NCAAF 2021 Week 21 South Dakota State vs Northern Iowa

[Music] oh it's been over 400 days since the uni panthers and the south dakota state jackrabbits last played a college football game today we open the 2021 spring football season as fcs football is here alongside former uni panther justin surrency i am brad wilson how about number five against number three to open the season justin these teams have watched football this past fall it's finally their time to go yeah a lot of these players said it was emotionally draining not to have a fall season and the calendar may read a little different for a season opener but the goals are the same both of these teams have national championship aspirations all right let's take a look at our keys to the game let's begin with the uni or excuse me the south dakota state jackrabbits and it starts with defense yeah beia payne to mcelveen this secondary for the jackrabbits is experience they had an interception in every single game in the 2019 season 13 straight games three against the panthers in the regular season will mcelveen will be chased by south dakota state sdsu brings that old school style of defense for the uni panthers keys for you and i victory today well for the panthers they need to bring the pressure they need to take advantage of the inexperienced line for south dakota state only two returning starters on that line and then spring forward the panthers going into the halftime with the lead will be huge they were 7-0 in 2019 when they had the lead at halftime these two teams last met in the 2019 playoffs they get the 2021 spring season started in cedar falls iowa in the fcs college football season for the uni panthers and the south dakota state jackrabbits welcome back to the unidome in cedar falls iowa and justin as we take a look at a couple of key players in this matchup for you and i it starts with the defensive line as they have been so strong up front year after year yeah you're talking about a mark farley led team you have to start with defense and that brings jared brinkman to the forefront this guy is going to have himself a season he had seven sacks a year ago northern iowa known to have some past russian heavy teams and jared brickman looks to be the next in line of some great pass rushers former uni defensive lineman bryce popp coaching up the defensive line and there you see preseason all-american for brinkman his dad played at the university of northern iowa and now in his senior season for the south dakota state jack rabbits pierre strong and he a pre-season all-american as well a good one in the backfield yeah strong can change the game with just one play he's just the seventh south dakota state running back to have consecutive thousand yard rushing seasons of all time did it his freshman year and his sophomore year pierre strong is going to be a handful for this defense a tough task for game one two good seasons four pierre strong for south dakota state he begins his junior season on the road at uni justin it's football time are you ready yeah who knew a year ago that we would be dealing with this but this is a new season same goes this is a top five matchup must see who wins this game could go a long ways to building that confidence to playing in the playoffs and having some home field advantage all right the uni panthers and the south dakota state jackrabbits kick it off right after this you're watching uni panther football on the panther sports network from learfield img college sponsored by casey's from learfield img college coverage is provided by casey's try new curbside pickup casey's here for good and fibernet tv from cedar falls utilities get connected to the power of service we get ready to begin the 2021 season uni football is brought to you by casey's try new curbside pickup casey's here for good south dakota state wins the toss they elect to receive and start with the football as the uni panthers matthew cook will put the boot to it and the uni defense will be out first some pier strong back deep for south dakota state and we're underway first games since december 2019 for both of these teams strong from inside the five and out to the 22-yard line where the uni defense and the south dakota state offense will take the field as we begin with the uni panther defensive front four huff telling brinkman a pre-season all-american butcher and devin rice at the linebacker core kuvlier over 100 tackles in 2019. flater led the team in 2019 and tackles and in the secondary omar brown of first team all mvfc as a freshman along with nimmers sander and evans south dakota state with the football faking the handoff and mark granowski first pass of the season is complete to jackson yankee more on gronowski in just a little bit as we take a look at the big guys up front for sdsu johnson mccormick janet a pre-season honorable mention all-conference selection igan lickus and garrett greenfield at the skilled position and ballard jaden and jackson yankee jackson the mvfc all-newcomer team as a freshman he was all-american honors and pierre strong the running back of pre-season all-american and there were some question marks at quarterback with jabori gibbs a little roughed up during practices as strong breaks the tackle busts it out to the outside still on his feet into panther territory across the 40 and finally brought down deep into uni territory and that's what we've been talking about early on in the pregame here pierre strong able to make multiple defenders miss including jared brickman that is no easy feat right there a lot of times brickman's able to get people in the backfield with tackles for loss but that's why pierre strong is such an elite running back makes two guys miss in the backfield then he gets out in the open field and boom explosive play and now your defense is trying to rally and stop some of that bleeding early on in the first drive two plays and a good start for south dakota state back to throw again on first down and completing it out to the 31 finding the receiver for sdsu sdsu early trying to take advantage of their strong running game you saw the first play of the game of play action trying to capitalize on some of that you know over aggressiveness each team has been waiting so long for this game you know that that first play the defense was going to be amped up a play-action pass works and then get it to jalen strong let him do some things and now they have a little bit of both going with the pass and the run after that huge run by here strong early on so mark granowski at quarterback the freshman out of naperville pitches it too strong left side cuts back he's inside the 15. and finally tackled by omar brown down to the 12. pierre strong is looking strong here on this opening drive perfect name for pierre right there and a great job pulling that left guard mason mccormick a key block for strong he's able to read it and stick his foot in the ground and go downhill and the panthers in some trouble here early on with the defense that does not often have teams with running success but then again pierre strong is one of a kind and looks to do some heavy damage here in the first game of the season gronowski two for two on this opening drive hands it off to strong here on first down from just outside the 10. good pressure by flater busts that play up initially tackled at the 10. yeah great job by players sometimes even if you get a miss you disrupt the play right here players able to slow down strong so that way some of his teammates can come in and make a tackle you know oftentimes if you're in the right place maybe not make the tackle but make him cut back you cannot let strong get outside and break that containment on those type of dynamic running backs as long as you buzz to the outside make them cut inside you know there's more people always inside let them go outside and that's a foot race and pierre strong's going to win almost every time back to throw gronowski steps up in the pocket still behind the line of scrimmage throws to the end zone and it's broken up the big hit from omar brown as gronowski was looking for tucker craft the freshman tight end yeah gronowski showing some mobility here he had his tight end couldn't hit him in time a little bit behind puts that in the stomach and maybe his big body tight end can kick the hit absorb it and get the catch omar brown with a great job of knocking that ball away and omar brown a little slow to get up as we see the penalty on south dakota state number 71. that five-yard peninsula is downfield on south korea we'll back them up [Applause] yeah oftentimes you know