Sept. 22, 2007

Final Stats |  Notes

BROOKINGS, S.D. - South Dakota State red-shirt freshman running back Kyle Minett rushed for 134 yards on 11 carries and scored a receiving touchdown while junior quarterback Ryan Berry completed 15-of-24 passes for 226 yards and 2 touchdowns to help the Jackrabbits post a 38-3 win over Texas State Saturday.

SDSU picked up its first win of the season after opening the year with three straight games against NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision ranked opponents. Texas State lost its third straight to fall to 1-3 heading into an open date. The Bobcats return to action Oct. 6 when they play host to the defending Southland Conference champion McNeese State.

The victory came in South Dakota State's annual Beef Bowl and drew 14,920, the fifth-largest crowd ever at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium.

Trailing 24-3 at halftime, Texas State came out after the break and put together a drive that included runs of 10, 24, 17 yards by Karrington Bush. But Bush would fumble at the six and the Jackrabbits' Danny Batten recovered.

Texas State got the ball back when a pass reception by Colin Cochart was fumbled and Travis Houston recovered for the Bobcats. But on the Bobcats' first play from scrimmage, George was sacked for a 10-yard loss by Batten. A play later, George was hit from behind while going down on an option carry and Clint Toon entered the game. He would complete a six-yard pass to Bush which came up short of a first down forcing the Bobcats to punt.

Toon would finish the game out at quarterback. The junior from Kilgore completed 10-of-17 passes for 54 yards.

Defensively, in addition to his fumble recovery, Houston intercepted a pass late in the first half and had five total tackles for the Bobcats. Also leading Texas State was Ric Palmer, who had a team leading 13 tackles and a forced fumble.

Bush rushed for 105 yards to lead the Bobcats offensively. Texas State had 325 yards of total offense to South Dakota State's 431 (252 passing and 179 rushing).

South Dakota State scored 24 unanswered points in the first half after a career-long 48-yard field goal by Andrew Ireland which finished off Texas State's opening series of the game.

A defensive holding flag against the Bobcats was the prelude to a 41-yard SDSU touchdown pass from Berry to JaRon Harris. SDSU tackle Preston Crumly was able to get outside and his block was able to spring Harris.

South Dakota State added a 30-yard field goal by Parker Douglass in the opening minute of the fourth quarter to put the Jackrabbits out in front 10-3.

Down by seven points, Texas State was able to put together another sustained drive, march from its own 20 to inside the SDSU 10.

The Bobcats' series included Bradley George pass completions of 22 and 21 yards to Cameron Luke as well as a 15-yard run by Karrington Bush.

Facing third-and-nine from the 17, George found Corey Hickerson over the middle. Hickerson stretched out but came up just short of the first down marker. The Bobcats converted on fourth down for the second time in the game when George dived for a two-yard gain to the seven. But the drive went in reverse from there.

A pass to Alvin Canady on first down was stuffed by Mitch Pontrelli for a two-yard loss. Morris Crosby then lost a yard on a reverse, and facing third down, the Bobcats were called for a false start. George's third-down pass fell incomplete. Ireland would miss a 32-yard field goal attempt.

SDSU was penalized five yards for a false start on its next offensive play but Minett sparked what would turn into an 80-yard drive when he took a handoff from Cory Koening on a direct snap to the back and went 13 yards to give the Jackrabbits a third-and-2. Koenig then carried for six for the first down. Minett had a 36-yard run on the drive and a seven-yard pass from Berry to Harris down to the one set up a touchdown run by Koenig.

South Dakota State stretched the first half with a pair of defensive timeouts during a Texas State series that started at the nine with 1:43 to play. A 17-yard punt return by Paul Aanonson to the Texas State 40 set up a two-play drive as Minett took a screen pass from Berry and raced 40 yards to give the Jackrabbits a 24-3 lead with 54 seconds left in the opening half.