”
Kickoff between South Dakota State and Youngstown State is set for 6 p.m. You can watch the game on Midco Sports or ESPN+, or listen to the game on AM 910 KJJQ.
