2021 NCAA FCS Championship Final - Sam Houston State vs South Dakota State

[Applause] a first-time champion will be crowned today at toyota stadium in frisco texas as sam houston faces south dakota state the top seed jack rabbits making their first trip to the title game it's about a three-hour trip for the folks from huntsville texas and sam houston a lot further from brookings south dakota but they wouldn't miss this for the world as we welcome you to the 2021 fcs championship game sam houston here for the first time since 2012 but zero titles and south dakota state here for the first time ever dave cash with andre ware well they moved the season from the fall to the spring yet weather is still the biggest headline andre going into this game it's been pouring rain all day who has the advantage in this climate i've always felt like as an offensive player the offense had the advantage you know as a receiver that what depth to go to to cut your route off running backs know when to cut the quarterback's gonna have a little more time today because of a wet surface so the pass for us not that uh not that important as as the game progresses all right let's talk about how each team got here let's start with sam houston we did their game last week they're down 17 with two minutes to go in the third five minutes later they're up 11 they're explosive yeah defensively it's the defensive line jahari k trevor williams zion mccullum on the back end they've got talon on every single level of their defense then the playmakers on the offensive side ezra adu adeyey ramon jefferson they get it done as as offensive support cat supporting cast and then it's the quarterback the guy that has led him here put him on his back a dual threat at that position eric smith the last two weeks just took things on himself and willed his team to a victory sam houston as you talked about has a veteran quarterback on the other side south dakota state as a true freshman trying to win a national championship and they have an excellent run game as well yeah they get it started just like sam houston on the defensive side caleb saunders on the defensive line playmakers don gardner in the back on the back end and then it's the running backs the running game pierre strong isaiah davis who can hit the home run and to do everything quarterback in the true freshman mark gronkowski gronowski he has yet this postseason to turn the ball over through the air this should be one heck of a matchup this afternoon man it has been a long wait for these players coaches and fans but the wait is over the fcs national championship game is next someone's getting a ring in frisco welcome back to a very rainy frisco texas for today's fcs national championship game both head coaches today have a unique path to get to today's title game starting first with sam houston casey keeler will tell you he has a phd in the postseason because he's been here so many times eight trips to the title game but only one championship that was back in 2003 he still wears his ring as a reminder just how hard it is to win it all on the other side john sticklemeyer 24 seasons at his alma mater this is his first trip to the national championship and dave so unique when we were talking to their coaching staff they got emotional thinking what it would be like to win this for coach stick 64 years old goes back to his time as a student coach in 1977 so he's been a part of this program for 40 years sam houston won the toss and deferred so it will kick off from the 35. wind is right to left that'll be a factor with the rain and here's isaiah davis running it out he's got a lane across the 25-yard line and then finally wrapped up at the 37. south dakota state the number one seat despite a loss this season lost in north dakota early in the year but they hammered delaware in the semifinals thanked him next to mark granowski the true freshman quarterback he's from naperville illinois just outside chicago he was named the starter before week one was a great athlete in high school basketball baseball and of course football was the offensive player of the year in the missouri valley conference freshman and newcomer of the year as well and he caught a touchdown pass in the win against delaware last week [Applause] he'll operate from the 36 yard line and keep it on first down out to the 40 for a gain of four yards he does have seven rushing touchdowns on the season you talk about mark granowski and the word that comes to mind right away is poise doesn't play like a true freshman he throws the football with with touch when it's needed and he can certainly drill it under recruited in my opinion south dakota state he wants to film on this young man very very impressive go out of the pistol here after a three-yard run on first down the air is strong motioning out of the backfield gronowski facing a little pressure dumps it off for a first down past midfield and what a hit jackson yankee runs over the defender at the 45-yard line moving the chains into sam houston territory just kind of picking up where he left off last week a little under route dragon across the middle and zone coverage but last week he had a great game three catches 64 yards and a big touchdown catch to go along with it they say they tell us the coaching staff if jackson has a good game then jayden usually has one the next week jackson here early a little trouble handling the pitch and pierre strong is wrapped up in the backfield for a loss of about three isaiah davis the running back brought down by jahari k and quentin brown okay we mentioned him at the top just tremendous penetration they lived in the backfield last last week against james madison especially early in the game they were up the field causing running backs to re-route harassing the quarterback and it's led by that big guy there number 55. he was a finalist for the buck buchanan award which goes to the top defensive player in fcs first team all-america that was a loss of four in the play so it's second down and 14. gronowski to the air and now he's going to just take off here with a blocker in front runs over his offensive lineman fumble the ball but covered up at the 42-yard line by zach finds the tight end gonna see a lot of that today it's raining harder now than it has all day long i'm just trying to get back to a manageable situation on third down the ball's coming out there and luckily for south dakota state they had a a player in the area i thought he was down but didn't matter because uh heinz recovered it third down and seven here at the 42-yard line this is where you got to defend all 11 because of the threat of gronowski running the football pressure up the middle it's a screen and it's incomplete through the hands of the tight end tucker crap that was set up that was really well executed as gronowski is hobbling off the field we'll keep an eye on that but it's fourth down he does not look like that's one that you shake off right away but trying to set up a screenplay to take advantage of an aggressive pass rush and just a little over the outstretched hands of tuckercraft who i really really like boy was there any contact on that sometimes those are the scarier injuries it was hard to tell if there was a defender that actually made contact that time or wet the wet surface in maybe an ankle and the pump's gonna sail into the end zone so it'll be a touch back and we'll come out to the 20 for sam houston eric schmid junior quarterback from the woodlands texas played for his dad in high school he's got eight rushing touchdowns 17 passing touchdowns and two rushing scores in the win against james madison in the semifinals last week was the player of the year in the southland conference game-winning rushing touchdown in the quarterfinals he can spin it but he certainly has made more plays here in the postseason with his feet and unlike mark granowski very poised coach's son as you mentioned very even keel keeps this this offensive unit just playing and humming play action here schmidt in trouble taking a shot got a receiver ball was under thrown incomplete and a good job by joshua manchikaya not to interfere with a day who was open but the ball was underthrown well yeah this is exactly what we talked about at the top where guys slip you know where you're going as a receiver and if that one's thrown out in front of a daily a little bit earlier then that's a touchdown but he couldn't set his feet because he was being harassed by rhys winkelmann the defensive end [Applause] second down and ten here's schmidt keeping it got a lane off the left side first down and tripped up pushed out at the 37-yard line by don gardner so it's a gain of 17 and a first down yeah keep an eye on this all throughout the ball game the ability for both quarterbacks to make plays with their legs to get guys out of position they're athletic enough fast enough to accelerate and make big plays in the running game sam houston 9-0 on the season the number two seed jefferson gets the carry here past the 40 grabbed at the pants and brought down after a game 43 by preston captain senior linebacker from brookings south dakota nice nice patient run by jefferson's letting his tight end dalton meyer get out in front and in the acceleration this is a nice drive being put together trying to reward the defense dave for a stop this is a nice drive to kind of get you out of your own end of the field on a day like today with the weather and the wind field position so important second down and four here staying out of second and third long important as well to go out of the pistol here [Applause] and a huge hole off the right side jefferson got the first down easily boy contact was made after he got the first down brought down by michael griffin and they're already at midfield got to keep an eye on that motion ezra coming in motion and he's showing it to ramon jefferson that's a play where schmidt could easily pull it from jefferson and spin it outside if he out leverages the defense it's gonna be a pull and a quick toss to ezra and we know exactly what he could do in the open field yeah if you're south dakota state you always got to worry about where ezzard is touchdown reception last week and a punt return for a touchdown there was some movement there by ezra on the far side of the field looked like he came out of his stance bald stock number 12 sam houston five yard penalty means first down that's the those are the penalties the pre-snap penalties on an offense that will drive a coach crazy you got everything humming and then it's a receiver that jumps all you got to do is get out there get lined up and look back inside you're not trying to time a snap just see when the ball is snapped and then you're into your route or you're blocking or whatever there's really never an excuse for a receiver to jump you saw casey keeler there the head coach he's tied with jim trussell for the most playoff wins in fcs history can win a second championship but they win this one bad snap and recovered by the defense schmidt could not come down with it south dakota state does with the fumble recovery at the 41-yard line we knew ball security would be an issue it's been a big one early so the young man that got south dakota state here may not be available mark granowski injured the true freshman quarterback player of the year in their conference keaton heidi a sophomore who threw just two passes all season is in the game this is the play prior to we saw him hobbling off watch him get tackled here [Music] just looked as though a defender may have fallen into the back side of his knee as he was going down and this is a pass play on a jet sweep yankee inside the 35 and down to the 32 for a gain of nine but we saw gronowski hobble off after the next play when it didn't look like there was any context so you've got a sophomore from minnesota heidi who's thrown just two passes as we talked about mcgranowski was named the starter right before camp but there were a couple other guys that were in the mix and heidi wasn't really considered one of them and this is where we last saw gronowski chris pudding just told us during the break that he's still in the tent but a gain of nine on the first pass play even though it was a easy one now a pitch to strong running for the first down pass to 25 and inside the 23. strong as a thousand-yard rusher twice in his career with fewer games this year he didn't get there but still average about 80 yards a game yeah and about five and a half yards per carry and this is where they're gonna rely on this is exactly what they're gonna do pierre strong and isaiah davis that strong running game that averages about 230 yards per game you've got your starting quarterback sitting on the bench let's turn around hand the football off and see if this big offensive line can move somebody that was such a big part of the game even with karnowski but more pronounced now they're going to throw it here heidi with the pocket breaking down takes off and gets up ended at the 22-yard line by trevor williams who lost his helmet he's gonna have to go to the sideline for a play heidi's got to be careful you can't have him go down t willy on the on that second level of the defense led the team in tackles with 79 coming in had a great game last week where he had 12 tackles in that matchup against james madison but you're right heidi's got to protect himself made of a couple second down and eight trevor williams former walk on their leading tackler and captain out for at least this play as they reset the helmet something quick here it's gonna be a handoff to davis breaks a tackle inside the 15. inside the five headed for the pylon and out of bounds at the one-yard line it'll be first and goal for south dakota state davis is the home run hitter pierre strong is between the tackles or the complete back [Applause] they're trying to go up tempo here andre so sam houston can't substitute and get the goal line defense on the field davis again pushing forward and in touchdown south dakota state strikes first in the championship game you just can't make mistakes against south dakota state plus seven and turnover margin they will turn you over and they take full advantage when they do it [Applause] so the backup quarterback comes in after the takeaway leads the team on a five play 41 yard drive in two minutes and 15 seconds davis gets his eighth rushing touchdown of the season and that cole from we saw him slipping a couple times on kicks on this wet field in pregame looks like they don't i'm not sure they have enough on the field correct only 10 and that's why you see davis well maybe they had 11. now davis is called off but still 10. take you have to burn a timeout there and then you see tucker craft run out the last second unless this is something that's being reviewed upstairs that could be the only thing that saves south dakota state here from having to burn a timeout but i don't think that was the case delay a game south dakota state five yard penalty it will remain a try are you okay with that i mean i i am because you you uh you save the time out it's not a very long convert for a guy like cole from i'm not sure you want to make things any more difficult in the kicking game today with a wet field wet fall constant rain i mean it is the first half you never want to burn a timeout we saw him go [Applause] a couple times in pregame keep an eye on the snap here as well from thomas matsuko it's pretty good and the kick is a line drive but it's good and it's seven nothing so south dakota state on the board first they did everything they could to get isaiah davis down including rip his jersey but he hits paydirt nonetheless [Music] on the left you see mark granowski their starter with his helmet on he got hurt earlier let's get the latest from chris button when he came out of the medical tent he tried running up and down seemed like he was okay you can tell it's the left knee that has been bothering him he got on the bike but just a minute ago took a football tried to throw took one throw and then couldn't go any further that's when he started talking to the coaching staff well we saw as you look at this here oh yeah that's not good and we saw a couple players go up to heidi including gronowski and pat him on the back which usually is an indication like go get him you're up we'll see next time they get the football it's gonna be a touch back here for sam yeah sometimes you have to protect players from themselves because it's a national championship game he wants back in he's gonna do everything he possibly can until you see a site like that where he's trying to throw it as chris described and just couldn't do it gotta protect him from himself and and go ahead and uh and go with a backup in this situation be such a shame for him if he can't come back just given how important he's been to this incredible run by south dakota state making it to its first ever national championship game they have