these are strange plays you think well why is a lineman too far downfield shouldn't they just be blocking well when you have a running quarterback or you expect a certain play to get out of the quarterback's hand in a certain amount of time you practice it three seconds four seconds gone then you start moving up field because you think okay somebody else has the ball on that time he wasn't able to get rid of it offensive lineman trying to work and find a person down field to block that's where the penalty comes in gronowski keeps it goes straight ahead and gets tackled by flater at the 15-yard line justin this freshman gronowski gets the start it was jaburi gibbs and keaton heidi both a little banged up during practices the last month and as a freshman gets the start here today joining the team just this summer yeah it's each week is going to be different with coping and with injuries i mean these teams have been practicing since july essentially so just over that time span you're going to have injuries you're going to have knicks and bruises and you know the panthers weren't sure who they were going to face and gronowski got that got the start and that's what they have to deal with third and long passing situation for gronowski throws out into the flats that is caught by heinz and driven out of bounds short of the first down by flater and company for that uni defense standing strong in the red zone great job bending but not breaking that panther defense doing what it had to do they got gashed a little bit with some plays but able to hold it to a field goal if they are successful is a little bit of a push here because san diego state really looked strong like they were going to head to that end zone in that first drive with some key plays but the defense didn't panic buckled down and made some strong stops [Applause] jade mueller [Applause] the snapper dinkle the punter holding cole from the junior kicker out of omaha nebraska puts the first points of the 2021 season on the board as the fifth ranked south dakota state jack rabbits take the opening kickoff march down the field and come away with points kickoff coming up for sdsu after a solid drive here justin with their freshman quarterback true freshman quarterback marches the team down and puts points on the board yeah i mean i don't know when garnowski got the call to be the starter but to come down and get three points on a top five defense a team that's strength is their defense year after year one of the top defenses in the country to get three points with that quarterback is strong you saw pierre strong able to make some big time plays but then the panther defense forcing strong to cut back when they got into the red zone i think that was key and that just shows kind of the maturity of that defense learning from a couple of plays and able to react on the fly to know hey we have to contain strong let them go back and forth cut back but as long as he's going to the middle of the field we've got more guys there to tackle him but if he gets to the edge that's when that trouble begins and hopefully the defense can learn from that and do more what they did in the red zone than what they did in the other parts of the field on that first drive how many times you see that third string quarterback taking the snaps to open this season south dakota state did just that fromm with the kick and back deep to receive as hampton lets it go over his head we'll take a break panther football when we return the jackrabbits score on their opening possession 3-0 you're watching uni panther football in the panther sports network from learfield img college yeah welcome back uni's first play of the game a run left side as dom williams takes to carry it gets you see the hand off the run to the left as will mcelveen back behind center looking to throw now for the first time here on this 20-21 season run out of bounds by isaiah stahlberg as that will bring up third down for this uni panther defense as you see the offensive lineman up front for uni penning penning the brothers on the left side sorenson piney and frazier a new transfer for the uni panthers isaiah weston a pre-season all-american and dion mcshane 2018. all newcomer selection with newcomers hampton fortinauer and williams mcelveen to throw steps up creates a little space and looks downfield for williams it falls incomplete and a quick three and out for the uni offense yeah good pressure there up front caleb sanders at glenwood iowa product welcome back home for caleb making a little bit of a disruption there causing mcvein to get out of the pocket and uh ultimately led to a pulley throwing pass there what we've seen sometimes in the 2019 season with mclevin he loves to give it a try down field for the deep the big play sometimes he's held the ball a little too long on some intermediate routes like we saw on the second play of that first drive and then on that one right there uh he he kind of struggles to get some of those curls those 10 yards those eight-yard routes and that's where he needs to pick that up a little bit get the ball out of his hand quicker nate murphy the punt hunter dunstman excuse me jackson yankee back to return put the receiver back there not your kicker here we go with south dakota state's second possession now as we'll have that when we come back 3-0 sdsu leading uni you're watching uni panther football in the panther sports network from leerfield img college sponsored by casey's internet tv from cedar falls utilities get connected to the power of service south dakota state a 3-0 lead a 78-yard scoring drive resulted in a field goal as they begin back on the 22 as the freshman quarterback mark granowski out of naperville illinois getting the start for south dakota state and the offense flips it out to here strong it's tackled immediately as he had a good opening possession for the jackrabbits yeah he really did and that was a great open field tackle good play call one on one here you expect pierre strong to win here the jackrabbits a great tackle there forcing him back inside an elite runner with some wiggle there and able to bring him down for a mid game what could have been a lot worse had he broken that tackle corby sander out in 2019 with an injury back in 2018 for uni he ranked top 10 in the missouri valley conference with 93 tackles gronowski to throw gets chased by flater gets away throws it downfield that's caught by heinz and heinz pulling a few panthers across the 33 to the 34-yard line a first down a big fight after this reception here yeah great job by gronowski to get away from plater later normally a sure tackler but able to break free of that and pick up the first down very opportunistic play gronowski's showing that he can make a little something out of nothing there and those are kind of the intangibles you know plays that shouldn't be working but then you make it work when the defense has looked like they have you dead to rights gronowski able to you know get the jackrabbits to survive for another first down so far been able to manage this offense into some production wants to take a big shot downfield looking for yankee and overthrows jackson yankee and that was a game breaker right there yankee wide open a little miscommunication omar brown was in the flats and corby sander looked like he wasn't able to get as far over to the numbers as he may have been told to by the play a little confusion there but the panthers bailed out by the overthrow by gronowski and again your third string quarterback you know when practicing reps you like to get the ones with the ones the twos with the twos gronowski maybe not as much time as the jabori gibbs would have had with these first string receivers and that kind of showed right there [Applause] there's a flip out into the flats for strong he jumps on it and i think it's going to be ruled incomplete throw from gronowski did go forward so rule it incomplete and brings up second down granowski got the ball out to strong strong just took his eyes off the ball there doesn't really matter what level you're at pros saturdays in college fridays tonight or pee wee football you take your your eyes off the ball like that you're just not able to bring that in so just a little bit of rushing by their running back to to try to get up the field and make a play but strong defense and that's why that play was so huge the overthrow to yankee because now you're facing third and long against a tough defense that you know they're going to bring a heavy package because they want to disrupt the quarterback here comes the panthers the pass over the middle