South Dakota State Beats Murray State 42-9 on Hobo Day as Jackrabbit Defense Allows No Touchdowns

A week earlier, South Dakota State had walked off the field in Grand Forks with its No. 1 ranking gone. The Jackrabbits needed a reset, and there is no better place in FCS to find one than a sold-out Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium on Hobo Day.

South Dakota State beat Murray State 42-9 on Oct. 24 in Brookings in front of 19,302 fans. The Jackrabbits piled up 434 yards, scored touchdowns on both of their first-quarter possessions and held the Racers without a touchdown for the full 60 minutes.

South Dakota State improved to 6-2 and 3-1 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. Murray State fell to 1-7 and 0-4.

Two drives, 14 points

The Jackrabbits wasted no time. Their opening drive covered 84 yards in nine plays, and Josiah Johnson finished it with a 9-yard touchdown run. Late in the first quarter, they went 79 yards in seven plays, and Chase Mason found Grahm Goering for an 18-yard touchdown with one second left in the period. It was Goering's first touchdown catch of the season, and it made it 14-0.

That start mattered. South Dakota State scored only 10 points in the 21-10 loss at North Dakota on Oct. 17. Against Murray State, it had 14 before the first quarter was over, and the offense looked like itself again. Two possessions produced two touchdowns, and the Hobo Day crowd had something to cheer about from the opening drive.

A strange second quarter

The second quarter was a kicking contest, with one touchdown mixed in. Murray State's Tyler Dorn got the Racers on the board with a 33-yard field goal after a South Dakota State fumbled punt, and Dorn added a 30-yarder at the end of a 10-play, 63-yard drive. South Dakota State's Tristan Alvano made a 45-yard field goal, Alvano's longest of the season.

James Basinger added a 4-yard touchdown run, scoring for a fourth straight game. The play of the quarter, though, summed up the Jackrabbit defense. Logan Green stripped the Murray State quarterback on a sack, Jes Krcil recovered at the Murray State 22, and Alvano turned it into a 23-yard field goal.

Murray State got the last word of the half. After a personal foul penalty, Dorn drilled a 51-yard field goal on the final play of the second quarter. South Dakota State led 27-9 at the break, but the Racers had three field goals and a reason to believe the second half might be competitive.

The turning point: the drive after halftime

It was not. South Dakota State opened the third quarter with its most complete drive of the day, a 14-play, 80-yard march that chewed up the clock and ended with Johnson's second touchdown, a 3-yard run. Jack Henry added a two-point conversion, and it was 35-9.

Fourteen plays is a long time for any defense to stay on the field, and Murray State's had no answer for it. That drive did more than add points. It told Murray State that the field goals were not going to be enough, and it let the South Dakota State defense play the rest of the game with a 26-point cushion. The Racers did not score again.

In the fourth quarter, Josh Holst took over at quarterback and led a 12-play, 71-yard drive that ended with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Gustad. That made it 42-9, and plenty of reserves got meaningful snaps down the stretch. In all, 28 South Dakota State players recorded a tackle.

The players who decided it

Johnson led the ground game with 92 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries. Basinger added 56 yards on six carries and the fourth-straight-game touchdown. Mason was efficient, completing 18 of 26 passes, just over 69 percent, for 197 yards and a touchdown. Jack Smith caught six passes for 66 yards, tying a career high. Lofton O'Groske had six catches for 46 yards, and Goering added five for 59.

Defensively, Cullen McShane led the Jackrabbits with 10 tackles. Carter Sitzman had three tackles, a sack and two pass breakups. Green's strip-sack and Krcil's recovery set up three points, and the defense kept Murray State out of the end zone all game.

For Murray State, quarterback Baxter Wright completed 21 of 34 passes for 174 yards. Trey Firestone caught six passes for 78 yards, and Jawaun Northington ran 10 times for 45 yards. Dorn accounted for all nine Murray State points, including the 51-yarder.

The stats that matter

South Dakota State outgained Murray State 434 to 249 and won the first-down battle 28 to 17. Johnson averaged nearly 6 yards a carry, and Basinger averaged more than 9. Murray State moved the ball at times, but South Dakota State's own recap led with the fact that mattered most: the Jackrabbit defense held the Racers without a touchdown. The Jackrabbits have now scored 51 points off 12 opponent turnovers this season. Alvano is 12 for 16 on field goals.

The Hobo Day numbers are just as telling. South Dakota State is now 67-40-5 all-time on Hobo Day and has won its last five homecoming games. It is 71-10 all-time at Dykhouse Stadium and 5-0 at home this season. The crowd of 19,302 was the fourth sellout of the season and the 17th since 2023. This was also the program's 199th win in the Division I era, a record of 199-89 since 2004. South Dakota State is now 3-0 all-time against Murray State.

What it means

The loss in Grand Forks stung, but it did not change who South Dakota State is. The Jackrabbits moved to No. 1 after a 31-14 win at Illinois State on Oct. 3 and have held the top spot at some point in four of the last five seasons. They are No. 5 in the new Stats Perform poll and still very much in the MVFC race. South Dakota and Youngstown State are 4-1 in league play, with the Jackrabbits right behind them at 3-1.

Coach Dan Jackson made clear during the week what being home meant. "I'm excited about a big-time crowd and being able to get back home in The Dana is big-time," Jackson said before the game, according to Dakota News Now. The crowd showed up, and the team delivered.

Then the stakes went up. Next on the schedule was a home game against No. 6 South Dakota on Saturday, Oct. 31, the latest chapter of the Interstate Series. The Coyotes were coming off an overtime win over North Dakota and were tied for first in the conference. Murray State, still searching for a league win, had a trip to Illinois State the same day.

For the Racers, the takeaway is mixed. The defense held South Dakota State to field goals twice in the second quarter, and Dorn kept the scoreboard respectable for a half. But Murray State never reached the end zone, and in this league, three field goals will not beat anybody. The schedule does not get easier from here.

The last word

There was nothing complicated about this one. South Dakota State scored early, controlled the line of scrimmage and kept a struggling opponent out of the end zone. After a week of hearing about the loss in Grand Forks, that was exactly what the Jackrabbits needed. The bigger test was next on the schedule, with South Dakota coming to Brookings and the Valley race on the line. Hobo Day gave the Jackrabbits their reset. More details are in the South Dakota State recap (opens in a new tab) and the Dakota News Now game story (opens in a new tab).

Sources: South Dakota State Athletics, Dakota News Now and Stats Perform FCS poll. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: South Dakota State Athletics.