a seven nothing lead though sam houston turned it over on the last possession bearcats start a new 25 and a short throw here this drop crest had it go right through his hands normally sure-handed receiver caught 40 balls on the year but not that time and those 40 balls led the team he's usually extremely reliable he is the guy they go to they love him on third downs excellent route runner and just you see the hit the eyes just enough to where he couldn't reel it in on second and ten he'll keep it on the ground schmidt finds a lane dragged down at the 33 by adam bach third two the ncaa championship coverage continues today with the men's lacrosse first round at five o'clock eastern and seven o'clock eastern on espnu for more go to ncaa.com the home for all 90 ncaa championships dave pasch andre ward chris button just north of dallas in frisco about 50 attendance here at toyota stadium so about 8 000 people for the fcs championship game third down and two schmidt moving to his left his pass off target and then a huge hit gales lighting up the receiver a daily and it's fourth down and they'll have to punt gales is the other corner opposite don gardner but here you get a running start receiver's not unable to locate you he can't protect himself and he's just separating the receiver from the football in a in an ugly way what a big hit matt mcrobert will punt it to jackson yankee who's back at his 22-yard line rain not as heavy as it was earlier but still coming down here in frisco and that goes through the hands of mcrobert he dives on it but it'll be north dakota state fall inside the 20-yard line second big mistake by the bearcats here in the first eight minutes and lucky to have gotten the football back he was struggling for a minute to just reel it in and give his defense a chance without south dakota state picking that up and maybe getting it into the end zone well boy sam houston has had all kinds of issues on special teams starting in a bad way against north dakota state they had a block punt they gave up two returns for touchdowns in that game alone but then next week against james madison they had a punt return for a touchdown they blocked the punt they recovered a muffed kickoff as well so what you're saying is this is the the other week that that's happening right now to sam houston just like the quarters so far mess and the elements playing a big role [Applause] off the left edge it's pierre strong for not much maybe a yard it'll bring up second down and long with keaton heidi the backup quarterback still in the game sophomore threw one pass on that first drive through two all season long i feel like he could play just about anywhere in the country that talented out of little rock arkansas and how to get to south dakota state well their running backs coach john johnson who is an excellent recruiter found him there and got him to got into campus and he has been a pleasant find finals for the walter payton award second down and 10. heidi keeping it here being chased and throwing it in the dirt incomplete all right let's get the update on gronowski from chris all right we'll try to get chris's mic working but we're told it's not good news with regard to gronowski returning to this game third down and ten this is big right here for sam houston to try to stop the bleeding here down seven nothing and everything going wrong for them yeah it wouldn't surprise me you know with a screen something to uh to strong to get him involved and maybe pick up just get it to fourth and short and it will be just a straight handoff here and strong is bottled up after a gain of a couple so to be fourth down he'll bring on the kicking team [Music] take advantage try to nail some points here early respect a lot of coaches that you know you're in a championship game conditions the way they are all points matter at this point in the ball game be a 34-yard attempt from the far hash hashmark snap is bad balls on the ground picked up by thumb and taken down at the 30-yard line [Music] tackled by isaiah downs coming off the edge and disrupting things [Music] snap is the problem isaiah downs right there to make one heck of an effort for sam houston sam houston has been able to overcome miscues in other games we'll see what happens in this one this was the last of the first possession on the bad snap to the quarterback then the punter had trouble with it so north or south dakota state gets the ball inside the 30-yard line but then it has issues in the kicking game trying to snap it for a short field goal and so it's still 7-0 south dakota state ramon jefferson running here nowhere to go maybe a yard tripped up at the point of attack by hicks i kind of put a bow on what you were talking about able to to hold south dakota state to no points because of that bobble snap and it was actually braden clopton who was a who made the play in a great form tackle now we have a south dakota state defender down it's xavier ward senior nose tackle from freeman south dakota who's shaken up on the play we saw the quarterback for south dakota state injured earlier watch 91 in blue here friendly fire got hit by his teammate that time daishon gales when they speak highly of xavier award both he and caleb sanders are kind of what make this defensive front go excellent in the run game or defending the run and they they get up the field and pass rush as well [Applause] good to see him up and moving around yup no doubt 24 players on this roster from south dakota a lot of jackrabbit fans made the trip here from brookings all the way to frisco they had a little fun last night didn't they [Applause] hear schmidt keeping it trying to get the edge he goes at the 30 and scoots out of bounds as the first down at the 35-yard line kept you awake south dakota state fans are in the same hotel with us kept a patch up last night yeah i don't think i was the only one i think anybody that was on my side of the hotel was hearing all the the south dakota state fans but hey why not celebrate they're here for the first time it's been such a trying year they thought they were going to play football in the fall they didn't get a chance to play football in the fall it's postponed in the spring why not celebrate schmidt in trouble down he goes at the 32-yard line sacked by rhys winkelmann who had two and a half sacks in the semi-final win against delaware both he and quentin hicks arrive about the same time just kind of pressuring from the edges and then it just all collapses inside on eric smith you'll see here just a nice up and under move and both guys both defensive ends arriving about the same time gonna share a sack second down and 12 seven sacks and 12 tackles for a loss for south dakota state in the semis here's ezra his first touch looking to make moves but he fumbled the ball it just happened to bounce right back up to him and he gets more yardage to the 42 so again a 10 on the play but another ball on the ground this guy's just a play and a highlight waiting to happen they're just trying to make a defender miss and it's their leading tackler logan backus who's out in space a sideline to sideline linebacker making a play on the quiz but he can hit the home run [Applause] big third down here for sam houston trying to get some momentum and they're going to use their quarterback and he's taken down short of the line to gain it was hicks that made the play does sam houston have a decision here they already had an issue last time they tried to punt do you go for it i think he's gonna be tempted to go for it because of the way that they've been gobbling yards up on the ground especially with with ramon jefferson kind of surprised they didn't go back to him there on third and short but i wouldn't hesitate if i'm here knowing that the job the defense did earlier after the bobble snap see if they try to draw him offside perhaps that's what they're going to do it didn't work so they burn a timeout i kind of liked the idea of going for it because of all the issues we've seen so far with putting the ball on the ground i mean we've had three fumbles so far one lost by sam houston and one trying to punt the football away so there's no guarantee that you get that that all synced up and and working [Music] it's like spread everybody out bring jefferson back to the backfield and give him an rpo it looks like they're going to try to punt it away here [Music] noah caldwell as the long snapper matt mcrobert i don't know if he didn't see the ball when he tried to catch it on the last snap meanwhile south dakota state does not have anybody deep so see if they come after this or they're just expecting a fake mcrobert gets a hold of this one and gets rid of the kick it takes a sam houston hop will it die it was initially touched right at the one yard line and now they're saying a touch back so it'll come out to the 20. it was trying to put the brakes on which turned out to be a a great decision by casey keeler the head coach at sam houston never so close but either way they flip the field i mean south dakota state's been living in same houston territory here in the first quarter until now but if that was downed inside the one oh yeah you're talking about bringing bringing the heat but a game of miscues and injuries keaton heidi a sophomore is in the game at quarterback barely played this year but mark gronowski the starter and player of the year in the conference true freshman quarterback he got hurt on the first possession they're gonna run it here on first down strong across the 25 and out to the 27th good game there seven yards was checking with chris dave gronowski's day is done he was not able to continue throwing coach stick went up to him gave him a big hug put on a headset he's going to stay out here and help coach instead of spending the rest of the day in the locker room you know here's the other thing too if this is an injury that is severe they've got to turn around and play football in three months and this is one of the problems with having spring football and then a fall season is what happens to guys that get injured this late in the year you hope it's it's not as severe as it looks but not being able to put any weight on it to throw does not look good here's a tight end screen in the balls drop we've seen that happen a couple times now tucker craft can't hang on to it his second drop third down here's the injury at gronowski on that first possession we think possibly here if you look at the left leg here he gets twisted and then on the next plate no contact and immediately starts to hobble that's when you couldn't put couldn't put any pressure on it but even heidi he started games before 2019 he started five games played at seven after an injury to gibbs javory gibbs so he's got some experience under center brain picking up here third down and three and there was movement looked like the running back started forward before the snap isaiah davis complicate things here on third down and sam houston looking as you mentioned looking to take advantage over that over flipping the field position south dakota state the number one seed hammered delaware to get here they were picked third pre-season in their own conference behind north dakota state and northern iowa as joe wallace takes a shot at keaton heidi no flag was thrown there i'm shocked that there was no flag thrown third down and eight after the penalty movement on the left side of the line now by south dakota state so now what you've done david two two pre-snap penalties you've gone from really having to face up and force the quarterback five yard penalty remains third down to get the ball out quickly to now you can just play zone defense keep everything in front of you rally up make a tackle and force a punt here get just getting the fourth down third and 13. you don't want to make a mistake defensively yourself and give it automatic first down but now you can just play zone and keep everything in front of you the turnovers and the drops you could account on the weather for that and blame the weather but not on false starts another screen pass yankees tackled immediately trevor williams was right there after the catch to bring him down shy of the 20-yard line and with the rain coming down hard again south dakota will happen south dakota state will have to punt from around its five-yard line trevor williams not a big guy at boy does he play big knowledgeable in their system recognizes the play and what a finisher he is [Applause] deep and this is a situation you just want to get rid of it if you're the punter but you don't want to kick it to ezra he's got 280 yard punt return for touchdown movement again by south dakota state another penalty flag number 35 offense five yard penalty remains fourth down chase norblade the guilty man so now they back it up to the 12 yard line so again if you're the punter you're just thinking catch it get rid of it but i don't want to kick it to this guy i don't want to kick it to him but if i'm sam houston this close to the goal line i'm going after this baby you don't want to you don't want to rough the uh the plunger here but i'm going to get this one they don't dinkle with a pretty good punt but right at ezzard here he goes across the 45 breaks free at the 40. right on cue inside the 20. heading for the pylon he's in again touchdown hazard penalty flag is down though back at midfield might this come back what a weapon [Music] ezerd has been this year but i think it's coming back after a 63-yard punt return for a touchdown he had an 80-yarder last week the legal block in the back number 50 of the return team that'll be a 10-yard penalty from the spot of the foul the period will be extended for one on time down sido maskoro gets called for the penalty that wipes out what would have been the game tying touchdown [Music] right there you saw it there yep and i don't know that he needed to do it i agree with you just put your hands up and let him run by because he's going so fast by ezra ezra's already into his move to get up the field so south dakota state catches a big break there because of the penalty this is how sam houston has been able to get momentum with its return game and jacquez ezzard get him rested and right back in the game so we have an untimed down here because of the penalty and they had issues with a snap all kinds of movement gotta wonder how much of this is nerves for both full stop offense number 76 five yard penalty first down it's a great point it's a great point but by now in a game you figure all of that would have just kind of taken care of itself you've already you know bumped pads and everybody's gotten adjusted it's a little late in the game late in the first half for for nerves to still be kind of showing themselves first time for south dakota state in the championship game first time for sam houston since 2012 when it lost to north dakota state which by the way had won three straight eight of the last nine before getting knocked out of the 2021 postseason so another untimed situation first and 15 schmidt gets rid of the pass it's juggled and then secured at the 46 yard line by chandler harvin even receptions are adventurous here in the first quarter all kinds of issues handling the football and south dakota state has the lead after one 7-0 jack rabbits crazy first quarter here in the fcs championship game in frisco texas between south dakota state and sam houston it's 7-0 jack rabbits this is what happened in the first quarter he had a punt return for a touchdown called back for sam houston which would have tied the game the starting quarterback for south dakota state gets hurt on the first drive and they had a takeaway and then there also was a bad snap but a punt by sam houston but that did not lead to points for south dakota state and sam houston with some pretty good field position here to to get things started eric smith that the story offensively has been his legs in the first quarter he has eight rushing touchdowns on the season jefferson gets the carry he gets smacked at the line of scrimmage no gain on the play so it's going to bring up third down as crockett krolowkowski was in there to make the hit adam bach also similar these two teams both get it done with deep great defensive lines they've got playmakers on every single level of their defenses and then playmakers spread around the quarterback with solid offensive line it's no no uh mistake that number one meets number two in the national championship game schmidt will throw it gets drilled as he gets rid of the pass that's under thrown and incomplete it'll be fourth down schmidt slow to get off thomas stacker right in his grill i'll tell you what he really couldn't get a handle on the football lucky to just get that one out and they rotate about eight to ten defensive linemen stacker he'll get some time kaden johnson will get some time they move guys around just to keep them fresh and then they get the starters getting after you in the fourth