to strong he's close to the 45. depending on the spot this will be close to a first down as the officials coming in spotting it just short of the 44. and that's gonna make it fourth down and by replay it was pretty close to that 45 yard line and south dakota state keeping the offense on the field there may go for it regardless well really good play call overall by the jackrabbits there they had strong with one-on-one coverage there man-to-man he had an option to go left or right and that way he was able to kind of make something happen panthers only brought four so the quarterback kind of had a little more time than he may have usually if the panthers would at least brought a blitzer and south dakota state's going to get a timeout john stiglemeyer wants to take a timeout to either think about this fourth down call or give the replay officials an opportunity to look at this a little bit further top five battle here in cedar falls iowa yeah probably some more time out there by stigel meyer pierre strong was looking like he needed a breather was off on the sideline so getting a time out getting back in is a good plan back with a fourth down right after this this is uni panther football in the panther sports network from leerfield img college sponsored by casey's hyvee where there's a helpful smile in every aisle hyvee proudly supports the uni panthers it's the season opener as you see south dakota state head coach john stiglemeyer on the road trying to get a road victory to start the season and the timeout is going to pay off as the officials do go to the review monitor the review booth and they mark them ahead of the 44 yard line and it looks like they'll have a first down as they bring the chains out onto the field yeah good job by the officials to look at that he he definitely looked like he broke the line where the first down was and a great awareness there by strong to see that notice that and give your team a little extra set of downs there great heady play by pierre strong and that's why he's one of the best running backs in the missouri valley conference in the fcs uh he's got plans obviously to to be elite and showing that early on he gets a really good defense a sound tackling defense there stretching the ball out leaning forward and on the measurement gets it just by the nose of the football our referee art brown our officials include adam mcclung frank bullock brett carpenter marcel kerr marcus kerr chris currie and up in the replay booth roger quinlan here's a handoff left side on first and ten it's a gain of two yeah this is when you know your defense starts getting really tired the uni defense has been out on the field the majority of this first quarter obviously the panthers had the ball but just a three and out situation and when you're great at running the football and you're playing against a stout defense the best thing you could do is wear them out get them tired and that's when the missed tackles start coming and early on this south dakota state offense has put together some long drives on that first one a 78-yard drive for the field goal and now another one which looks to be kind of going the same direction grenowski and empty backfield a quick pass out to the left by heinz ball comes out ball is still loose jumping on it is eric mooney just what the doctor ordered right there panthers trying to create some momentum using their defense to create some offense maybe a strip there and a good recovery and this was an issue in the 2019 season for the jackrabbits 24 turnovers 17 of them were lost fumbles so ball security is an issue for this high-powered offense which normally could put up points but they put it on the turf and that's what we're seeing right there mooney moving from the offense to the defense between the 2019 season and this season as they keep the jackrabbits on hold as all turnovers and scores are reviewed and confirmed by the replay officials in all division one football and looks like we've been given the green light for the uni panthers to snap it the play clock has begun mcelveen in the backfield hands it off to dom williams left side and met immediately by reese winkelmann the pre-season all-conference defensive lineman yeah tom williams one of those many transfers that northern iowa brought in after the 2019 season dom coming from the university of kansas and the panthers 13 different transfers since the 2019 season ended so a lot of fresh faces some really talented elite familiar ones but this is a team that's really added a lot of firepower dom comes in a senior comes in as a grad transfer big hole up the middle and williams with his first first down as a uni panther yeah he's been waiting for that you saw the energy and excitement after the play from dom big body running back [Music] last time they saw a solid you know big body running back like dom williams wearing the number seven obviously david johnson a little shorter than david johnson but the physique definitely there and the panthers hope to give him the ball often mcelveen empty backfield throws over the middle looking for weston and it falls incomplete pressing tetzlaff on the coverage defensively is isaiah weston that number one target for will mcelveen a season ago his 1 000 yard receiving yards 10th best season in uni panther football history yeah and something that really stands out for me is the 24 yard average isaiah weston a big time playmaker when he gets the ball it's gashing the defense and it's a big momentum play big shift to the right side strong right side and that's going to lead williams straight ahead and gets met by tetzloff and it's a gain of three for williams running to the right side behind that uni offensive line yeah tough third down here coming up great job by down to break that tackle on the outside a heat seeker coming in for south dakota state don gardner off the edge but dom able to cut it up the field and create some gain for the panthers but still third and seven situation mcelveen is going to have to throw the football and hopefully get it out early he's been holding on to it a little long and throwing a little late to his receivers lately three receivers left side mcelveen throws for hampton it's caught quan hampton another transfer out of kansas comes up with a big play as uni's drive continues free play right there macklevane being patient with the football waiting for his receiver hampton to go across the field a great job putting that high so the defender could not bat it down and a great job by hampton get into the sticks sometimes that's something receivers don't do they'll run that route and it'll be just a little short and they get tackled and your yard short making sure that that route was enough for the first down it's crucial on this drive kwon hampton listed at just 5-8 here's a carry straight ahead nick mccabe on the ground maybe back to the line of scrimmage maybe a gain of one gets stacked up by logan backus and company logan backus the senior linebacker for south dakota state actually played inside the unit before he even got to college was a class 2a state champ in the state of iowa for spirit lake high school yeah he has great memories in this dome was a quarterback over 2000 yards passing thousand yards rushing he could do a little bit of everything there's mcelveen throwing for the end zone looking for weston and penalty flags come flying in as the coverage was by gardner weston though the big target you could tell when he went up gartner then jumped into him yeah great job by weston to come back and try to get that football underthrown but when you have a big time receiver you hope that he can maybe go get it and a great job by weston to go up pretty close there on the pass interfere it's not much else of you know what he could do as far as the combatives goes down but officials saw a little grabbing on gardner and and sometimes you just gotta throw it up give your guys a chance you could get a flag you could get a tremendous play but you like to see mcelveen get that ball farther to the corner to that pylon so that you don't have to worry about pass interference or you know under throwing but uh you know a great outcome for the panthers either way so you and i gets the football at the seven yard line williams in the backfield mcelveen's going to keep it sprint out to the right side it's a race to the pylon and will mcelveen wins it the sophomore quarterback out of des moines gives you and i the first touchdown of the game yeah able to get out to the edge and he'd be still running to des moines out to lincoln high school where he's from there