South Dakota State Beef Bowl one for the record books

BROOKINGS, South Dakota  -- South Dakota State rewrote its record book numerous times Saturday night, including setting new standards for points and total yards, in a 90-6 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the 52^nd Annual Beef Bowl at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.
 
The third-ranked Jackrabbits improved to 2-0 overall, while UAPB dropped to 1-2 on the season.
 
SDSU needed only five offensive plays to score its first three touchdowns — all on passes from senior quarterback Taryn Christion. After a 29-yard punt return by Marquise Lewisput SDSU deep in Golden Lion territory, the Jackrabbits needed only two plays to cash in as Christion found freshman tight end Blake Kunz over the middle for an 8-yard score.



A turnover on the next UAPB possession led to a 31-yard scoring pass from Christion to Adam Anderson, who leaped up and over two defenders to corral his first career touchdown. Moments later, Christion hooked up with reigning Missouri Valley Football Conference Offensive Player of the Week Cade Johnson deep down field for a 71-yard touchdown that gave SDSU a 21-3 lead.
 
On the play, Christion became the MVFC's career leader in touchdown passes, surpassing the 78 thrown by Illinois State's Matt Brown from 2009-12.

BOX SCORE
 
Jamie Gillan, who connected on a 47-yard field goal midway through the first quarter, added a 20-yarder later in the stanza to pull to within 21-6. However, the Jackrabbits would tally the final 69 points of the game and continued to churn out big plays as eight of the 13 touchdowns they scored on the night covered at least 30 yards.


Christion, who played only in the first half, threw two more touchdowns before exiting, finding Jacob Brownin the end zone from nine yards out late in the final minute of the first quarter and adding a 40-yard scoring strike to Johnson early in the second quarter. It marked the fifth five-touchdown game of Christion's career.
 
Combined, three Jackrabbit quarterbacks went 19-for-21 passing with single-game school records of 557 yards and eight touchdowns. Christion was 13-of-14 for 332 yards, while backup Kanin Nelson finished 4-of-5 passing for 136 yards with touchdowns on screen passes of 66 yards to Pierre Strong Jr. and 37 yards to C.J. Wilson.
 
Third-string signal-caller Justin Roberts completed both of his passes for 89 yards, including a 76-yarder toMichael Wandmaker, who caught a pass on a quick out pattern, broke a tackle along the right sideline and rambled the rest of the way to paydirt.
 
The Jackrabbit running game also got in the act, headlined by Isaac Wallace's 192 yards on only five carries. Wallace scored on runs of 58 and 79 yards, while Mikey Daniel plunged in twice on short runs and Blair Mulholland contributed a 14-yard touchdown run for his first collegiate touchdown.
 
SDSU tallied 369 rushing yards and a program-best 926 yards of total offense. The Jackrabbits' 90 points also established a new school record, eclipsing the 85 points scored against Columbus College way back in 1922.
 
Johnson posted his second consecutive 100-yard receiving game with five catches for 162 yards. Anderson also eclipsed the century mark with four catches for 128 yards.
 
UAPB, which played without regular starting quarterback Shannon Patrick, went with Roger Totten II under center. He completed 9-of-21 passes for 131 yards and was intercepted twice — both in the end zone by Zy Mosley.
 
Eric Kleinschmit paced the Jackrabbit defense with seven tackles.
 
Taeyler Porter led the Golden Lion running game with 106 yards as UAPB finished with 310 yards of total offense. Josh Wilkes caught a team-high four passes for 80 yards and Nijul Canada notched a game-high nine tackles.
 
UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits are idle until opening MVFC play Sept. 29 at top-ranked North Dakota State. The annual Dakota Marker game is set for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff at the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota.
 
SDSU SINGLE-GAME RECORDS SET – TEAM

• Points: 90 (previous record – 85, vs. Columbus College, 1922)
• Total Offense – Yards: 926 (previous record – 689, vs. Missouri-Rolla, 10-22-2005)
• Passing Yards: 557 (previous record – 466, at Southern Illinois, 10-8-2016)
• Passing Touchdowns: 8 (previous record – 7, vs. Illinois State, 11-8-2008)

 
SDSU SINGLE-GAME RECORD SET – INDIVIDUAL
• Extra Points: 11, by Chase Vinatieri (previous record – 9 by Parker Douglass, vs. Valparaiso, 9-10-2005)
 
OTHER NOTES

• Saturday's game marked the first-ever meeting in football between SDSU and Arkansas-Pine Bluff
• The Jackrabbits improved to 31-21 in Beef Bowl games
• Christion was named the Outstanding Player of the Beef Bowl
• SDSU's 49 first-half points were the most in any half during the Division I era (since 2004), surpassing the 45 points in the first half versus Valparaiso on Sept. 10, 2005
• The Jackrabbits did not attempt a punt in the game
• The SDSU defense did not allow a first down in the second half until UAPB's final drive
• The Jackrabbits forced four turnovers and extended their streak of forcing at least one turnover to 17 games
• SDSU was credited with 11 tackles for loss, their most in a game since collecting 13 in a 2013 Football Championship Subdivision playoff game at Northern Arizona
• Mosley became the first Jackrabbit with two interceptions in the same game since Je Ryan Butler in that same FCS playoff game at Northern Arizona on Nov. 30, 2013
• SDSU had two receivers go over 100 yards in the same game for the first time since Nov. 5, 2016, when Jake Wieneke (6-114) and Dallas Goedert (7-113) accomplished the feat against Missouri State
• Attendance was 14,526

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS