South Dakota State football earns first win of the season over Incarnate Word

After going down 3-0 in the first quarter, South Dakota State started to put things together on both sides of the ball, outscoring Incarnate Word by seven or more points in each remaining quarter on their way to a 45-24 win.

The Jackrabbits rebounded from a 44-20 loss to Oklahoma State in Week 1, a loss that snapped their 29-game winning streak, to earn their first win of the season in a game that was much closer than the final scoreline shows.

"This is a big win because this is a good football team, a really good football team," South Dakota State football coach Jimmy Rogers said. "And coach does a really good job with some of these players like Roy Alexander, we saw him last year. We knew how good he was. And then Jalen Walthall, I think he is no doubt an FBS talent and a really hard cover.

But at the end of the day, we have to compete against that type of skill, probably week in and week out in the Missouri Valley. We need to grow."

The game was tied at 17 at the eight minute mark of the third quarter before a 11-yard touchdown pass from South Dakota State quarterback Mark Gronowski to Griffin Wilde put South Dakota State ahead for good. Gronowski completed 21 of his 32 passes in the game and had four touchdowns and 285 yards. Wilde was the leading receiver with 106 yards and two touchdowns on 10 receptions.

On the other side, Incarnate Word quarterback Zach Calzada completed 31 of his 39 passes and totaled 351 passing yards and three touchdown passes. Rogers can't remember another quarterback coming to Dana J. Stadium and completing that many passes in all his years with the program.

Here are a few takeaways from SDSU's first win of the season.

Griffin Wilde is in line for a great season

With the Janke twins gone and graduated, it was widely assumed that sophomore Griffin Wilde would step into a more featured role.

It hasn’t taken too long to confirm that.

Wilde played 15 games as a true freshman last season and racked up 399 yards and six touchdowns on only 20 receptions. In his first game of the 2024 season against Oklahoma State he accumulated 150 yards on seven receptions and scored a touchdown. In the game against Incarnate Word on Saturday the Jefferson High School alumni was Gronowski’s favorite target in the first half. He had six receptions through the first 30 minutes of play – double the amount of any other receiver – for 53 yards. He added to that margin in the second half, totaling seven more receptions than the next receiver.

"He was ready last year. That's why we pulled his shirt," Rogers said of Wilde postgame. "And honestly, it's paid off because he is not knocking off the cobwebs. He's ready to be the number one wide receiver, and in two games ... he's proven himself of how good he is."

Wilde ended the game with 10 receptions for 106 yards and two touchdowns.

South Dakota State's tight ends are already making an impact

Rogers has talked up the Jackrabbits tight end room since the Spring Game in April, and it looks like he had a point. The two largest pass plays for South Dakota State showcased the dynamism in that room. The first was a 41-yard touchdown pass to Greyton Gannon that gave SDSU a 10-3 lead in the second quarter.

And late in the third quarter Gronowski connected with Brody Gormley on a short pass, but the sophomore exploded down the sideline, showing lightning quick speed for someone his size. Gormley nearly took it all the way to the house but had to settle for a 61-yard reception after being tackled just outside the end zone.

After the game Gronowski got to catch up with former tight end Zach Heins who was proud of the performance put on by his successors.

"He was really happy and proud of those guys, because he was coaching up those guys all last year," Gronowski said. "Brody looked super, super fast on that one play. I wish he would've not got hawked there, but you know, Greyton, he keeps continuing to make plays for us and those guys are all just gritty."

The offense heavily relied on passing yardage

The numbers may not show this, the Jackrabbits amassed 230 rushing yards and 285 passing yards, but it certainly felt like South Dakota State leaned on their passing game heavily on Saturday night.

SDSU's longest run of the game was only 18 yards and a lot of their rushing stats came when the game was already in hand. Their next two longest runs were for 16 and 13 yards. That certainly felt like a stark difference from last year when they had a multitude of backs who consistently got loose for big runs.

After the game Gronowski attributed this to the opponent and their defensive coverages.

"I think our run game is also going to be really, really good this year as well," Gronowski said. "We were pounding the ball in the second half a lot, and I know the first half was a little bit different, but I think games are going to change week to week, and it kind of depends on the defense that we're facing. We were able to get some easy throws on them just because they played pretty soft today."

Up Next

The South Dakota State Jackrabbits will host Augustana at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 14 at 6 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota State football earns first win of the season over Incarnate Word