he used to do the same thing over there in the metro but uh mclevin dual threat quarterback and that's what you gotta love you know you do it in the air you do it with his feet and that time made the right read and has the speed to get to the edge first touchdown of the season give the panthers the lead on a terrifically talented defense from south dakota state that's where their experience is on the defense so these touchdowns are hard to come by against the jack rabbits matthew cook the sophomore out of cedar falls iowa on for the extra point and it is 7-3 as the uni panthers take advantage of the turnover and able to get seven points that's why their defense is so vital for the panthers the offense on that first possession looks sluggish three and out boom get the fumble got a momentum energy and there's the touchdown and the panthers are up 7-3 all right you're watching uni panther football on the panther sports network from learfield img college uni head football coach mark farley talking to corby sander as the uni defense came up with a turnover and the offense was able to turn it into a touchdown corby sander one of the seniors on this uni panther football defense coach mark farley in his 20th season 159 and 83 is his record he is you and i's winningest head football coach in program history as cook pops that one over the head of jordan meacham and we want to let you know you can gear up for you and i's next game with authentic brand a great iowa company making panther apparel for men women and kids it's the apparel that our crew wears on game days find it local retailers order them online at authenticbrand.com authentic brand look authentic feel authentic be authentic this has been authentically a pleasure having college football back inside the unidom the fcs division postponing from the fall to spring and the only division one football going on right now justin all eyes are on this game right now and it's fun to be back in the dome on first down passes incomplete there's sander the senior on the coverage yeah and bryce blader's really putting a lot of pressure on gronowski you'd see him coming in right there a couple pressures on gronowski and aaron throw corby sander able to get a deflection there and the best thing for the panther defense is to create some of those third and long situations where you essentially take the ball out of pierre strong's hands because they may have to throw the football now they like to split them out as a receiver as well but at least you don't have them in the back field so third and long is crucial for the panther defense to stop this jack roberts karnowski back to throw incomplete looking for jackson yonke and that was broken up by austin evans great job by austin evans to get around that receiver for south dakota state jayden yankee that's a block that jaden yankee has to pick up because he is able to cause a disruption on that and austin evans was able to read that and get in great read and recognition austin evans one of the more improved players in this extended camp coach farley really liked to see how much he improved since the summer to this spring season got a lot stronger and ready to play a lot more physical here's the handoff straight ahead strong left side trying to get a big one on third down gets wrapped up and tackled by sander well short of the first down it'll be fourth and five as the uni defense feeling that momentum here early yeah and a lot of people say oh third and long they still gave it to pierre strong well he had a great gain and normally on first or second down that's an amazing play to get five or six yards but when it's third and eleven and you get six yards the defense is saying thank you and you can let pierre strong get all those yards on third and long he wants so that plays right into the hands of the panthers there and a great stop by the defense and you can see the momentum rolling for the panthers here at home so ben dinkle back to punt for south dakota state as quan hampton back to return from the 31 yard line just able to dive forward for a couple of yards where the uni offense will have it they'll start at the 33 yard line and coming off a touchdown drive that was set up by a turnover a very short field let's just see kind of two yeah a lot of panther fans screaming for a late hit there on that play preston tetzloff coming in no flag called interesting stat for the punt team for south dakota state the longest punt return last year was just eight yards and that was in the game against minnesota the punt team is extremely good for the jackrabbits you don't often even get a return against them there's trying to do it with the offense as williams gets wrapped up and dropped at the line of scrimmage these two football programs year after year justin so strong defensively and so disciplined on offense yeah they've both built strong traditions have excellent south dakota state eight consecutive years in the playoffs northern iowa is a mainstay usually in the you know top 10 of the fcs finishing you know nowhere worse than third or fourth in the valley and often in the playoffs as well uh both teams really eyeing national championship hopes and they're both in the top five number 17. five-yard penalty against us for a false start backs them up will be second down and 15. well will mcelveen the uni sophomore quarterback out of des moines iowa preseason all missouri valley conference a season ago he was on the jerry rice award watch list for the best freshman in the country was named to the all missouri valley conference newcomer team set a unif freshman record 2778 passing yards and as you mentioned a dual threat yeah he's special northern i was happy to have him he's going to do some amazing things in his career here completes this one out to dion mcshane a new number for the junior out of freeport illinois coming off a knee injury that limited his action a season ago feeling healthy and strong and ready to go yeah mcshane really creates headaches for a defensive coordinator because of everything he can do they can line them up in the backfield line them up in the slot put him outside but the trouble has been he hasn't been healthy throughout the whole season so oftentimes northern iowa will start with mcshane and you can't just focus on isaiah weston because mcshane's out there going across underneath routes getting jet sweeps and and then when he's out and he's injured then defenses can just focus on some of the main threats that the panthers have so him being healthy for whole season will be key as far as the panthers getting to that next level not getting knocked out in the second round of the first round getting to the semifinals and maybe even the finals of the fcs championships you saw it down on the ground that's kraken krolikowski a starting defensive tackle out of winner south dakota up on his feet limping off the field he's on the left side of your screen there he grabbed his ankle right away just trying to drive into the uni offensive line yeah it's so tough to see i mean everyone's been waiting so long preparing so long all these guys couldn't play in the fall then you didn't know if there would be a spring season and hopefully it's nothing major because this is the first game all these kids are so excited uh you know young men and and to go out on something like that so quick in the first quarter would be devastating for sure soft tissue injuries is something that coach mark farley has talked a lot about he noticed a lot of it in the nfl and in the fbs levels mcelveen trying to fight for a little more time falls incomplete looking for a new tied end kyle fortenberry the transfer out of western kentucky but too much pressure from that south dakota state defense he was talking about those soft tissue injuries having so much time off missing a lot of spring ball summer was not your typical summer and even this fall wasn't your typical fall he's wondering if guys just aren't quite into that game type speed making those hard sharp cuts and having the full contact yeah the body is getting used to game day feel after 344 days off it's almost like everyone in the fcs had a season ending injury or something like that missing almost a full year usually what happens when you have a season any injury here's the punt from murphy and taking it is yankee out to the 38-yard line as jackson yankee on the return [Music] well we've got some pre-season all-americans on the football field here today pierre strong the running back for south dakota state isaiah weston the wide receiver for the uni panthers and then defensively jared