quarter matt mcrobert called his name a bunch today gets rid of this punt as south dakota state was bearing down on him yankee lets this one roll inside the 10. and we'll be down at the five yard line this week's sunday night baseball game the series finale between yada yada molina the cardinals and the padres coverage starts six o'clock espn and the espn app with baseball tonight sunday night countdown with andre ware chris budden dave pasch in frisco south dakota state up 7-0 but the jack rabbits are backed up and their back up quarterback in for the rest of the game as chris budden reported earlier mark gronowski the true freshman offensive player of the year in the missouri valley conference starting quarterback for south dakota state done for the day this is where you would like to see sam houston really get after he's talked about that talented defense in line will make some plays here gonna throw from his end zone heidi in trouble and almost throw a pic boy into traffic the closest player to that ball was jalen thomas a defensive back for sam houston as they had heidi throw it from his goal line we've got to find a way to get him some easy completions to just build his confidence right now it's just one side of the field and let it rip tremendous amount of pressure on that last last play by quentin brown q who is a little delayed blitz by by sam houston they'll run it here on second down big hit at the line of scrimmage by clopton klopton got run over in the first quarter but that did not deter him he has come back and leveled the couple of ball carriers third down and long he made friends with fromm earlier i thought it was isaiah downs it was actually braden clompton and they said hey he just came out of nowhere they've got you know all-conference players at every other position in the secondary he's the only guy on the defense that didn't make an all-conference team but he's steady and he just makes plays 62 tackles coming into this ball game for klopp head shoot freshman third down and 10 now rain still coming down wet field wet football and heidi just keeps it and down he goes no running room whatsoever trevor williams made sure of that and now south dakota state has to snap it and punt it from deep in its own end zone when they hold true and whole serve in terms of field position battle punted it away hoping to keep san diego excuse me south dakota state down inside their five yard line and now they're staring at number 12 mr esser had a punt return for a touchdown last week and had one in the first quarter that was called back first things first they got to snap it and get rid of the punt they do it's a line drive and ezra won't get a chance at this one this works out okay for south dakota state rolling out of bounds around the 50-yard line it remains 7-0 jack rabbits early second quarter in frisco well last year the hero or last week the hero for sam houston was jacquez ezert made a ton of plays as a receiver and as a returner at a 69-yard touchdown catch and run turning the defender around in an 80-yard hunt return for a touchdown transfer from howard second team all-american and a punt return for a score called back in this one already body type a lot like tyree kill tyre kill goes 5-10 185 hazard goes 5-9 about 190 pounds tremendous play-making ability noah smith gets the carry on first down up to about the 48-yard line gain a five on the play let's get to an update on the injury status of eric schmidt here is chris yeah after taking that hit the last series dave he spoke with the medical training staff they looked at him he was spinning up blood the entire uh time he was on the sidelines told him he's fine to go he's a guy who's tried to put on weight over the off season about 10 pounds because of his size has battled through injuries his whole career while spitting up blood but minutes later he's back on the field shows you his toughness second down and six jefferson finds a running lead at the 40 and down to the 35-yard line it's a 17-yard gain for ramon jefferson he's got playoff experience played at maine was in the postseason in 2018. a little counter play where they start one way and come back the other pulling a couple of linemen out in front but they are starting to get the football to playmakers hazard and now ramon jefferson looked for a daily to get himself involved in this thing wide receiver screamed ezra gets a block inside the 25 on the cutback hazard still going inside the 15. inside the five into the end zone jacquez [Applause] all it takes is one missed tackle and this guy will make you pay excellent with the ball in his hands he is flat out electric a nice unselfish block by a deity that frees up hazard and then just relax and watch the man work so one touchdown called back now he lost the ball oh boy it got punched out i still think he crossed the plane we'll see if they look at this yeah snap it if you're sam houston they did and the extra point is good it was close a little surprised they didn't review that but it did look like he did cross the plane doesn't matter now we're tied at seven [Music] catch and run for a touchdown for jaquez ezra to tie the game after having one called back in the first quarter let's take a look though did the ball come out before he crossed the plane awfully hard to tell here they did not review it further and stop action let's bring in steve shaw who is our rules expert national coordinator of officials what'd you think steve well there really was not a view that you could overturn on this may have been worth a stop just to take a look but you've got to have indisputable video evidence and we never really had anything it was very close down the line but i think if we just stopped it this would have been a stance you agree with that andre i agree with it it was close but nothing where you're gonna enough evidence to really overturn it cameron hearn kicking off here [Applause] here's isaiah davis for south dakota state pass to 25 and up past the 40 before he's taken down but an excellent return by the true freshman so keaton heidi south dakota state quarterback two for five passing so far in this game two rushes for one yard he came in after the first possession when mark granowski the true freshman quarterback starter for south dakota state was injured and will not return what do you think of the job he's done so far just kind of get him some easy throws to get him settled in he right now seeing one receiver and that's where he's going with the football almost turned it over we're more of an in the area of a a sam houston defender than his own receivers the last possession some of that though has got to be on the coaches let him throw a wet ball with rain from his own goal they must have confidence in him they run davis here straight ahead past the 45-yard line that helps when you're getting four or five yards of pop running the ball you know when you have the 605 hogs in front of you and two really good running backs that's what you're going to rely on that's what that's what will pave the way for for south dakota state the rest of this game pierre strong and isaiah davis who we've seen make some big plays here early that that's what they'll rely on going forward maybe mix in the yankee brothers they have a great center in west gennad where they ran behind in that last play let's see if they do that again here second down and five [Applause] they will this time davis is stacked up though no gain on the play it'll be third down that was marquel perry making the hit for sam houston clapton in there again mixing things up he goes about 5 10 170 pounds but he's willing to throw his body around a little bit there is an excellent pass rusher off the edge this is a situation here where you can't get way up the field because you might be facing a draw play one of these excellent packs of south dakota state the air strong is in the game they're going to throw it here heidi's pass has caught a sliding catch by yankee for a first down at the 47. jackson yankee with the grab that moves the chains and that should up the confidence of keaton height when you saw him kind of go through the progression he's looking left and then yonki's crossing from his right to left so he came right in to his vision and i'm about to touch on the football with this with the rain going on nice throw excellent by the sophomore now three for six passing [Applause] back to the ground game strong with the cutback trying to get around the defender and he's down to the 40-yard line good run six or seven yards isaiah downs almost had a horse collar tackling that's why he let go but they've got two good ones we've been talking about it the entire first half the air strong excellent between the tackle solid receiver out of the backfield they want to hit a home run davis is the man averaging about just under eight yards of carry and didn't have a negative carry all season long did isaiah davis [Applause] all right we're being told that we've had lightning in the area that's why the whistle just blew and we have a stoppage of play with 8 25 to go in the second quarter it's actually not raining as much right now as it was earlier was really significant at the start of the game there has been a detected lightning strike we're going to have the teams clear the field [Applause] so when there is lightning within eight miles they stop play for 30 minutes if there's another sighting within that time frame the clock of 30 minutes restarts [Applause] so we're going to step aside with 8 25 to go in the second quarter a lightning delay here in frisco [Music] they are in a weather delay in frisco texas right now a competitive start to the fcs championship game south dakota state and sam houston tied at seven we will bring you back out to frisco texas as soon as the teams take the field once again meantime we are approaching a 70-minute weather delay in frisco south dakota state and sam houston both back on the field there will not be a half time of this game where they resume their play until they crown a champion back to frisco texas we go dave cash and andre ware and keaton heidi warming up the backup quarterback for south dakota state who came into the game after mark granowski the starter got injured on the first series dave patch with andre ware so if you're trying to win a championship game you're getting your first start of the year you've been sitting in the locker room now for an hour and 10 minutes to think about hey it's my show now what's going through his mind yeah he's had some some game experience so he started five games in 2019 so the butterfly should be gone by now but players are kind of creatures of habit they like things on a schedule and they don't like it interrupted this is an interruption to say the least but hopefully now we'll get to the end of this one they're just chomping at the bit to get back on the field and get this thing started and they are going to shorten halftime it'll be just a three minute halftime let's take a look at how we got here it started with the injury to gronowski on the first series you can see as he's taken down watch his left leg here lands out awkwardly after it gets twisted and then on the very next play there was no contact but you can see here he was injured he came off he will not return a lot of mistakes andre in that first half on both sides yeah bad snaps on for both teams miscues from from both teams and south dakota state able to take advantage of the first miscue and getting the ball into the end zone and then all of a sudden it was mr ezra he woke up put a spark in this sam houston offense and finding the house 35 yards later after a little tunnel screen that gets us to where we are right now dave tied up at seven apiece he also had a punt return for a touchdown called back because of an offensive penalty and you look at the numbers for heidi in relief three of six passing but it was pouring down rain for the entire first half all right let's go check in now with the third member of our crew here's chris button [Music] all right we're having some technical difficulties some audio issues there with chris as mike will try to get that sort sorted out all right it's fixed chris go ahead yeah both coaches told me that they just really tried to listen to music and their guys up coach sig said it was beef jerky and apples and oranges i will say though the rain wrecks havoc on the equipment staff for sam houston they had run out of towels before that delay they were cutting up beach towels just so the guys could have something to wipe their hands on they were able to use a dryer to freshen up all the towels and now that the rain has subsided a little bit it's been good for these teams to be able to not have something because the field's still a little wet but at least they have some towels and stuff to dry their hands off with all right chris thank you so it was a one hour 11 minute delay and when there's lightning within eight miles they stop it for at least 30 minutes and then if there is another lightning strike during that 30 minute window the clock restarts and that's why it took an hour and 11 minutes because we had multiple strikes and they had to keep restarting the clock it's still overcast it's no longer raining so hopefully we're done with the bad weather for the rest of the way it looks as good now as it has since we arrived at the stadium so hopefully we'll able to we'll be able to get through this thing uninterrupted and see some good football it will be south dakota state ball they've had a lot of time to talk about what they want to call here on second down and four at the 41-yard line of sam houston first trip to the fcs championship game for both sam houston and south dakota state first time in the title game for south dakota state sam houston was last with the championship game in 2012. i may be taking a shot here right out let's see who's warm and and who's not how about a direct snap to the running back pierre strong and he gets the first down to the 37-yard line nice interesting formation they sneak both pierre strong and isaiah davis into the game and able to convert they bring heidi back in and go to more of a conventional style of of offensive play but my point was you've been sitting for a long time let's see if the defensive backs can run give me speed on speed it's dry now let's test this secondary of sam music drive but what's the footing like on the field we see offenses advantage they faked the jet sweep heidi rolling left looking down field throws behind at the receiver incomplete going for jackson yankee who was open at the 20-yard line with the pass off the mark and it's second down to 10. and he might have been looking for jaden yankee the other twin brother on a deep deeper route this one thrown as you mentioned behind him but he was looking to go deep first and then all of a sudden jackson anki flashed in front of him later in that last round south dakota state the number one seed sam houston the number two seed south dakota state got here by beating delaware in the semifinals 31-3 sam houston had a come-from-behind win against james madison to get here run play off the left side strong spinning and down to the 27 close to another first down for south dakota state boy he had one heck of a block by west gennad the the center pulling around nice kick out block on the edge working against quentin brown the linebacker and that opens things up for pierre strong this offensive line they've been relying on it most of the first half he came out of the delay and gone right back to to putting things on the big guys up front so first down at the 27-yard line of sam houston strong with another run knocked down at the 23-yard line by clopton but they're getting four or five yards of pop on first down with pierre strong the junior captain running back finalist for the walter payton award which goes to the top offensive player in fcs he had a thousand yards of rushing as a freshman did it again as a sophomore and obviously here in the spring not playing the normal slate of games pretty tough to get there but he's still average over 80 yards a game a little creative up front i don't think i've seen this formation before not sure what happened and it's an offensive lineman that's got the ball no it was in the hands of yankee i i don't think i've ever seen this formation before what kind of trick things up yankees down oh they handed it to him yeah just kind of squatted down a nice job by braden clopton who has had one heck of a first half of recognizing the trick play and just sniffing things out my question is do they come up with that during the week or during the hour and ten minutes it's been in the playbook hey let's pull it out and try to run it down here maybe they should bury that one on the playback a little bit deeper third down and six [Applause] strong it'll break a tackle but that's it he broke a tackle on the first guy but down he goes back after 