Jackrabbits Remain Perfect After Beef Bowl Win Over Drake

The South Dakota State Jackrabbit football team was far from perfect on Saturday, but they topped Drake 31-18 to move to 3-0 on the season in the Beef Bowl game.

The Jackrabbits outgained the Bulldogs 436-295, and had 10 tackles for loss in the big win.

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Julius Loughridge rushed for 83 yards and a pair of touchdowns and true freshman running backs James Basinger and Corey Blair Jr. also found the end zone for a second-ranked South Dakota State squad that posted a 37-21 victory over Drake Saturday night at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.
Playing before a Beef Bowl crowd of 19,213, the Jackrabbits improved to 3-0 overall and ran their home winning streak to 31 games. Drake, the two-time defending Pioneer League champion, fell to 1-1 on the season.
Drake needed only five plays to score the first points of the night. Quarterback Xavier Washington scrambled for 14 yards and Jaden Meizinger ran for another 21 yards before Washington found Hank Foley open over the middle for a 31-yard touchdown 3 minutes and 7 seconds into the contest.
The Jackrabbits gained the lead with touchdowns 35 seconds apart later in the first quarter. Following a short punt that placed the ball at the Drake 40, the Jackrabbits were aided by a pass interference penalty on the first play of the drive and scored three plays later when Alex Bullock caught a pass from Chase Mason in the left flat and scored from 9 yards out.
SDSU linebacker Joe Ollman came up with a strip sack on the first play of the ensuing drive, with Dawson Ripperda falling on the loose ball at the Bulldog 19. This time, the Jackrabbits needed only two plays to find the end zone as Loughridge followed his blockers for a 15-yard touchdown run
A 41-yard field goal by Harry Balke on the first snap of the second quarter pulled Drake to within 14-10, but the Jackrabbits extended their lead to 21-10 on a 2-yard touchdown run nearly seven minutes later by Basinger that capped a 12-play, 66-yard drive.
Loughridge scored his second touchdown of the night on a 4-yard run to finish off the first drive of the third quarter.
Drake stuck around behind the play of backup quarterback Logan Inagawa, who ran for a 3-yard touchdown midway through the third quarter, then tossed a two-point conversion to Nick Herman that cut the deficit to 28-18.
SDSU responded with the next 10 points to put the game out of reach. Following an interception by Noah Thompson, freshman kicker Ryan Harrington connected on his first collegiate field goal — a 39-yarderd with under two minutes to play in the third quarter.
The Jackrabbits strung together a 10-play, 59-yard drive in the fourth quarter for their final scoring drive of the night. Blair ended the march with a 5-yard touchdown run as he ended the night with 50 yards on six carries.
UP NEXT
South Dakota State has its lone bye week of the regular season before closing out the nonconference slate with a Sept. 27 matchup against Mercyhurst. Kickoff is slated for 2 p.m. at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.