brinkman on that defensive line these are all the missouri valley football conference hero sports preseason all-americans yeah and this is why people say the valley has the strongest fcs schedule the strongest conference in all of the fcs i mean that looks like the first team right there and that's just the valley that is a loaded conference you have a lot of preseason all-americans too that were named pre-season all-americans in august and are working towards the nfl draft as omar brown chases down pierre strong and a tackle for a loss for you and i yeah the air strong is so special i mean look at this most running backs are down there at least down there when you know guys are coming after you he's able to extend the play but this is something the panthers work on it's called the pursuit drill this is why it's so important even though you're away from the ball omar brown was on the other side of where that play was supposed to be it's a lot of kids out there playing football playing high school and you think oh they're not going my way you never know he stayed in the game he stayed alert he made the tackle on his side when he wasn't even supposed to come to his side of the field and that is the end of the first quarter as the uni panthers the 7-3 lead in the first 15 minutes of the 2021 season you're watching uni panthers football on the panther sports network from learfield img college sponsored by casey's we begin the second quarter uni seven south dakota state three after one the jack rabbits with the football they had an impressive opening drive that resulted in points but since that opening drive the uni defense has looked very very solid against freshman quarterback mark granowski out of naperville illinois gets the start is handed off to pierre strong a number of times here today gets the carry on first down or excuse me on second down his second and 12 a gain of four yeah another power play by strong there bronte wells able to get him from behind and took a shoe along with him polite right there a little nice gesture giving him the shoe back instead of throwing it maybe like we saw in a rather big game this season in the fbs one that drew a penalty flag if you end up with the opponents cleat do not throw it across the football field here is granowski back to throw throws deep looking for yankee and he has him that's jaden yaki the sophomore and it's a south dakota state first down yeah great play there just a sail route corner against the zone defense great throw right in the pocket above brown and then to the sideline away from corby xander so he couldn't get that pass either the freshman showing some some good accuracy on that play great play call offensive coordinator jason eck and their passing game coordinator luke schlossner karnowski 8 for 12. here in this first half for south dakota state and he's going to keep it go straight ahead and get into the uni linebackers as the secondary comes up to make a little assistance and gronowski showing his toughness there hard to bring down yeah he says oh we'll melt the vane dual threat guy let me show you a little something with my legs nice little pump fake out to pierre strong to get those linebackers to maybe take a couple steps towards the flat so a great play call there pump think and able to get in the middle for some positive yards there for grenowski you've seen a number of quarterbacks in the missouri valley football conference you can't just come up put a shoulder on them you got to wrap them up and bring them down yeah there's been some strong ones athletic ones not just you know your typical five-step drop back towering quarterbacks that sit in the pocket able to be dual threat because of these strong defenses you need quarterbacks in this conference that can move around here's gronowski to throw in the plays whistled dead and we have a timeout taken by the uni panthers yeah said coach mark farley saw something he wanted to talk over you and i a 7-3 lead yes we'll head to a break here you are watching panther football on the panther sports network from learfield img college sponsored by casey's hyvee where there's a helpful smile in every aisle ivy proudly supports the uni panthers cheerleaders massed up fans socially distant but a small capacity allowed inside the unidome and you can hear him here justin making making a little noise inside the uni-dome yeah it gives a little normalcy with the band and the fans skarnowski to throw on second down steps up now throws left side to hinds inside the 10. and tackle made by austin evans zach heinz the sophomore tight end had the fumble in the first half comes up with a big reception there yeah great job by the offensive line giving gronowski all day to throw creating a beautiful pocket good coverage there by the defense but you can only cover for so long and a good job there scramble drill and zach heinz able to find a little soft spot in that zone after the play you know had to change to get a little bit of a playground football atmosphere there gronowski made a great play heinz with the catch and now they're knocking on the door it's definitely territory for jackson yankee the receiver if he gets one-on-one coverage there's first and goal first play goes too strong right side gets strung out and gets to the four yard line before he's tackled by benny sapp that's benny sapp the third the son of former uni panther benny sack yeah a late addition here to the panther team obviously his dad played like you said i played with his dad so now i'm feeling pretty old right now it doesn't hit you until things happen like this but uh he's got the he's got the the hair just like his dad and uh doesn't have the the number right now but uh hopefully he can play like his dad who made some awesome plays for us back at the back of the day a transfer from minnesota played 19 games and excuse me played 11 games in 2019. here's the throw from granowski to tall four strong the panther defense was closing hard on strong yeah great pressure looked like flater again 22 getting in the face of garnovsky not able to get a real clear look and a big time third down here for the panthers holding them to a field goal you can still keep your lead midway through the second quarter and this third down will go a long way but it's kind of in that mid-range here you know you hand the ball off you're hoping for a four-yard gain you know getting in the end zone against a stout defense especially in the red zone but uh you know they really like jackson yankee in the corner of the end zone with a quick fade or something like that there's talented receiver karnowski looks right side now wants to scramble for it straight ahead stood up at the one and driven back the panther defense holds as gronowski runs it down to the one yard line and now fourth and goal decision time for stigelmeier great coverage and a great job of lowering the shoulder form tackling stopping gronowski from getting in they're going for it on fourth down strong in the backfield he gets the carry straight ahead hit right away and tackled short looked like devin rice was in there towards the end yeah corby sander coming in with a big time plan that's why they missed him so much in 2019 after he was injured this is a big time play maker that a lot of people may have forgotten about but when he's on the field he creates plays just like that goal line situation coming from the edge makes a lot of speed quickness and ability to get an arm tackle on an elite running back like pierre strong so the panther defense holds and keeps points off the board here is another view strong straight ahead and sander with a fantastic defensive play now the uni offense is backed up and the south dakota state defense trying to keep that panther quarterback in the end zone penalty flag comes out on the snap an initial indication is that it's against south dakota state big time play if so creating some breathing 48. [Applause] that ball at the one you and i offensively had that first and goal mentality is if you were on your own goal line just needed to get a little bit of breathing room the penalty though makes it first and five out to the six yard line mcelveen with williams behind him it is a handoff to williams spins away from the initial tackler reaches for the seven as the football comes out after the whistle coming up with it is joshua manchigaya yeah just a zone read option there mackelvein gives it to dom now i'm reaching for some extra yardage after his progress was stopped and the ball is knocked out he'd love to see the effort sometimes effort can lead to you know some