26 a three-yard loss and now you got to worry about the kicking game they will try a field goal here with cole from fourth and long boy excellent penetration by joseph wallace kind of gets this started splitting the double team again making his way to strong and that re-routes the back and allows everybody else to show up at the party so cole frohm will try a 43-yard field goal his long on the year is 52 not raining now but obviously the field's still a little bit wet had an issue with snap so far that one was good but the kick is low and has no shot so that's twice now on field goal tries there have been an issue in the kicking game for south dakota state and remains 7-7 they have it's not just a small win for sam houston that's a that's a big win and the bad hold there is the cause that whole mechanism has to run smoothly it doesn't and sam houston is going to benefit and dodge another score yeah the holder ben dinkle couldn't get it down on the ground and that impacted the kick so eric schmidt junior quarterback player of the year in the southland conference back to throw here in first down and his pass is off the mark incomplete going for crest i'm not sure crest saw the ball didn't look like he knew where that ball was he got turned around second and ten it looked like he got tied up with zaquez ezra as well both guys on a crossing route and that's just not cody cress we saw him drop one earlier unlike him he is mr reliable sam houston a 9-0 record come from behind win against north dakota state in the quarters and last week against james madison third appearance in the title game they run the ball ramon jefferson he gets hammered at the 28-yard line by isaiah stallberg it'll bring him third and long of the ncaa championship coverage continues today with the men's lacrosse first round at five eastern and seven eastern on espnu for more go to ncaa.com the home for all 90 ncaa championships you know you can set your watch if a team throws on first down and it's an incomplete pass they're gonna run it on second trying to get back to a manageable situation on third down here at about third and seven a little longer than coach keeler wants to be in but it's manageable play clock down to five airing four minutes to go in the game clock pressure coming off the edge schmidt gets rid of the pass and it's caught at the 40-yard line for a first down by a day so again on the play of about 30 and a first down into south dakota state territory what a job by a day to come back to this football this should have been thrown out in front it's under thrown he settles picks up the nose of the football makes a nice play we have been waiting on ife adeyey to to make his emergence into this game alongside jaquez ezra go first down at the 41-yard line schmidt rolling to his left and throws the pass along the sideline incomplete he was going for harvin and don gardner first team all-conference and second team all-america corner out of chicago was in coverage that time when he had harvin open earlier if he goes ahead and just squares his hips and it may be the footing or the the surface as to why eric smith on a rollout couldn't square up and let it go just a tad bit earlier otherwise you're still maybe still making your call irving was so wide open excuse me harvey was so wide open on the 41 of south dakota state here's smith on the sprint out track down and pushed out of bounds for a loss there is a penalty mag a penalty flag on the play as a grindy who had a fumble recovery in the first quarter pushed the runner noah smith out of bounds it didn't look like he was trying to take him down with the horse collar about the speed that's a defensive in running down a running back at about 270 pounds first of all foul face mask defense number 22 15 yard penalty automatic first down it happened so fast when did he have time to face somebody and again initially here you watch there we go right there tugged on it you see that head turn you're going to get that penalty thrown that puts the ball at the 26 yard line of south dakota state i thought made it happen trying to fight off a block but he was out there so quick [Applause] schmidt to throw steps up in the pocket and sacked at the 30-yard line boy thomas stacker has been all over the place so far in this game xavier ward who was injured before the break was also in on the stock watch the pile move can't block him one-on-one it's just too he's too big too stout caleb sanders inside xavier ward that's the strength of their defensive line and he had a dei open with no time to get in the football so a four-yard loss two and a half to go here in the first half smith with the cuffed off inside the 20 and ground it at the 18 yard line noah smith [Applause] very dangerous check that was jefferson the ball carry very dangerous with the ball in his hands jefferson got about 10 yards on the play third two move he threw on the first defender to show up and just left him standing there and he's starting to find the rhythm the sam houston offense the running game starting to find a river two minutes to go third down and two direct snap to noah smith and he's got the first down inside the 15-yard line this is when things speed up you're going to throw the football routes have to be run more precise and get into your cuts quarterbacks faster reads and the ball comes out quickly got to be on the same page with the receivers and then defensively you've got to be ready to react once you see the quarterback raise that arm up ninth play of the drive fresh set of downs at the 15 of south dakota state 127 counting schmidt to the air fires to the end zone and for a touchdown by ezra two in the first half for jacquez a nice quick read by eric smith and to quiz ezra on the same page with his quarterback beat man coverage off the line of scrimmage that's their best cover man when don gardner gets him turned around one of the things we talked about the footing you know where you're going as a receiver defensive back they're kind of trying to anticipate gardner tried to and ezra just left him slipping 15-yard touchdown catch for ezra his fourth touchdown in the last two games and the extra point makes it 14-7 we'll keep it here for the final 121 of the first half but jacquez ezra grant transfer from howard second team all-america he scored as a receiver a runner and a punt returner multiple times this season and he's become the breakout star of the fcs playoffs this is good on good this is their best best pass cover man against the best receiver for sam houston and when you know where you're going the other guy's guessing you can sometimes make guys look foolish on a on a surface a wet feel like today so a total of four touchdowns including that 80-yard punt return for a score and he had a punt return for score in this game but he got called back because of a penalty a lot of people are questioning you know what kind of 40 is he gonna i don't care it will be criminal if this kid's not in an nfl camp next year and playing for somebody this he is a football player i don't care what he's going to run give him an opportunity and he's going to surprise him especially in today's nfl with how they use a lot of the smaller receivers obviously everybody points to tyree kill and the chiefs and the job he does on special teams that you just described i mean he is a baller south dakota state does have all of its timeouts and a minute 21 to work with south dakota state led 7-0 but 14 straight points by sam houston now a pooch kick and it's fielded at the 20-yard line and out to about the 30 now a flag comes in sam houston did that last week and actually recovered the ball was a key part of their turnaround from 17 down to up 11 on james madison in that semifinal victory during return legal block in the back number seven on the return team 10 yard penalty first down and now now dave here south dakota state and we'll see here the at the left side right there in the back that block in the back is going to put south dakota state in the hole but offensively find your playmakers jackson yankee jaden yankee get them involved along with your strong and davis and if you're going to go the route of by way of running back get these guys out on the edges because they are stout inside right now joseph wallace for sam houston and it's a pretty good football inside they're going to run it on first down strong finds a gap out to the 27 so that's a good play there in first down pickup mccullum with the tackle they get right to the line of snapping [Applause] across the middle yankee gets drilled at the 30 but able to turn back up field and get the first down before he steps out of bounds at the 31. trying to find some rhythm right here before the half about 50 seconds 52 seconds left doing some a little no huddle we'll hurry up at the line of scrimmage to get the football snapped and try to catch once catch sam houston out of position but also find some big plays on the intermediate uh passing in the immediate intermediate passing game a reminder we'll have just a three minute half time and then we'll start the third quarter after we had an hour 11-minute lightning delay heidi from the pocket in trouble gets hit gets rid of the pass to pierre strong who's out of bounds and then some contact leg will they throw a flag it looked like incidental contact to me didn't look like anything intentional or fierce by trevor williams so no penalty marker on the play clock stop with 45 seconds left you can go back and look and there's a big old skid a big mark where strong was sliding at the end of this it wasn't because of trevor williams you see him there trying to slow himself down yep looked a lot worse than it would it actually was so good job by the officials there have to jump the gun and throw the flex it was right in front of the south dakota state bench second and two heidi with time everybody covered so heidi leads the pocket a flag down likely holding is called heidi picked up the first down but this will come back 38 seconds to go [Applause] holding offense number 71 10 yard penalty for pete second down aaron johnson the left tackle the guilty party yeah this is just kind of rust he's going to have an inside receiver break in here and if you played you make this throw right now right now you make the throw but you know if you haven't played in a while then you tend to hold that one and you want to hit the guys that are wide open instead of just delivering the football and playing seventh penalty on south dakota state heidi in trouble steps up to elude pressure and throws it out of bounds incomplete head strong in the area probably better that he just furthered away another flag in the backfield will we have holding again 32 seconds how do you manage this if you're casey keeler personal foul roughing the password number 95 defense 15-hour penalties automatic first down you don't have to manage it because it's against your group but you're going gonna see right at the end of it yep joe wallace joe wallace and he's trying he knew it right away trying to help tidy up alice got him in the face mask and that's automatically gonna be a penalty hit the quarterback in the head wallace at transfer from texas tech who is very humble and talking with us this week made some mistakes as a younger player ended up transferring he's become a leader on this team of captain but made a big mistake there big hit here ball floats into the air and incomplete it was tipped by trevor williams pressure in the face of the quarterback heidi by mascaro with 26 seconds left at second and 10. how many times have you heard me even way back when going late over the middle is a bad thing and you just you just cannot go late you hold it hold it and then you're gonna go late over the middle and you go late over the middle and high that's the double win you know jaden yonki actually did a good play to get a hand on that ball for the offense otherwise that probably would not have been tipped and it would have just been intercepted maybe run back here's heidi get hit again ball flutters and this one is picked off by quentin brown it'll be sam houston ball with 18 seconds left in the first half at midfield [Applause] i've got two timeouts i'm casey keeler i'm trying to figure out how to dial up something deep here with 18 seconds and two timeouts i am definitely that midfield going to take a shot but it's once again the pressure and it's not by way of blitz it's the four defensive lineman k wallace perry gets in there but just blinding the quarterback's view forcing him to make a bad decision and sometimes dave it's not the sacks that are the game changers it's the pressure that forces an even bigger play on the back end great job by joe wallace gives his team the ball at midfield schmidt leaving the pocket he's got some running room at the 40-yard line inside the 30 and he steps out of bounds there is a penalty marker down in the backfield i think you're gonna have a hole out on the edge as smid was turning the corner that would wipe out a 27-yard run which would have put sam houston in field goal range with 10 seconds to go holding number 76 offense kenya's penalty repeat for a pound right there just the big fella the left tackle anderson got a handful of jersey that's why he was that's why he had a clear path it's on a running room and so now it looks like sam houston will just take a knee and end the first half schmidt takes a knee there is some pushing and shoving but no penalty flags and that's the end of the first half 14-7 sam houston will be right back after the break and now a word from our local stations with andre ware chris budden dave pasch back in frisco the 2021 fcs championship game sam houston leading south dakota state 14-7 mark granowski the best player for the jack rabbits was hurt on their first drive and as you see only 44 passing yards and gronowski had 16 of those so keaton heidi basically played a full half and only had 28 passing yards jacquez ezra has been the difference in this game for sam houston well they just had to find a way to get him the football yes you subtract the punt return for a touchdown but here a nice little tunnel screen and he's able to turn it in to a touchdown 35 yards later just taking advantage of his ability in the open field then they get down with excellent field position it's best on best with ezzard against don gardner the corner for south dakota state and ezra coming away with a win there he has affected this game about as much as you can in the first half the two receiving touchdowns and a punt return for a score that was called back because of a penalty which didn't really seem to impact the play that much in a brilliant game in the semifinals over 100 receiving yards a 69-yard touchdown catcher 80-yard punt return and a come-from-behind win against james madison now they have the lead here to start the second half and they will get the football trying to capture their first national championship they went to the title game in 2011 and 2012 but lost in north dakota state north dakota state has dominated fcs the last decade saved one title by james madison so eight of the last nine won by north dakota state but they were knocked out in the quarterfinals by sam houston and so the winner of this game it'll be the first football championship in school history for either in fact this is south dakota state's first trip to the championship game cameron alexander and ramon jefferson are deep cole prom will kick off here for south dakota state we start the third quarter after just a three minute half time because of the hour 11 minute lightning delay alexander slips and falls down at the 20-yard line trying to make a move and redirect himself just the the footing going right from under it see all that rain starting to take its toll on this field [Music] [Applause] it was pouring for three or four hours and has either been drizzling or stopped altogether for the last 45 minutes or so sam houston from its 20-yard line junior quarterback eric schmidt southland conference player of the year gonna give it to jefferson spins out of one tackle and then grabbed at the ankles and brought down by michael griffin after a pickup of seven yeah excellent play call for ryan carty the offensive coordinator they're just trying to spread south dakota state out and they get back us out in space that's where they're gonna run the football with jefferson you can just count guys in the box when there's you know five six that's that's it an invite for eric smith to hand off to jefferson schmidt to throw here in second and short and not on the same page with his receiver crest incomplete don't know if that was on the quarterback or if crest made a mistake he's made several in this game so far third down yeah it usually doesn't happen they have excellent chemistry together both he and smith and they spend countless hours throwing and catching so that they can develop that chemistry but today you're