The Jackrabbits came out victorious on a weekend where two seeded teams had theirf seasons ended. Winning 23 to 12 was a closer game than was expected but a win at this point in the season is the most important thing. The WIND certainly was a huge factor for both teams.
Rants & Raves
Rave: Body blow, body blow, body blow… knockout! I have talked and written about it repeatedly but I still found myself growing impatient with the lack of run game success in the first half. Obviously, Villanova realized it was going to be a challenge for the Jacks to throw the ball 10+ yards down the field and they stacked the box. It was not looking good in the run game. However, the #605Hogs and Isaiah Davis landed the knockout blow early in the 4th quarter and salted the win away but running the ball. I just have to remember to be patient.
Rave: Mark played about as good of a game as he could of given the conditions. He gave his receivers chances on nearly every pass that he threw and the amount of contact the officials were allowing made completions a challenge.
Rave: The Jackrabbit defense played phenomenally well as they have all season. The wind certainly impacted the Villanova offense as they love the explosive passing game. The longest pass of the day was just 25 yards and the longest run of the day was also 25. Terrific job defense!
Rant/Rave: I really didn’t like all the contact the referee crew allowed in the secondary. However, they were at least consistent with it both ways.
Rave: Dalys Beanum again showed his big play ability! The man is a terrific cornerback!
Rave: Matthew Durrance’s blocked punt will be etched in my mind as the play of the game from this one. We said that Special Teams was going to be huge in this one. At first it was as a couple of bad mistakes for the Jackrabbits that handed Villanova 9 points. However, Durrance redeemed the unit with the block, scoop, and score.
Rave: Given the spread nature of the Villanova offense, Adam Bock had a ton of responsibility for manning the middle of the field. I thought he did a terrific job of sorting through the trash and making the play. He finished with 11 total tackles.
Rave: We need to give a shout out to Matt Jacobs, SDSU’s Strength and Conditioning coach. The last two weeks the opposing head coaches have spoken about SDSU’s conditioning and ability to just wear opponents down. This wasn’t always the case but it most certainly is now.
Rant: The wind really was not fun but it will be a fun game to say “I was there for it.”
Rave: Shoutout to the 10,216 souls who were in attendance and helped to set an SDSU playoff attendance record in back to back weeks. The crowd was engaged and on their feet for a majority of the game. I don’t know how much the players could hear those of us on the east side due to the wind but we were certainly trying.
Rant: Tuck the ball away, Zach Heins! Great play by the Villanova defender but Zach was swinging that ball around looking for extra yards.
Rave: Loved seeing Jaxon get open for his touchdown reception. The Jacks took a ton of shots down the sideline in the first half so it was good to see them hit something over the middle.
Rave: Quinton Hicks and Jarod DePriest are two guys that really stood out to me during the live action form the #chaingang. Both were relentless and really physical.
Rant: I don’t understand why they restricted tailgating to just a few hours. The wind made it challenging but at that point, it seemed like SDSU was just punishing the diehards.
Rant: Jacks must be better on 3rd down (4 for 12). Part of the problem was not being better on 1st and 2nd down and leaving themselves long conversion attempts.
Rave: Shoutout to Hunter Dustman for handling the wind pretty dang well! His punts were fine, he made his FG and XP attempts, and his kickoffs were really good.
Rave: The Jackrabbits handled the chippy-ness of Villanova and did a good job of not retaliating. These teams from the northeast have a hard time understanding that a team from South Dakota can be this physically dominant and it certainly frustrates them.
Game Balls
Offense: Isaiah Davis (27 attempts, 192 yards, 1 TD)
Defense: Quinton Hicks (7 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 1 Sack)
Special Teams: Matthew Durrance
Go Jacks!
Matt
The east siders were in the game as hardy Jack backers. We were making alot of noise even without cowbells!!