fumbles like that luckily his progress was stopped on that one caleb sanders was the initial tackler and now the replay booth wants to take another look at this and the big key see he reaches out he's not down yet as the ball gets knocked away but i was hearing whistles just in before before it came out so we'll see if the officials discussed that portion of the rule maybe his left knee was down there too yeah it looks like as he's being spun around on top of the tackler caleb sanders maybe his thigh hits down obviously for panther fans they're hoping that that's the case if you're a jackrabbit fan you're just hoping for a little bit of sliver of light beneath his leg as he was spun around there by the tackle from caleb sanders but it's awfully close and you know we got great referees working on the replay here i mean you got to look at a lot of different things i didn't think any knees were down but in second down so they say the runner was whistled down by contact it will be second down so the whistle did stop the play as the ball came out it will stay with the uni panthers so second and five the spot is at the six where the whistle came offensive coordinator ryan mahaffey exhaling a little bit now that they have the ball second down in new life mcelveen hands it off to williams straight ahead gets to the eight a gain of two tough sledding inside the tackles today for the uni panthers offense yeah it's not going to be easy with this experience defense up the middle especially with their linebackers and the panthers finding that out right now just got to chip away as much as you can get some third and short situations so you remain unpredictable like right here a play action could get the linebackers to creep up and then boom you hit isaiah weston over the top for something big and more than just a first down there's a third down mcelveen is back to throw pressure comes throws left side on through the hands of isaiah weston just over his head as it falls incomplete and you and i will be forced to punt yeah isaiah wesson open on the play but this is what little bump coverage can do sometimes you mess up the timing you disrupt that timing of the route mclvane throws it you know you practice these routes and everything is smooth and boom after three steps you release it isaiah is right there every time on the sideline completion completion completion then in the game bump coverage you get a couple of hits on isaiah weston slow him down mess up that count just a millisecond and that's what happened right there the ball came a little quicker than when isaiah weston was ready for name murphy back to punt it is a short punt bounces at the 40 and into south dakota state territory and takes a uni roll all the way down to the 37 yard line as the panthers with a four-point lead here in the second quarter you're watching uni panther football in the panther sports network from leerfield img college sponsored by casey's well panther fans locknet managed it and the uni panthers are teaming up for the community all season long for every tackle loch net managed i.t is contributing five dollars to the united way right here in the cedar valley loch net managed it's located here in the cedar valley and believe in the power of true partnership [Applause] the punt was reviewed to see if it was touched by a panther return man and it was deemed it was not that is a completion to michael morgan from granowski look at that catch by morgan yeah good hands there gronowski kind of showing some of that you know i guess greenness of a freshman had his receiver jackson uh yankee open a little bit deeper for perhaps a first down but chose to get rid of it a great catch there regardless but uh next time sometimes freshman get their eyes up to the next level and that's exactly what happened there panthers benefit from that one karnowski sends davis in motion now throws over the middle four davis into uni territory down to the 42-yard line tackled by benny sapp but isaiah davis the freshman out of joplin missouri with the reception yeah davis good route out of the backfield kind of goes untouched to call that a little bit of a texas route you go out like you go into the flat and then cut across on a little slant in the middle of the the field in between the hash marks and a great job there by gronowski finding them and a great call for a first down and past midfield and the jackrabbits look like they have something going a huge drive opportunity here after being stopped at the goal line just one possession to go gronowski's 10th completion of the game he's going to keep it go straight ahead and get tackled by sap but gets inside the 30. it's a gain of 13 for mark granowski freshman quarterback for south dakota state yeah you have to respect the run you see bronte wells out there trying to hold containment because they're such a good running team and that's what you get right there when you when you're able to prove that you can run the football everything kind of opens up gronowski it's not gonna kill you with his legs but he has enough to where you're gonna miss him if you're off you know center not reading your keys not ready for the play and they're able to catch golden eye with slipping right there he's looking to throw here on first down flushed out of the pocket and now we'll run flater can't make the tackle couvelier comes up and hangs on as sapp finishes the tackle but another 10-yard plus run for gronowski yeah great coverage there by the d-backs and that's why granowski had to take off she's feeling the pressure and gronowski able to do something with his legs caden hoff telling able to get around the edge a near sack but just not enough because gronowski is able to you know scramble just enough again and use his athleticism on the play and now on this drive he's really hurting the panthers through the running game the first drive it was strong out of the backfield this drive gronowski doing it with his arm and his feet flips it out too strong and strong gets tackled by flater inside the 10-yard line a gain of nine as it's close to another first down and bryce flater slow to get up for the panthers jeff flair looked like he's grabbing his bicep a little bit after that and then strong was reaching towards his ankle but sean looks like he's able to walk that one off later on the other hand still on the ground there's a preseason all missouri valley football conference pick led the panthers in tackles in 2019. we'll be back to check on his status after this as you're watching uni panther football on the panther sports network from learfield img college it's a one possession football game here in the second quarter shake your shoulders if you're ready for football season the uni panthers a four-point lead south dakota state trying to chip into that as bryce flater was helped off walked slowly to the sideline riley van wyde redshirt junior and that linebacker for the panthers strong gets the carry and in on that tackle spencer cavalier leading the way along with tim butcher yeah plenty of panthers rallying to the football because that's what you have to do we've seen strong break several tackles and multiple tackles on a single play and so you can't just expect the next guy to get that tackle you have to assume that he's going to make people miss because of his talent and that's what rally in the football will do but south dakota state very deadly in the red zone with multiple options with their receiving core and the ability to use strong in multiple ways second down and goal from the six yard line back to throw throwing for the back of the end zone caught touchdown jackson yankee the sophomore out of madison south dakota on the hook up from freshman qb mark granowski his first career touchdown pass yeah jackson yankee excited on that one you can see the relief he's been missed several times by gronowski and now finally good catch they're thrown behind them able to bring that in good job of finding that go-to receiver yankee with his first touchdown of the season there and gronowski putting the south dakota state jackrabbits on top here brookings south dakota going crazy i'm sure just watching this game cole from on for the extra point it is good and south dakota state's lead returns to three at 10-7 here in the second quarter and an impressive drive by the jackrabbits after the panthers had a good bunt to even up field position yeah a great job by the jackrabbits here sustaining long drives wearing out this defense long drives are key against northern iowa because then you gotta you know rotate some defensive linemen put in another