right it just this has not been there toyota stadium in frisco about 30 minutes north of dfw airport stadium about half full 7 500 schmidt over the middle caught by crest hit is he short or did he get it the official where he's going to mark it looks like it's going to be enough for a first down for sam houston despite a great break on the ball by michael griffin it will be a first down yeah that's just a smart you know veteran type player when you know to run the route at the first down marker not beyond it but i mean not in front of it but just right on it knows exactly where to get to where if he catches it he's going to have the first down after he's tackled well i'm not sure when he caught the ball based on where the ball position was if he was passed we might want to snap this 30 yard line they do swing past ezra trying to get the perimeter and he slips and is brought down at the 32-yard line by adam box so a short game a rare play by ezra that doesn't go for 10 plus yards he can get him in bunches can he first team all-conference is the southland conference newcomer of the year as you mentioned transferring from howard he just called for a sub so you wonder if he got injured there too he was a little slow getting up and look at the turf the grass there where players now are starting to slip and slide a little bit gain of two two minutes gone by high snap schmidt able to collect it just takes off and gets wrapped up at the shoulders and brought down at the 36. held onto the ball there too is three or four south dakota state defenders were trying to rip it out schmidt needs some help getting up from his center ethan hagler and he's banged up well he had been for a couple of weeks nursing hamstring injuries and he got yanked pretty good and almost lost the football oh wow that right leg there man but he's going to stay on the field chris button had a report in the first half he got hit so hard he was spitting up blood but he came right back in for the first play of the next series we do have a timeout here by sam houston though yeah you may want to check him out and make sure you got the right play call but he'll also give eric smith a little chance to to clear himself back in a moment early third quarter we're gonna look further here eric schmidt might have to go to the back of mike dare [Music] eric schmidt staying in the game but he's taking a beating in this ball game this was a hit from the first half he ended up spitting up blood on the sideline came right back in the next series then just a moment ago watch his right leg he lost the ball but recovered it they went to the sideline just re-taped his ankle and he's back out there for third down and four tough customer he is tough son of a coach played for his dad at the woodlands he'll throw on third down and four pressure and his baseball is tipped and it's caught going to be close to a first down noah smith on the redirection comes up about a yard short of the line to gain at the 39 it'll be fourth down and one for just tremendous pressure desean gales coming off a delayed blitz off the corner forces the ball out a little sooner than eric smith wanted to throw it casey the field position battle here with a 14-7 lead looks like that ball hit defensive lineman k trivia as mcrobert gets the punt away just in time yonki is back he's going to let this bounce and it will roll to a stop at the 19-yard line it's this year's second major and it's on espn the 103rd pga championship thursday at 1 eastern 10 a.m pacific time for the kiawah island ocean course in south carolina it's the longest in major championship history 7838 yards our first round coverage starts 7 a.m on espn plus to get espn plus go to espnplus.com or download the espn app 7 800 yards are you kidding me they want them worn down after the third round huh hope the weather's better there than it has been here [Applause] quarterback in trouble heidi's arm head it's almost picked off by jahari k joe wallace had pressure again on keaton heidi kaye could not come up with the interception though joe wallace knows that it's the national championship game how many times have you called his name today i mean just relentless in his pursuit to the quarterback all game long and then his partner in crime jahari kay almost comes up with this self-tipped interception but that big fella is playing some ball number 95. graduated this week with his degree in communications the captain one of the leaders of this team second down and ten no running room for strong and it's wallace again among others quinton brown there also it'll be third down and long for south dakota state known by his teammates is q another first team all southland conference player mentioned it earlier 10 of the 11 made an all-conference team where the first or second team that's conference domination right there yeah 20 straight games without giving up the 100 yard rusher james madison had a 98 yard rusher last week pierre strong's been held to 47. that's about half his season average this a passing situation here though third and 11. heidi has a completion and a first down to the 30-yard line for zach hines a defender in coverage slipped and fell and that helped heinz get open it was trevor williams and remember at the top of the show we started talking about the offense has the advantage in conditions like this because you know where you're going the depth of the route and you're going to hook up so you can keep your feet under you as a receiver defensive backs linebackers they're trying to anticipate and there it bit trevor williams 13-yard pickup and a big first down completion for the sophomore quarterback keaton heidi go back to the ground game what a smack markel pairing right in the face of isaiah davis been a very physical game here this afternoon in frisco second down and long coming up no game unknown more as a pass rusher but he is more than willing in the run game to stand in there and fight it's leverage and then finishes the play he is some athlete playing on the edge for casey keeler's defense davis will stay in the game and running back they shift the two tight ends pete and heidi two pass two passes throne coming into today got a wide open davis out of the backfield he's got another first down he stepped out but after he moved to chains he's out in the 43 it's a 13-yard pickup good play by zion mccullum to make the tackle on the sideline otherwise davis might still be running i love the reed by heidi nice and quick and you see that your your running back has outflanked the defense they're trying to play zone coverage everything gets pulled inside his job with a footwork staying in bounds just just long enough to pick up the first down [Applause] ball on the 43 yard line a pitch too strong and he turns it back up field crosses midfield and a gain of about eight before he's wrapped up by clopton at the 49-yard line south dakota state in sam houston territory 8 40 to go in the third it reminds me a little bit of raheem boyd that played at arkansas just the way he runs the football more of that kind of upright running style he's a good player two-time first team missouri valley captain the junior from little rock second down and two here south dakota state strong again pushed back at the line of scrimmage nowhere to go javon leon another all-america defensive lineman for the sam houston team with the stick it'll bring up third short clapton's trying to argue that he had the football he got the football out of there shows up late [Music] close here you gotta convert if you're south dakota state go back to your money player and isaiah davis who's in the game now they're just two of seven on third down out of the pistol it will be davis and he gets the first down pushes the pile down to the 45 and still going they can't get this guy to the ground they finally stopped forward progress at the 41-yard line six foot one 220 pound true freshman missouri player of the year in high school a year ago he was just not going to be denied this nice low center of gravity and you know he's known more for hitting the big plays but arguably just as solid running between the tackles picked up eight there this has been maybe the best drive that keaton heidi has engineered for south dakota state down to the 42-yard line another run played davis doesn't get much here quentin brown wraps them up and after a two-yard pickup that's tough to defend when you got two as good as strong in davis you know you get a fresh back coming at you davis steps in catches the ball and is able to convert for a first down and then there coming back on third down and short able to move the pile back to that offensive line that you tucked down a lot in this game though led by west janath they're outstanding center here greenfield it right tackles all america and he's just a sophomore and a big fellow at 6-6 295 pounds he goes 6-6 295 at left tackle as well with aaron johnson davis hole does not open but again davis with the feet moving down to the 35 so probably should have gained one instead he gained four and now you got some options here maybe you're in four down territory at the opponent's 35 it'll be third down at about three this is why when you play south dakota state you know you're in for a fight because they don't quit they go hurry up here davis lost his footing on the cut and got two and let's see if south dakota state goes for it you would think so fourth down and twos two they do have a kicker in cole from who's made a 52-yarder but you have to wonder with the footing and all the issues we've had on special teams so far in this game if they're just going to run it here well that that play that call the run was set up because they knew they were going for it on fourth down pierre's strong in the game running back now it's gonna be a pass play the heidi setting up and the pass behind strong incomplete sam houston takes over on downs with 4 57 to go in the third i mean he is wide open in the flat it's just like you draw it up and just unable to convert throw it out in front you're still playing we're gonna go to break with sam houston up 14-7 [Music] sam houston head coach casey keeler trying to become the first to win fcs championships at two different schools he won it at delaware with joe flacco back in 2003 this is actually his 11th national title game either as a coach or as a player his team up 14-7 sam houston back on the field first down on the 33-yard line here comes a reverse and a flea flicker schmidt slips though ball flutters it's still caught by ezra at the 25 and hazard makes something out of it out to the 35-yard line schmidt is lucky that paul wasn't intercepted i think ezra is hurt again i think hazard was banged up from earlier when you made mention and they are lucky that this one even got out of the hands of eric smith you got a full-on runner coming at him as he slips and that could easily if it hung in the air longer gone the other way for six instead it's a two yard game but ezra had to go to the sidelines second down and eight and they run the ball here kyron jackson keeps the pile moving out to the 40-yard line so it'll be third down and three after a gain of five keeler now in his seventh year as the head man at sam houston if he wins today he will pass jim tressel for the most playoff wins in fcs history and he had a lot of success at division three rowan back in the 90s he said after 2017 that he had to change the makeup of this this program couldn't win on just speed alone and was it a quick makeover schmidt rolling to his left on third and three and the pass is on target first down inside the 40-yard line a day with the grab but what a throw that time by eric schmidt what a block that he picked up in protection to allow him to get on the edge watch the block here by kyron jackson just chopped it down on the outside to open up a nice big throwing lane for eric smith what a block an unselfish player coming into the ball game at this stage and just doing his job we asked the players this week who's the vocal leader they said kyron jackson he's their third string running back but he's their leader and you saw that in action first down pressure coming off the edge and it's a day with the catch again push back at the 38-yard line by tetzloff short gain on the play three minutes to go here in the third with sam houston in front by seven this is what we get used to seeing with sam houston tempo all of a sudden they start to strike and it's big plays and completions and they're right back at the line of scrimmage in your face they like the personnel that south dakota stays in right now so they're going to stay in this no-huddle attack and come after him on second down and eight schmidt quick throw caught by the tight end sly short of a line to gain third and two coming up at the south dakota state 31. good pretty good tight end of his of their own and isaac sly 15 receptions on the season a big kid at 6'5 about 250 pounds and i say that of their own because you look at south dakota state's roster they go three deep at that that position one six seven and two six fives and all three of them can run third down and two is sam houston in four down territory if he can't pick it up here ramon jefferson is the running back and a timeout call that's the second burned by sam houston so that leaves the bearcats with just one here late in the third and frisco in the national championship game taking a look at the capital one cup standings does teams compete for a combined four hundred thousand dollars in student athletes scholarships from capital one stanford on top and the women's cup standings and alabama leading in the men's cup standings dave pasch andre ware chris button big third down here for sam houston leading 14-7 late in the third in the fcs championship i'm trying to get eric smith out on the edges here he's if he can move and that ankle's not a problem let him get work the edges instead jefferson with the call straight up the middle first down to the 27-yard line they just hammered at that time between the tackles against that south dakota state front that's enough to move to chains he has really been a weapon today ramon jefferson when they've needed some big time runs from him he's been able to provide get nice movement up front creating a nice crease for jefferson and this drive's going to continue for sam houston fresh set of downs at the 26 yard line schmidt will throw it here now he just tucks and runs and scoots out of bounds after a gain of five you know it's really cool story for ramon jefferson just picked up that first down he's from the bronx and his mom don jones is here today it's the first time that she's had a chance to watch her son ramon play in person since he left home to go to sam houston he has a big big football just loves the game just can't get enough of it martial arts too he's studying i think because he was a pup started out at maine was in the playoffs there in 2018 transfer then to sam houston schmidt to throw it here taking a shot single coverage oh what a catch with one hand and then the ball came out it came out at the last second ezra could not pull it down that would have been one of the greatest catches we've seen this postseason don gardner had coverage and it's third down and seven that might have put the icing on the cake but it's just good on good don gartner has followed ezra everywhere he has gone today that's his assignment where ezra goes you go the coaching staff told us that can't throw one better and he almost made one miraculous catch wow [Applause] see if south dakota state brings some pressure here eric schmid changing things so the play clock down to two here they have to burn their last timeout did they get the play away no a flag is down casey keeler i guarantee you did not want to call timeout but he also didn't want to lose five yards number three five yard penalty remains clear it down i mean now you're back at the 28 yard line you're talking about a 45-yard field goal if you don't gain any yardage and their kicker is a true freshman whose season long is 44 yards and now again you've got you know bad conditions here with a field that has been chewed up you see players slipping a lot of missed kicks and bad holds and bad snaps here's the matchup up top hazard against gardner schmidt is looking that way throwing it down field incomplete gardner had the coverage on ezra and it's fourth down and 11. well it's thrown out in front there's no problem in terms of ezzard getting on top of gardiner he's got to throw the football out in front he actually throws it underneath and back inside it should be over and outside ezra does a nice job of giving him the four yards necessary to fade him away from the defender he's got to step in and make that throw so here we go it's been such an adventure today on special teams plus sam houston just had a guy run on late [Applause] play clock winding down 45 yard try ball is down and the kick is