JACKRABBITS FALL IN DEFENSIVE TUSSLE AT IOWA

Saturday, September 3

Iowa City, Iowa

11 a.m.

South Dakota State University

0-1 , 0-0

Iowa

1-0 , 0-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

South Dakota St.

Iowa

Photo by: Inertia Sports Media/Dave Eggen

9/3/2022 3:57:00 PM | Football

Box Score COACH STIEGELMEIER'S POSTGAME COMMENTS GAME HIGHLIGHTS

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa won the battle for field position all day, turning two second-half safeties into the decisive points in a 7-3 victory over South Dakota State in the college football opener for both teams Saturday before a sellout crowd of 69,250 at Kinnick Stadium.

SDSU, ranked second in the Stats Perform Football Championship Subdivision media poll and third by the FCS coaches, seemingly played out of the shadow of its own goal line throughout the afternoon. Thanks to the punting by the Hawkeyes' Tory Taylor, six Jackrabbit drives started inside their own 10-yard line, including three inside the 5.

Compounding the Jackrabbits' field-position woes were a number of false-start penalties. Overall, SDSU was penalized 12 times for 66 yards, with Iowa flagged two times for 15 yards.

Iowa, which missed a 40-yard field goal on its second drive of the game after being given a short field after a shanked punt, put the first points on the board later in the first quarter on a 46-yard field goal by Aaron Blom.

The only drive for the Jackrabbits that started in Iowa territory resulted in their only points of the game. Linebacker Caleb Francl's interception and 17-yard return late in the second quarter set SDSU up at the Iowa 38. After picking up one first down on a 12-yard pass from Gronowski to Isaiah Davis on third-and-10, Hunter Dustman knotted the game at 3-all with a 44-yard field goal.

Defenses continued to dominate throughout the rest of the game, with neither team reaching the 200-yard mark in total offense.

Iowa grabbed the lead with a few ticks over four minutes remaining in the third quarter. Following a Taylor punt that pinned the Jackrabbits at their own 1, Jack Campbell broke through the line and tackled Davis in the end zone for the first of two safeties. Campbell led the Hawkeyes with 12 tackles.

SDSU stayed within striking distance as Adam Bock, from nearby Solon, Iowa, came away with the Jackrabbits' second takeaway of the game by ripping the ball away from Leshon Williams at the 7-yard line after the ensuing free kick. Bock posted a game-high 13 tackles.

Despite the momentary shift in momentum, the Jackrabbits couldn't get their offense on track against a stout Iowa defense, giving up their second safety late in the fourth quarter when Gronowski was sacked in the end zone by Joe Evans.

Iowa finished with a 166-120 advantage in total offense. Williams led the Hawkeyes' ground game with 72 yards on 24 carries, while Spencer Petras completed 11-of-25 passes for 109 yards. Arland Bruce paced Iowa receivers with five catches for 68 yards.

For the Jackrabbits, Davis tallied 50 rushing yards on 18 carries and was the team's leading receiver with five catches for 32 yards. Gronowski, making his first start since being injured in the FCS national championship game in May 2021, completed 10-of-26 passes for 87 yards and was sacked four times.

Dustman also handled the punting duties for the Jackrabbits, averaging 41.5 yards on 11 attempts.

UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits open the home portion of their schedule next Saturday (Sept. 10), hosting UC Davis in the annual Dairy Drive. Kickoff for the game, which is a rematch of a first-round playoff game last fall, is set for 6 p.m. at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.

NOTES

Saturday's game marked the first-ever meeting between SDSU and Iowa in football
The Jackrabbits dropped 16-10 in season openers under head coach John Stiegelmeier
SDSU fell to 2-10 in games against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents since moving to the Division I ranks in 2004
The Jackrabbits were held out of the end zone for the first time since a 24-9 loss at Northern Iowa on Oct. 20, 2018
Dustman's 11 punts were the most by a Jackrabbit in the Division I era, surpassing Ethan Sawyer's 10 attempts against North Dakota State in 2013
Jaxon Janke's lone reception of the game went for 20 yards — and pushed him over the 2,000-yard mark for career receiving yards, becoming the eighth player in program history to achieve the milestone
Janke's catch was the longest offensive play of the day by the Jackrabbits
Reece Winkelman moved into sole possession of 10^th place on the SDSU career sacks chart with 16, breaking a tie with Kevin Tetzlaff (15 sacks from 1988-91) and teammate Caleb Sanders
Sanders posted a tackle for loss to up his career total to 34 and move past Joey Abell (33.5 TFLs from 2001-04) for seventh place in Jackrabbit history
Winkelman moved into a tie with Eric Cohen (1978-80) for 10^th place in career tackles for loss at SDSU with 32