Story by
The Daily Republic, Mitchell, S.D.
SDSU football: Jackrabbits smash Illinois State
- Story byThe Daily Republic, Mitchell, S.D.
- SDSU football: Jackrabbits smash Illinois State
Oct. 3—NORMAL, Ill. — South Dakota State delivered a statement win on Saturday night at Hancock Stadium, dominating 10th-ranked Illinois State 31-14.
With top-ranked Montana State's Friday night loss to Idaho, the No. 2 Jackrabbits will ascend to the top spot in the FCS rankings when they're released on Monday.
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And they'll deserve it. The Jacks are now 5-1 overall and 5-0 against the FCS, with two wins over top 10 teams. And this one was all Jackrabbits. SDSU led 10-7 at halftime, then scored 21 unanswered points out of the locker room to turn a dogfight into a rout.
Josiah Johnson rushed for 131 yards and James Basinger ran for 90, including a 66-yard touchdown in which he tossed Redbird defenders to the side and pushed the Rabbits lead to 31-7.
SDSU rushed for 239 yards overall, averaging 8.0 yards per carry, while backup quarterback Josh Holst won his second straight start in place of Chase Mason, going 18-of-23 for 153 yards with two touchdown passes.
Holst found Lofton O'Groske on a 33-yard score over the middle to open the scoring at 7-0, then later connected with Greyton Gannon on a 7-yard touchdown pass. O'Groske had seven catches for 89 yards.
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Meanwhile the SDSU defense held Illinois State (4-2) to 279 yards of offense. The Redbirds' three quarterbacks combined to complete 19 of 39 passes for 187 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions, while they rushed for 92 yards on 36 attempts, a 2.6 average.
The Jacks defense contributed in the scoring column as well, as Myles Green returned an interception that took the score from 17-7 to 24-7.
Dontay Johnson had 13 tackles and Cullen McShane 12 to lead the SDSU defense.
The Jacks are now on their bye week, and will return to action Oct. 17 when they visit North Dakota in Grand Forks.