good how about that seth morgan true freshman career long 45 yards in the title game to push it to a 10 point lead no problem [Music] i think coach keith is coaching him up today he's trying to coach up the officials right now but i think he probably wanted i don't know if he was talking about the catch i think i think he wanted he's wondering if ezra held on to the ball long enough right because he wanted to be a catch in the in the end zone but but you gotta control it through the entire play which he did not so he did not have possession and i think once coach keeler gets a chance to see the replay on film he will agree with the call on the field but it's a 10-point lead andy didn't have to burn his final timeout that was almost disastrous so he got a 10-point lead over a back-up quarterback playing in the biggest game of his life yes he does have playing experience but not in this situation and obviously mark granowski the starter was the guy that won the job going into the season [Music] you know heidi's going to see some pressure on this drive so davis decides to run it out here and he is hit at the 20-yard line and he's able to back his way out to the 28th with 27 seconds to go in the quarter this week's sunday night baseball game and the is the serious finale between the cardinals and the padres 7 eastern time with coverage starting at six on espn and the espn app with baseball tonight sunday night countdown all right let's check in with chris budden with 27 seconds to go here in the quarter yeah keep an eye on heidi's right rib area he spoke with the medical training staff he was in some discomfort he said i'm fine but he's been holding it the entire time on the sideline he's been in there since that first series when gronowski got hurt 7-15 passing 53 yards he'll throw it here as the sun's out and that pass was just a little bit off the mark kind of like that fourth down throw it didn't help that there was pressure right in his face as heidi went down again kraft could not make the catch if he's got ribs then he's feeling it right now because jahari k came in just about untouched and and tapped on that rib cage area some more and it caused an incomplete pass actually it's one of the other guys coming from around that was mascaro that made the hit but yep to your points another hit on the quarterback second and ten first time we've seen blue sky all day and our 11 minute weather delay time to throw here man comes open it's caught at midfield by zach heinz in the sam houston territory a 23-yard pass play nothing like that to help with the old confidence of heidi i mean nice sitting in the pocket he's got a crosser he's one of those big tight ends that we were talking about the six sevens that kinds and now south dakota state on the move trying to make things interesting as we creep closer to the fourth quarter [Music] one quarter away from a championship we'll have a new title holder in 2021 who will it be come back and find out the two seed sam houston leads top seed south dakota state 17-7 as we start the fourth quarter the starting quarterback for the jack rabbits mark gronowski injured on the first drive they still let seven nothing eric schmidt has thrown for two touchdowns both to this man jacquez hazard yeah he has been a highlight reel after catching this pass and taking it 35 yards making a bunch of jack rabbits miss along the way kind of got things started for sam houston and then a nice fade route on the back end of this one and then the almost highlight reel type stuff with the one hand just couldn't hold on to it but he's been special had a punt return for a touchdown called back because of a penalty had a punt return for a touchdown and a receiving touchdown last week in the semifinals so it's come down to this for these players that have waited since the fall to crown a champion it's going to be a direct snap here wildcat quarterback is davis on first down and he gets back to the line of scrimmage and that's it the last time sam houston won a national championship was as an naia school back in 1964. south dakota state in the championship game for the first time here in fcs was a division two program until 2004 john stiglemeyer been a long time coach took over his alma mater in 1997 was an assistant there for a decade was a student and a student coach there back in the 70s a lot of running room for davis first down and more inside the 30-yard line and he can't keep his balance otherwise he scores as it is he gains about 27 down to the 23-yard line excellent job in terms of blocking out on the edge and the patience of davis to go along with it we've talked about it he's a home run hitter i've been waiting you're going to hold these i'm going to hold that type of back in check for a while but not all day sooner or later he's going to get one do you feel like even though with a field goal you're back to within a score they need a touchdown and describe the way things have played out for them today offensively if you would like to to have the big points but i think any points at this stage to keep you in it would be huge just from a confidence standpoint oh yeah no doubt quarterback movement that's going to push him back five yards [Applause] full stop offense number 88 five yard penalty remains first down yeah as i was telling you their whole mechanism in terms of attempting a field goal snapper holder kicker it's all been off and we watched it in pregame and they've struggled it's carried itself over into the game today so it's not a guarantee all right cole from the kicker slipped a couple times in warm-ups you have to want it that starts getting in your head especially in the title game you're so worried about your footing first down in 15. gonna keep it on the ground here with davis he's got running room off the left side breaks a tackle inside the 10-yard line keeps his feet and is into the end zone touchdown south dakota state what a run by isaiah davis that's just it's just pure will dave just wanting to get in and you could just see it in his body language that he was not going to be held out of the end zone nice patience wisconaunt the center pulling out in front and just shaking off defender after defender to get himself in what a run let's see if he stayed in bounds here or if he stepped out around the four yard line they might look at this a little bit longer no he's in they're going to review it further but looked like he kept his feet in to get his ninth rushing touchdown in the season and the second today for a true freshman isaiah davis normally we're talking about their true freshman quarterback both yeah but bugrowski gets more of the headlines but it's davis that's getting it today yeah unfortunately for gronowski he exited the game early as you mentioned the first drive and it's been the other true freshman isaiah davis has kind of kept south dakota state in this ball game and if this holds up we are off to a fantastic finish here with 13 12 left i think the left foot may have like gone over the out of bounds line which made it look like it might have touched but he gets it quickly gets it back in it that's going to be a touchdown i think it's going to stand that angle you can't tell on the other angle to your point right it looks like it crossed maybe but it didn't step out but never touched out about right when he landed back in let's watch the left foot here yeah that's that's yeah that's six [Music] there's that first look where it just kind of glides over but comes immediately i'm not knowing where you are on the field that's gonna be six points great balance yeah right guys grabbing at your left ankle and you're able to keep your feet and awareness where you are yeah sheer will knowing where you are and determined to rack up six points they're taking a while with this one though they must still have some doubt about whether tell them to call over here and ask me this review of the winner feels confirmed touchdown that's even even better than the stands we got the confirmation so an opportunity now with the extra point to get within three but those were big three points from sam houston on that last possession but how about the response by the top seed south dakota state a lot of people wondered when they got the number one seed why they lost the game they weren't undefeated everybody thought it was going to be james madison but they had some time off in march south dakota state still playing and knocking off opponents extra point is good we've got a three-point game early in the fourth of the 2021 fcs championship game briscoe it is graduation this time of year and eric schmidt earning a degree in general business they held the graduation ceremony at their hotel friday night here's joe wallace fun enough to get his degree dude this has become a thing for keeler's players they decide to hold graduation wherever they're at two years ago they decided we're just gonna have it on the airplane so this has become a thing it's also really cool to see what joe wallace has done kind of turning his life around after leaving texas tech and becoming a captain and a leader on this team but the majority of these players will be back next year with the extra year that coleman has given them guys like schmidt and wallace are also coming back next year all right chris good stuff here's the kickoff which is going to be a touch back it'll come out to the 25. uh chris touched on joe wallace who was a texas tech played for cliff kingsbury was recruited there by coach cliff and then left when the previous staff took over here he is talked with us humbly about the mistakes he made in college some off the field stuff and then said look i i'm a changed person he graduated as chris just talked about he's their captain on defense i tell you what he's not just talking the talk he's played it he's walking it today he's had some ball game and has harassed the quarterback all game long but kingsbury sent a text got it to uh sam houston folks just so proud of what joe wallace has become big hole here for ramon jefferson south dakota state tries to rip it out ted sloth was yanking at it couldn't get it out though it's a gain of about eight on the play two minutes into the fourth quarter three-point lead for sam houston well as long as they keep logan back out in space they've been able to formation him number 12. right up here they keep him out of space it's one of their one of their top tackle for the top tackle on this defense they're going to run the football play fake here schmidt rolling out with time and an excellent adjustment by a day to make the catch and a pass that was thrown to the back shoulder at the 44 yard line a pickup of 11. and it's a great pass by schmidt to keep one his receiver in bounds and then the second being that he's not gonna take contact sometimes you as a quarterback have to protect guys you throw him inside guess who's gonna tee off on it tesla's gonna tee off [Applause] keep in mind sam houston has just that one time out i know we're not at that stage yet where you need it but maybe later schmidt pump fake looking for a double move and ezzard up high pulls it down at the 35 yard line it doesn't matter what you do defensively against this guy he can't be stopped they didn't even need to pump fake as a defensive back malik loft well no it's sure who it is over there but he was so far off and respecting [Music] ezra that he couldn't even get himself back into the screen and him to the plate we're gonna see that guy in a camp in the fall just a couple months here schmidt off play action being chased and that one incomplete got outside the tackle box he didn't get it through the line of scrimmage i don't think this will be grounding now he had crest to that side but it looked like he might have been blocking they were trying to set up something to a day underneath and it was blown up this man did the best thing he could was just to throw the football away and come back up here on second down all on the 34 of south dakota state second down and 10. [Applause] this game delayed by an hour plus because of lightning schmidt keeps it and shouldn't have he gets spun down for a loss at the 37-yard line of grindy has had a huge day defensively for south dakota state third law was he fast or what he gets to the football in a hurry and that's where you've got to have the freedom as a quarterback to check in and out of plays you got your own number crowd called and you're crowded up like this got to get your offense out of that play and into something else [Applause] [Music] at the 36 of south dakota state look at this respect safety help over the top of ezra schmidt long throw to the sideline incomplete going for crest would have been six yards short of a line to gain and crest is banged up that looks like a shoulder maybe trying to come back and catch that one from from schmidt but so don't want to see him exit the game do you punt it here you're at the 36 of the opponent you try a 53-54 yarder or do you punt it he's gonna i would go ahead and punt it trying to play the field position game but the play call before fourth down might have been different i may have run ramon jefferson trying to pick up half of it to give myself an opportunity on fourth down but i think when you're in this situation go ahead and punt it and play field position i think robert has a guy down there so that was well done good job good execution south dakota state will have the ball but inside it's 10 down 3 10 14 to go in the title game [Music] isaiah davis has been a stun today for south dakota state yeah he has carried the load when they needed a spark he has provided it over and over a couple of big time runs to get himself into the end zone and only needs about seven yards to go over 100 but the last touchdown run he had to draw within three points he has he was just fantastic but south dakota state is backed up on its eight yard line strong as the running back here trying to get the edge and he's able to stiff arm his way out to the 10 and then he's tackled out of bounds by isaiah downs gain of two so 20 consecutive games without allowing a 100 yard rusher now james madison last week had a back that went for 98. as you talked about davis closing in on 100 but he's also splitting carries with pierre strong they have as good a 1-2 punch as you can get and and both strong and davis and go back to strong here to start this drive but that's for sure you're going to see mr davis at some point feeding heidi the quarterback did not start the game dumps the ball off here to strong and a good open field hit by trevor williams gain of three so third down and manageable third and five let's see how heidi handles this he is nine of 18 passing after throwing just two passes all season long he came in after the first drive when mark granowski got got hurt talk about superstitious players being superstitious where's the same pair of game socks every single week those babies got to be kind of fresh i wonder what the downpour that we had here if he kept those counterfeit broke tendency during that 70-minute delay got some fresh ones on the head have been soaked third down and five pressure coming heidi's pass not close going for yankee south dakota state's gonna have to pump the ball here 8 53 to go and you're just hoping to get it out of here if you're south dakota state even if you do it's going to provide some great field position and so the the job that coach keeler did in term in playing the field position game has has worked out his defense stepped out played complementary football and flipped the field on south dakota state this is not an easy out here because you've got ezra as the return man dinkle and ezra waving for the fair catch and he's got it at the 47-yard line about all you could ask for if you're south dakota state sam houston's got the ball though up three first round coverage of the 103rd pga championship thursday one eastern 10 a.m pacific from south carolina espn plus go to espn plus dot com or download the espn app alan morikawa last year's winner we'll see what happens starting thursday at the pga at kiwa island ocean course sam houston throwing in first down ezzard out in space steps out after he makes the catch in south dakota state territory at the 48-yard line that's a five-yard pickup on the first play of this series he's finding a way dave to get the ball in a playmaker's hands doesn't take take much six yard hitch route five hits just to keep him keep him on the defense's mind [Applause] 45-yard field goal by seth morgan last quarter the difference right now in the game for sam houston [Applause] jefferson gets the first down actually no they're gonna say he was stopped short he bounced off the turn forward tesla was trying to strip the ball it's going to be third down and one if jefferson cuts outside as opposed to inside he's got a blocker and haggler and he's still running not sure right boy i thought he was the 44-yard line a