linebacker for a play and that can be the play that makes the drive and we saw gronowski stay calm and heady using his athleticism when plays break down maybe he wasn't making a right read but he's able to do some damage with his legs and eventually able to just pick at the defense down after down after down and gronowski able to roll out here and because of the success on the run you have to respect his running game you can't just sit back and think that he's going to stay behind the line of scrimmage linebackers come up boom yankee in the back fills in the soft zone able to get the touchdown and that's what makes the jackrabbits so deadly is they can kind of pick you apart they're not one-dimensional they have a strength in the running backfield and at their receiving core it keeps the defense honest and sometimes it keeps the defense guessing is from set to put the boot to it the six foot five inch kicker puts it into the end zone as mcshane and nimmer's watch it go over their head and it will be uni football at the 25 yard line south dakota state scored on their opening possession the panther offense was able to respond here's a look at the 2021 mvfc pre-season poll these two teams second and third and justin the difference of just one point in that preseason poll yeah it's a tough conference uni and south dakota state trying to you know stop that rain that the bison have over there but uh this this could be a strong year for someone to do it especially with the jack rabbits or the panthers a winner from this game could be the one mclevene completes it out to his new tight end kyle fortenberry the grad transfer his first reception as a uni panther a year ago was on the john mackey award pre-season list for best tight ends the panthers really worked hard in the offseason adding players um you know not really sitting back and it was a good thing they did just because of the pandemic a lot of these teams coach folly was saying they have about 84 guys usually you have a hundred and four so a lot of teams are down because you're waiting on that freshman class next year to come in and add to it so depth is an issue for all the teams second down and six in the handoff straight ahead to mccabe nick mccabe sophomore out of caledonia minnesota now mccabe has got some experience getting into games hard-nosed running back and a good switch up from dom for tyler hoosman uh to have mccabe out there get some reps and make some plays happen uh he can definitely break some tackles and they like him in there to give don williams a breather the panthers we haven't called tyler hussman's name but the redshirt junior a good season in 2019 sharing time with trevor allen has mcelveen back to throw here on third down directed traffic now gets tackled in the backfield as the quarterback sack for south dakota state coming up with the play is adam bach the redshirt freshman out of solon iowa yeah great pressure here by south dakota state get in the face of mcleve but a really good coverage by the jack rabbits in the secondary they're being very physical with mcshane and weston weston kind of hobbled off the field on that last play but mclevane was waiting for mcshane to break free but he couldn't because of the strong coverage in the secondary and that was the difference there which led to the sack don gardner doing a great job on mcshane murphy's punt gets blocked south dakota state gets on it at the five yard line the punt and the recovery [Applause] the huge play on special teams isaiah stallberg comes up with a play yeah these are the game breakers right here you want special teams to be special that's why it has it in the name and it truly is that for the jackrabbits coming free on the block a great play defense which just came off the field not too long ago on a long sustained drive has not been able to catch their breath after that three and out and that's why it's so important for the offense even if you don't score sometimes to take some time off of that clock give your defense a rest south dakota state defense had none of that able to force that three and out in the punt and then now they're knocking on the door to blow this one open and put you and i in a big deficit early in this game they were able to take advantage of the panther defense playing without bryce flater here on the last first and goal here's the pitch to strong right side gets stood up at the five and driven backwards sander in there on the play alongside devon rice on that defensive line yeah south dakota state really trying to you know keep that running game keep the defense of northern iowa honest but they've been struggling in the red zone once everything starts really shortening the field feels tighter once you get in that red zone inside the tent you can't do as much you know strong's ability to make people miss you're not able to cut back and get those long gains because everybody's so close to you and this is a great time for south dakota state to really push ahead strong straight ahead gets tackled right away by bronte wells down at the five and it'll be third and goal as bronte wells the uni senior out of des moines iowa makes a big play here defensively yeah this is a time for the panthers again to make a stand think of what this game could be if they didn't make that fourth down stand at the goal line south dakota state's offense is really causing some problems for the panther defense and this would be a huge play obviously south dakota state going with with four wide receivers here looking to maybe have some crossing routes that could cause the defense freshman quarterback mark granowski looking to throw at a touchdown pass his last possession now he's going to try and use his feet and run for it he gets the touchdown as south dakota state extends their lead it's tough right there you know the coverage was there gronowski couldn't find anybody but his ability to use his legs and scrambles what made this play right here you see everyone's covered coverage over the top coverage underneath but gronowski finds a way a great job by the freshman to never give up and use his legs to find the end zone and that was a huge touchdown not allowing the panthers to stop them for a field goal but get that touchdown now it's a two possession game here just one and a half to go in the second quarter extra point by fromm is good 17-7 is our score a minute 24 to go in the second quarter and it all started with special teams yeah punt blocks completely kill a crowd's momentum obviously with only 15 percent capacity because of covet less people in the stands but still you feel it the teams feel it and you could tell after that block punt that the jackrabbits were ready they were you know smelling that end zone and granowski was not going to be denied a great job here to make something happen out of nothing uh great effort by the panther defense though coverage wise but the pressure just wasn't there enough off of the edge and in years past sometimes the panthers have had that pressure to get to the quarterback so they couldn't use their legs and right now gronowski is really making the panthers pay for not bringing more than four defenders towards the quarterback well last ten meetings between these two teams split it right down the middle five and five as you see a double overtime game in brookings back in 2013 there have been some good ones between these two teams 13 to 10 was the final in the playoff game a year ago and kicking it out of bounds will bring a penalty flag out giving the panthers good field position a minute 24 to play here in this second quarter justin that penalty maybe gives you a little thought if you're on the uni sideline to try and get into field goal range and get a quick score before halftime yeah that would be huge any kind of points before half would be vital for the panthers to not have to try to dig themselves out of a two possession hole now you want to be aggressive but you don't want to give south dakota state the ball with too much time left you cannot have a three and out on this drive that is something the panthers cannot do because then it could really get that snowball rolling for the jackrabbits who are in here not phased by the first game of the season being on the road in the dome the panthers have to have to get it past midfield and maybe in a field goal mcelveen to throw looking left side and completes it to quan hampton up the sideline he goes into jack rabbit's territory and out of bounds minute 16 on the clock yeah great job there a great roll out option for mclevene to run or throw delivers a bullet to