Room: After putting rivalry battles behind them, South Dakota State begins a loss between Murray State and Sioux Falls Live

BROOKINGS – After back-to-back weeks of hard-fought, to-the-point, thrilling, nationally televised thrillers against rivals North Dakota State and South Dakota, the third-ranked Jackrabbits had a reprieve of sorts Saturday at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium when they took on Murray State.

The Racers went winless in the Missouri Valley Conference this year and had a record of 5-25 over the last three seasons. The Jacks were the favorites with 42.5 points.

So nothing about SDSU's 52-6 win in front of 16,376 fans (the Jacks' first non-soldout game of the season) was surprising or particularly outstanding. They did what they were supposed to do against a losing team.

This continued to be a dominant defense. An offense that had scored just 23 points in regulation in the last two games got back on track and managed nearly 600 total yards. They didn't turn the ball over and only had 35 yards in the penalty kill.

While this win was expected to come easily, and it did, it is still valuable, and not just because the coaches were able to empty the bench and give meaningful reps to players who hadn't seen many yet .

With the Jackrabbits coming off the toughest of games, this win should set the tone for the rest of the regular season.

SDSU (7-2, 4-1 MVFC) lands at North Dakota, home against Southern Illinois and Missouri State. None of these games should be easy, especially the final against a 7-2 Bears team. But the Jacks will be favored in all three games, and none will have the hype or rivalry tilt as they did in the last two games.

Jenn Kenyon/Sioux Falls Live

If the Jacks can repeat the winning formula of their comfortable victory on Saturday in the final month of the season, they will likely end up exactly where they want to.

“It started at practice on Monday,” center Gus Miller said. “You can never disrespect an opponent because the game will disrespect you. Our coaches always talk to us and make sure we focus on ourselves in games like this, focus on basic techniques and make sure we don't miss anything.”

In that regard, the Jacks certainly took care of business.

They totaled 595 yards of offense – 343 of them on the ground. Angel Johnson, Amar Johnson, Chase Mason, Maxwell Woods and Kirby Vorhees all had rushing touchdowns. Mason and Mark Gronowski each threw touchdown passes. The defense kept Murray State out of the end zone and limited them to just 236 total yards.

Jenn Kenyon/Sioux Falls Live

There weren't many signs that the Jackrabbits were taking things slow or lacking success, but coach Jimmy Rogers said while his team largely performed well, they didn't have the same fire spirit and enthusiasm before the game that he did was used to.

“I'll watch the film when it comes to execution because it felt like there was a lack of energy, just throughout the stadium,” Rogers said. “Just looking at (the players), I see them in practice so much that I kind of know what to expect when I watch them and their energy levels. I was happy with the way we played, but there's still a lot of cleaning up to do. We have to be crisper and better next Saturday.

That was against a UND team that looked strong early in the season but has lost consecutive games, namely against Youngstown State and on Saturday against weak Indiana State. However, those two were both on the road, and the Hawks are a different team at the Alerus Center, where they will host SDSU next week. UND beat No. 8 Montana at home earlier this year.

It will be SDSU's third game against one of its Dakota rivals in the last four weeks, but in between, Saturday's relaxed matchup with the Racers should help them.

Marcus Traxler/Mitchell Republic

“It's been a tough few weeks and very close games,” safety Tucker Large said of the games against NDSU (a 13-9 loss) and USD (a 20-17 overtime win). “So this is definitely a confidence boost for our team. It was good for our offense to get those yards and nice to see our defense bring in some young guys flying around, having fun and being themselves.”

“Coach Rogers does a great job making sure the Jacks play the Jacks every game no matter who our opponent is,” Large added. “We want to do our best. We know our standards and if we implement them, good things will happen.”

Matt Zimmer is a Sioux Falls native and longtime sportswriter. He graduated from Washington High School, where he played football and Legion 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 in amateur baseball and sports reporting. Email Matt at [email protected].