third down from south dakota state come up with a stop they'll stack the box here jefferson easily gets the first down lowers the shoulder at the 38 to get a couple extra yards but that'll keep the clock moving 735 and counting big moment player ramon jefferson every time they've gone to him they need to convert he's been able to deliver for this sam houston football team [Music] jefferson averaging six and a half yards a carry sam houston has held strong under four yards of pop first down at the 36. pressure in the face of schmidt in the pass is incomplete boy jumping the snap count was a grindy that time and he leveled eric schmidt has been hit a ton today my goodness does he have some get off in terms of getting out of his stance and he is just just right around anderson the left tackle and when that happens and is that dominant usually you start to get guys flinching at left tackle because they're trying to get a head start a giant to jump out in front of the defensive player nothing seems to faze eric schmidt they say he just stays the same no matter what i mean he's been spitting up blood he had to re-tape his ankle he's been injured twice penalty marker down [Music] looks like harvan full stock offense number 88 five yards penalty remains second down that's the second one of those remember ezra had one early in the ball game a lot of mental errors second down and 15. fall back now at the 41-yard line very little win sunny blue sky after a downpour for a good three four hours and a delay of over an hour before they resumed play midway through the second quarter three-point game midway through the fourth now second and 15. schmidt looking sidelined it's deflected incomplete logan backus two-time captain four-year player made a heck of a play that time great effort third down yeah just pre-snap reed should have told smith to go to the other side he's gonna have bacchus underneath and he's got don gardner over the top of the isolated route he was trying to throw to that would tell me eliminate that side come back to the front side and work there third and 15 on the 41. they rush four schmidt in trouble gets out of there a flag down smith looking deep throwing it into the end zone where it's caught for a touchdown harvin pulls it in will it come back though midween is hurt he's down again dave then instead he's reaching for the right angle offense number 51. penalty repeat third down so jalen north commits a holding call sam houston might have just won the game but a holding violation negates that and also schmidt gets hurt again a heck of a throw escaping i don't think he got hit he just landed on that ankle when they taped up earlier nice nice job about harvard to adjust get deep as the quarterbacks rolling around but it's coming it came back third and 25 now at the same houston 49 they're just going to keep it on the ground with jefferson able to break a tackle and get to the 40-yard line so this will give sam houston an opportunity to pin south dakota state deep again they just did it got the ball down to the eight-yard line when the temptation is there but the smart thing to do is to do exactly what you did last the last possession go ahead and play the field position game and rely on a defense that's gotten you this far don't know why they'd be tempted to go for it fourth and 15 i think this is without question the only choice see if mcrobert can pin south dakota state deep again here come the jack rabbits and this is not a good pun it goes out of bounds at the 15-yard line only a 26-yard kick six minutes to go south dakota state ball down three of the title game we are about an hour away from sunday night baseball series finale between the padres and the cardinals our coverage starts at six on espn and the espn app with baseball tonight sunday night countdown with andre ware and chris button i'm dave pasch in frisco texas the fcs championship both south dakota state and sam houston trying to take home the title for the first time in program history and it's a three-point lead for sam houston south dakota state has the ball on its 15-yard line six minutes to go all of its timeouts back up quarterback keaton heidi in there for the starter mark granowski who got hurt on the first ride heidi rolls out and his pass is high and incomplete trying to get jackson yankee out in space both the twins jaden and jackson yaki have been kept in check in this game just got to hit those passes i mean you just have to find a way to complete that to jackson yankee it's a drive starter it's it's one of those where you're pinned back they give me an easy throw just deliver on it and watch yankee run out it may not pick up the first down but it's a confidence builder for your offense 80 just 9-20 passing 79 yards and an interception isaiah davis he's got two rushing touchdowns they'll get the carry here on second and ten and he's got some room breaks another tackle at the 30-yard line still going at the 40. davis into sam houston territory breaks another tackle down the sideline the race is on they won't get him touchdown south dakota state has the lead 85 yards isaiah davis and he derek hindered somebody on the way to the end zone i mean just a stiff arm to get a defender off me again off of me it may have been braden clopton who was the recipient of that that stiff on what a run through freshman isaiah davis absolutely floored clopton that time as he took it to the house to give the jack rabbits the lead with 5 41 to go isaiah davis now with 178 yards rushing three touchdowns they're gonna look at this to make sure that he did not step out of bounds i don't see anywhere in that run where it was it would be determined that he went out of bounds but that stiff arm was priceless [Applause] what a player he was the missouri gatorade player of the year he's from joplin was not highly recruited ends up wide brooking south dakota i don't know at 6 1 220 with that breakaway speed we saw the home run right there 85-yard rushing touchdown he is averaging just under 13 yards per carry today if this if that does indeed stand three touchdown runs and all of them have been dramatic he's checking the footwork along the sideline and that looks like six points to me dave he's pretty good friends with that sideline he knows how to work it because there's been a couple times where he could have easily stepped out guys are at his feet getting knocked off balance and he's still breaking tackles and finding a way to hug that sideline stay in bounds and hit pay dirt after review really on the field is confirmed keep in mind sam houston has just one timeout had to burn two oh there's plenty of time early in the third got a long way to go 5 41. depending on this extra point though they may need to get a touchdown and they've they brought in keaton heidi to hold he actually was not holding earlier in the game until the last score an extra point he was not the holder but he's out here now and he puts it down and from makes it it's a four-point game meaning sam houston needs a touchdown just one heck of a job up front by the offensive line and then just the will to not get tackled breaking tackles cutting stiff-arming guys and that's amazing right there to finish a run and then out race the remainder of the defense to the end zone number 22 isaiah davis has had some afternoon imagine if south dakota state pulls this off think of where this program was a long time division 2 program they had awful facilities no buy-in at all john stiglemeier was a student coach back in the 70s he then went back to the school as an assistant coach he didn't play football but he went back as an assistant coach in the 80s and 90s got the head job at age 40 in 1997 he said when we went division one in 2004 everything changed the buy-in from the boosters the athletic director everything changed the facilities he thinks are the best in fcs now they're getting great players from outside the state of south dakota they have a chance at a title very important but from kicks it out of bounds oh my goodness just miss hit that one gonna give sam houston excellent field position here with 5 41 to go free kick out of bounds on the kicking team holding places 35-yard line first down meanwhile eric schmidt you gotta wonder about his health he's been hit a ton in this game he is a competitor he has sat right in there and taken the best of south dakota state bent backwards ankle retake to shot after shot and he keeps coming back he's got a big finish here ahead of him they're gonna run it ramon jefferson trying to get the edge he can't splattered at the 33. he loses yardage there's a grindy again tracking down the ball carrier and taking him to the ground for a one-yard setback grindy is some athlete and he's not only rushing the passer but he's playing sideline to sideline we're talking about a defensive end which just adds a another dimension and another level of speed to this jackrabbit defense so it's second down and eleven five minutes to go south dakota state outscored sam houston 14-nothing here in the fourth they get the ball into ezard's hands but not a lot of room after the catch pushed out of the 39 sam houston has been the comeback story though of the fcs playoffs down against north dakota state in the fourth down big against james madison late in the third and obviously won both games and they're gonna have to reach in the bag of tricks and find a third comeback in a row if they're to win the national championship today against south dakota state you would think four down territory third down and six pass to the sideline and yes first down catch by jaquez ezra so you're going to your best player here down the stretch throw a couple of hitch routes and then all of a sudden you got a hitch and go they're playing close on him okay i'm gonna sit it down right now that's the second one in a row so you're gonna get gardner biting at some point where you want him to roll the dice and then i'm gonna hitch and go and go over the top of it they've got a safety that's camping out right on the back end just in case they're thinking the same thing you are [Applause] quick throw to this side harvin made the catch and tackled in bounds at midfield so a gain of about four immediately after the game stay tuned for the trophy presentation on espn3 will it be sam houston or south dakota state winning its first fcs championship second and six for the bearcats at the 49ers south dakota state run play jefferson breaks free at the 45 and down to the 40. first down 3 35 to go ramon jefferson and we talked about it i mean just over and over big plays in which to convert for first downs number four has been able to deliver for sam houston fcs did not have football in the fall hard to say that it's been worth the wait but it's been fun spring football in mid-may is boy that pass was way off the mark and it looked like the day he was open he thought he was held so it's second down and ten the clock stopped with 313 to go ball at the 40-yard line of south dakota state actually thought it was harvin that blew a route he's sitting down when that coverage look he would convert to a fade and smith thought the same thing that he was going to continue on he just pulled his route up smith the southland conference player of the year gonna throw it here with pressure into space takes a shot downfield ezra can't come up with it incomplete gardner in coverage ezra has come down with every jump ball in this game except that one well if he if they don't blitz here he's got a time to throw it but it's because of the pressure coming off the edge that schmidt really couldn't step into that throw i mean there's big time pressure and he's still able to get it out there where ezra has a chance to make a catch now it's third and ten boredom territory at the 40-yard line of south dakota state noah smith in the game at running back a dual flat as a pass catcher and a runner and that's where the ball was going schmidt being chased breaks the tackle smith at the 35 takes a shot dives out of bounds we'll see where they spot him but it's not going to be enough and so i think if you're casey keeler you're gonna have to go for it here on fourth down meanwhile don gardner their best cover corner is shaken up which means if south dakota state doesn't use a timeout he's gonna have to come out for play and there's another defender down for south dakota state we'll try to get a number for you but it is fourth down and one at the 31 yard line and because sam houston has only that one time out obviously this is the play of the game probably their last possession boy just the ability to compete both eric schmid and isaiah davis for south dakota state he may have gotten the first down when they go back and look at this that's close pylon cam right there catching everything [Applause] so it was daishon gales that was the other injured player for south dakota state they are marking the ball a full yard short of the line to gain with 258 to go sam houston ball third and or fourth and one and coach 31 giving him an earful over there on that spot and over and over we've talked about it tons of times need a big play who's delivered for you if you're sam houston has been ramon davis excuse me ramon jefferson isaiah davis uh remote mixed up but it's been ramon dave jefferson has been big for sam houston fourth down and a yard schmidt's gonna keep a beautiful call he gets the first down and out of bounds around the 20-yard line great stake by eric schmid got everybody going to the right he went left and he got 11 yards and you got everybody thinking the way i was thinking about ramon jefferson they go crashing down inside you've got an athletic quarterback forcing south dakota state to play 11 on 11. they didn't there and they pay by giving smid the first down clock is moving at 222 and county schmidt again gets hit and sacked there's a flag down might be offside and then a vicious tackle by ogrindi in the backfield gotta blow that one dead once he's around the line of scrimmage because smith's taking a beating once you see that he is you know free on the quarterback the whistles have to blow we're trying to you know give the play a chance in case he gets it out of there but he's been beaten all day taking a beating all day and got to blow that one dead meanwhile there's an injured offensive lineman for sam houston 2 17 to go it's going to be first and five for sam houston at the south dakota state 17-yard line trailing by four one timeout remaining each team seeking its first national championship eric schmidt has taken a beating all day been spitting up blood on the sideline hurt his ankle contact injuries non-contact injuries but he just keeps playing and how about the trust in him in his toughness to put the ball in his hands on that fourth down call to run the ball and pick up the first down been doing it all year for this team and for this offensive unit it's four down territory from here to the house the last two minutes and 17 seconds to ask they're asking him to deliver one more time for a national championship clock started on the ready for play 2 11 and counting first down and five for sam houston in the red zone schmidt's going to keep it here and he's brought down the back field for a loss of five on the play michael griffin starting safety with the tackle boy if he gives this one to jefferson he may be into the end zone they get everybody up the field and he's got a nice crease right there if he just gives it nobody touches jefferson but he tries to keep it maybe doing a little bit too much dave and missed an opportunity for his running back ramon jefferson they lose the five yards they got on the offside penalty at second down and 10. now they do hand it off to jefferson but he is level good tackle by bob wrapping him up at the 20-yard line so it's going to be third and eight a minute 23 to go four down territory one time out remaining for sam houston now the one thing we haven't seen today out of ezra is a slant something inside he's gone vertical he's had run hitch routes that may be the time where you set him up outside come underneath they got to get set up here they're taking a lot of time off the clock hazard coming over here to the bottom of your screen and it trips formation and third down and eight inside a minute to go and nobody's on it i mean nobody's covering hazard which forces south dakota state to take the time out they got a little mixed up with the formation and that helps sam houston because the play clock was winding down and they don't have to use their last timeout 53 seconds to go last time last thing you want to do is leave number 12 uncovered he'll be dancing in the end zone on you third down at eight eric schmidt has been a comeback kid for sam houston against north dakota state with about three and a half to go he gives his team the lead with that rushing touchdown then a 20-yarder at the end of the third quarter when sam houston was down 27-10 at one point but that touchdown they went up 31-27 they added to the lead ended up winning by three and here they are down four with 53 seconds left with a third down and eight at the south dakota state 20. i know that i'm going to try to get it all [Music] get to where it's fourth down and short and live there and if you do it'll be a run and a catch catching a run for all [Music] jefferson is the running back third and age mid to throw in trouble moves to his right gonna keep it here inside the 20 goes high up into the air and out of bounds short of the line to gain by about three yards and they say that he's in bounds so the clock is moving sam houston can stop the clock and will with its final timeout with 38 seconds to go it is this is what you work for this is what you spend all those all the time in the weight room running sprints running hills all the stretching all the practices all the film study to get to this point to win a chance to win a national championship put it all on the line go airborne anything you can do to will your team to a victory is what you lay on the line right now all right take me here to your thoughts on what you do on fourth down and three at the 15-yard line runner pass i'm going to put the ball in eric schmidt's hands and move it i'm not going to leave him stationary in a drop back position take advantage of his ability to make plays on the move he's made good decisions in those situations as well for the most part today sam houston on a timeout boy i really thought schmidt was out of bounds on that play and that the clock should have stopped and sam houston would have been able to keep that timeout you know first down and the game continues [Music] but they're not we're obviously past that at this point so fourth down at three 38 seconds to go no timeouts remaining gotta get to the 12-yard line of south dakota state and you got to be quick if you do pick up the first down and stay in bounds they shift smith into the backfield here schmidt throws ezra slipped and he still caught it for a first down at the 10-yard line right now clock stops to move the chains it'll restart on the ready for play it's first and goal they're gonna run a play here schmidt to throw from the pocket gets rid of it incomplete going for schlei in the near corner 24 seconds to go second and goal sam houston down four how about the play to ezra just everybody in the building knows that he's the primary receiver just a nice little hitch route he slips but still able to make a play when needed to give them the first down see if they go that way again here well you've got the match-up that's down here it's 101 safety help over the top but that's been one heck of a matchup to watch schmidt will throw it again fires to the right side incomplete going for schleich oh man i think ezra was open in the back of the end zone and he threw it into double maybe triple coverage it is third down and goal with 21 seconds left yeah good point i think he had his mind made up where he was going with the football but ezra pops open because gardner passes him off they're in zone you see him open and just kind of pass him off to the coverage and nobody the safeties go racing to the flat hazards wide open hazard lined up now in the slot to the left of eric schmidt on third and goal with 21 seconds left play clock down to five schmidt back to throw fires over the middle it's a touchdown ade pulls it in and sam houston has the lead with 16 seconds left they worked the edges of the defense all game long and sooner or later a slant some in cut route was going to present itself they waited till the most important time in the game to go to the daily or hazard to play before but it was right over the middle of the field and hey that's drilling one right there stepping into a throw that's all you got and he's accurate with it excellent throw and a nice catch on the back end to give sam houston a lead here with not much time left just 16 seconds [Applause] morgan on for the point after he hooks it no good so it's 23-21 south dakota state though has a long way to go to get in field goal range they do have two timeouts left how about schmidt though to your point exhibiting that toughness all the shots he's taken today with his third touchdown pass to give his team the lead and they are 16 ticks away from a championship it it stings a little bit when you're taking them but the adrenaline of being in a game you'll feel it tomorrow there's no doubt maybe tonight when this one's over but you know there's no way you're going to get eric smith off the field and he delivers one more time to give his team the lead now they got to stop isaiah davis on this kickoff return i go back to chris budden's report in the first half where he was over on the sideline after a hit spitting up blood but you know how many snaps he missed zero man up to your point isaiah davis very dangerous we've seen that often today an 85-yard rushing touchdown we'll see if sam houston just pops this up rather than kick it deep and let davis have a crack at it there is no weight casey keeler kicks this one deep to isaiah davis it might get in his hand somehow by lateraling back to him but i put this one just on the ground and roll it around a little bit and if he does pop it up and you're one of the up men call for the fair catch and save the time cameron hearn is pretty good at this on the pooch kicks but he's going to kick it deep but it's not to davis it's meacham for south dakota state and meacham's past the 30 and up to about the 38-yard line with 10 seconds to go so you have a chance maybe to get into the 45 yard line you probably have two plays if you go really quickly definitely want to give your field goal kicker a chance cole from's long is 52 yards keep that in mind which would mean you have to get down to the 35. that might be a stretch to go that far in 10 seconds yeah i think it's two plays because the first will be quick something out and on the perimeter quickly and then you'll have one more opportunity two time outs to go along with it eden heidi the quarterback gotta get rid of it quickly does the catch is made and it's a pitch and yankee to the 47-yard line call timeout they will with five seconds left so heinz caught it the hook and lateral to yankee to about the 46. so again can you run a quick play to the sideline get out of bounds around the 35-40 and give prom a chance to win it nice job here and then jackson yankee trying to pop that thing open but sam houston there to rally up one plate i don't think there's enough time to get one and get out of bounds i think this i think you go to the 40-yard line to try to throw anything further than that i don't know that you're going to have enough time you're taking a risk here it's got to be quick because that plate took five seconds and that went for about 15 yards you're gonna have to get the right look in terms of throwing a hitch route outside to where you got to receive they're not formationally lined up to even do that or you can throw in the middle field catch it take a knee right away and call timeout if you're south dakota state that's what they're going to do no it's another pitch yankee and now you got to run it out yankee's got to go he's tackled sam houston wins it the bearcats capture their first fcs championship casey keeler becomes the first to win fcs titles at two schools and he passes jim tressel for the most playoff wins in fcs history as sam houston for the third straight week comes from behind to win the title [Applause] one fan is is loving it the we do [Music] what a game what a game after we got past the weather issues it turned into a flat out football game going back and forth and sam houston with his third consecutive comeback and major win of the season the last one obviously being the sweetest because it was for all the marvels the resilience of this sam houston team and casey keeler he's been telling us all week right what's he been saying i've got a phd in playoffs yes well he the guy wins he wins he gets his players to believe in what he's selling we've seen a remarkable turnaround with the sam houston program since he took over seven years ago and on the other sideline south dakota state was that close i was a little surprised that they didn't get to the ground call timeout and give their field goal kicker at least a chance or or try the edges give me a hitch route on the outside step out of bounds and call or call the timeout but they elected to run the exact same play to the other side and it didn't work for him don't forget the trophy presentation up next on espn3 for chris button andre ware hyundai pash so long from frisco we'll see you on espn3 for the trophy ceremony sam houston wins its first fcs title 23-21 over south dakota state coming up after the break abc world news tonight with david muir except on the west coast [Music] [Applause] yes coach keeler you had rain you had an hour lightning delay you had a quarterback spitting up blood at one point how'd you get it done today it was only fitting for the season to end this way i mean both squads have gone through so much we knocked their quarterback out early and they just find a way to you know get points on the board and keep us off balance we were doing a lot of guessing because we sort of set a game plan versus their starter and now with their backup they sort of change some things around and just great coaching job on that side you know it was only fitting for us to make a fourth down to win this thing and i have great kids i'm here they come here they come here [Music] [Applause] yep what does it feel like to do it surrounded by these guys well again you know i have to thank our administration bobby williams dana hoyt now dr white um they've given me all the tools i need to win i have just an amazing group of young men around me it's been an incredible journey it was only fitting for us to be crowned national champions again i am i'm so proud to be their coach what has it been like to watch their journey the players to bring home a championship for them in the school for the first time you know i told them early on i said we're the best team in the country i said but we need to play that way and we just kept on working at it and working at it and working at it and you know it goes to these young men i have a phenomenal coaching staff i just sort of make sure that we don't muck it up so i'm so proud to be their coach and uh what a great way to end this thing national championships [Music] i just switched out hand mice with her good job everybody good job guys [Applause] sam houston captures its first fcs national championship beating south dakota state 23-21 eric schmid with three touchdown passes this one to a dei in the closing seconds as the bearcats win it by two schmid was injured several times contact injuries non-contact injuries but just fought through it and ends up winning the game for sam houston [Music] with the kind of intro mlp 23-21 the final score let's go down now to chris budden coach keeler you had rain you had an hour lightning delay you had a quarterback spitting up blood at one point how'd you get it done today it was only fitting for the season to end this way i mean both squads have gone through so much we knocked their quarterback out early and they just find a way to you know get points on the board and keep us off balance we were doing a lot of guessing because we sort of set a game plan versus their starter and now with their backup they sort of change some things around and just great coaching job on that side you know it was only fitting for us to make a fourth down to win this thing and i have great kids i'm here they come here they come here [Music] [Applause] [Music] what does it feel like to do it surrounded by these guys well again you know i have to thank our administration bobby williams dana hoyt now dr white um they've given me all the tools i need to win i have just an amazing group of young men around me it's been an incredible journey it was only fitting for us to be crowned national champions again i am i'm so proud to be their coach what has it been like to watch their journey the players to bring home a championship for them in the school for the first time you know i told them early on i said we're the best team in the country i said but we need to play that way and we just kept on working at it and working at it and working at it and you know it goes to these young men i have a phenomenal coaching staff i just sort of make sure that we don't muck it up so i'm so proud to be their coach and uh what a great way to end this thing national championships andre your final thoughts on what you saw here today just uh the resiliency of both teams not not giving up and fighting to the end of this thing there were certainly a lot of uh outside distractions with the weather and the delays but they gave us one heck of a performance once uh play resumed congratulations to sam houston i take my hat off as well to south dakota state and the way they came the way they fought and came back in this ball game the year that they've had but the bearcats national champions let's go back to chris well i am here with the most valuable player from today's game jacquez as her two touchdowns on the day jaquez you transferred here in hopes of winning a national championship you had to wait all fall to finally get it done what's this feeling like right now when you finally do it it's unbelievable man we we work for this all year man we here man we number one i feel good what is it about this team that they were able to win it we persevered man we put that work in every day every day man it's all there man coach keeler is known for his speeches so what did he tell you in that hour rain delay hi drake that was his message hydrate time kept going back we know our mission we came out second half do what they do baby we're here with eight minutes left all of a sudden i heard the music go on and they were dancing they were going crazy it was like a mosh pit in there i'm like you know what i'm smart though let's let them alone and they came out and played a great ticket you had a great game but so did your quarterback who at one point was spitting up blood on the sidelines and walking around hobbling on his right leg what can you say about the way that eric schmidt played today we do that for the team man we all went man one unit one motion we all went man let's do it congratulations here's kyle moats the fcs committee to hand you the offensive or the most valuable player trophy award for you jaquez ezra congratulations let's now talk to the coach come over [Applause] coach [Applause] seven years ago when you came in you developed a plan you brought in a strength coach you brought in a nutritionist you changed the dynamic of this team to win it what does it feel like to finally have all of that come to fruition it was humbling losing to james madison and north dakota state the way we did and we had to get it fixed and i had a great discussion with my athletic director and i said these are things that i need to do to move forward and win a national championship and he bought in and have a great administration and they want to win a national championship you can't do this unless the people around you want to win a national championship i also want to recognize south dakota state because you talk about a great performance knocking out their great freshman quarterback and they just found a way to persevere i want to congratulate them for just an amazing season also [Applause] finally for you they came up they gave you the gatorade bath they threw arms they were warned first last time they had a thing of ice in it hit me in the head so we made sure all right ice was out yeah good deal well you've seen the dry off the the tears have dried off a bit but what does it feel like now that it's sunk in a little bit you see the players all wrapped around you celebrating we we talked about this last night that this is immortality for the rest of time there's going to be a banner in samuelson stadium saying we're the national champions it's it's pretty cool and um that's what we talked about that's you you have a chance at immortality let's go seize that opportunity and they seized it you guys earned it go celebrate congratulations sam houston on a national championship absolutely all right go dance congratulations [Applause] [Music] and once again congratulations to sam houston on winning the fcs championship [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] all right [Music] oh [Applause] know [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Wally the Bronco Too

Views: 39,033

Rating: 4.8449612 out of 5

Keywords: 2021 NCAA FCS Championship Final, Sam Houston State, South Dakota State

Id: N1SaL8coLnw

Length: 165min 57sec (9957 seconds)

Published: Mon May 17 2021

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Includes trophy presentation.