hampton on the sideline hampton does a great job of not trying to do too much but getting out of bounds getting that first down getting the clock stopped and it only took eight seconds off the clock mcelveen to throw on first down over the middle completes it once again to hampton this time the clock will continue to roll just a gain of three and the panthers hurry to the line of scrimmage it's really got a good connection with hampton and notice isaiah wesson not on the field for this drive wrapping practicing penalty flag goes against uni five-yard penalty tyson kirkshaw a freshman wide receiver out of fort dodge lined up on the outside in place of isaiah weston the uni panther pre-season all-american as you see the movement there before the start of that play yeah kershaw just a freshman they liked what they s what they were able to see out of kershaw in camp which was fall camp this uh this year yeah and so he's doing some good things but obviously not in isaiah weston out there who in the off season has been plagued by lower body injuries and as we saw him limping off the field maybe something reoccurred and aggravated that so a timeout taken by the uni panthers here with 59 seconds to play well you see us inside the uni dome here a beautiful place to play when it's single digits or negative degrees outside the panthers regardless of the temperature outside they are so tough inside this building yeah and a lot of it has to do the cedar valley community the fans come in they show love they show support and the players want to provide for them a great game experience a win because you see that pride and you play for it and mark farley does a great job of instilling that in his players letting them know what it's like for the community uh what this team means what this university means to the community because mark farley has played here and coached here and lives here and so that's why you see the record kind of coincide with that pride in that admiration that the community has for the team uni head football coach mark farley was named the national coach of the year in 2007. playoffs four of the last five years mcelveen to throw throws it over the middle that's caught by williams and williams rolls to the 45-yard line the clock ticks under 50 seconds and the panthers quick to the ball for this third down they need the 38-yard line mcelveen straight back to pass flushed out of the pocket penalty flag comes out throws down field it falls incomplete but we'll check the penalty flag as mcelveen started to roll to his right penalty flag comes out a lot of times that's holding on the offense yeah when plays get you know kind of turned into something else leidman are used to blocking a certain time a certain way and then once it gets to be you know past four or five seconds they start to go downfield and find other people looks like what's wrong number 70. that penetrates the climb fourth down yeah just tough to block for that long that period of time as mcleve scrambling and rightfully so he had to get in you could see the hold right there would have been a sack more than more than likely was it preston tetzlaff coming in in the middle 46 for the jack rabbit held by trevor penning brings up fourth down and the panther punt team comes out with 28 seconds to go here in this second quarter as yankee back to receive and we'll let the ball bounce at the 11 yard line and the ball gets touched at the four as kibby tried to throw it back up towards the 10. it ends up falling into the end zone i believe this will be a touch back with 18 seconds to go it'll be south dakota state football with a 10-point lead yeah kimmy trying to you know make the play down it throw it back behind him but wasn't aware that another panther right behind him they'd like to see kimmy just kind of throttle it down and just stop right there uh but his his teammate not able to react to coverage isaiah nivers didn't didn't know that he was going to do that so this first half obviously bald not bouncing literally the panthers way um that play kind of wraps it up and shows you the panthers have come up with a turnover on the fumble recovery south dakota state getting essentially the turnover on the blocked punt that turned into a quick score and a couple late scores here in this second quarter and you see the jack rabbits with a 10-point lead 17-7 this is the 20-21 season opener for fcs college football and the uni panthers and the south dakota state jack rabbit's two top five ranked teams going head-to-head it's a 10-point game halfway home you're watching uni panthers football in the panthers sports network from leerfield img college sponsored by casey's panther fans block that managed it and the uni panthers are teaming up for the community all season long for every tackle this season lockdown managed it's contributing five dollars to the united way right here in the cedar valley loch net managed it is located here in the cedar valley and believes in the power of true partnership we get set to begin the second half as the uni panthers will be receiving the football from kicker cole fromm as back deep for you and i dion mcshane isaiah nimmers for the uni panthers sdsu took their opening possession of the football game down and got three points out of it but two touchdowns in the second quarter have the jackrabbits up 10. as mcshane watches this one slide into the end zone touchback will give you an eye of the football at the 25-yard line where will mcelveen and company come back out onto the field justin an opportunity to make some adjustments at halftime and try and find a rhythm here script a few plays for this opener yeah exactly right a lot of coaches will tell you there are two drives that are so important in the game of football it's that opening drive and then it's the opening drive after half time this one right here will go a long ways to showing that the panthers have what it takes to make a comeback against a stout defense in south dakota state and south dakota state was able to get three points on their opening possession panthers need to do at least the same will mcelveen hands it off to dom williams on first down williams shakes and bakes out to the 34-yard line a good carry on first down for dom williams to transfer in his first game for the panthers out of kansas university yeah great job there by the panthers trevor penning on the edge pinning his defender on the inside so dom can get to the outside and sometimes you need the offensive line to come out of half and say you know what put the game on our back coach and let us drive down the field it looks like they're opening with that mentality right now freshman wide receiver tyson kershaw in the game here's mcelveen flushed out of the pocket throws over the middle this is caught by kershaw kershaw across the 50 into jack rabbit's territory for a gain of 23 first down for uni nice job for the freshman just sitting down in a zone waiting for mcelveen to find him he found a soft spot stayed ready stayed alert mclevane rolls out to his right you can see 13 right there kershaw and then a good job up the field getting up the field finding open space holding on to that football and now he's kind of acclimated now his first catch of his career at uni gardner on the tackle as this is strung out to mcshane and mcshane driven out of bounds by stahlberg and you and i with positive yards for the third straight play yeah great play call in there mahappy coming out at halftime with some purpose on the offense some aggressiveness throwing the ball getting it out to your playmakers and it's going to get even tougher because isaiah weston still not on the field after halftime wasn't on the last drive for the panthers and not on this opening drive after half that's your preseason all-american not able to be used as mcelveen keeps it reaches for the 39-yard line they're going to spot him at the 40 a half yard shy of the first down mcelveen using his feet yeah great job great read there by macklevane seeing some space up the middle keeping that football you like to see the ball moving down the field and the panthers really with the exception of that pass interference call in the first quarter to weston have not taken a shot downfield they have to kind of check that secondary make them afraid a little bit with some kind of pressure on some deep throws even if you don't complete them shift to the right side gives you an eye a power package but eating that up is logan backus coming from the backside the preseason all-conference senior out of spirit lake iowa yeah two-time captain for the jack rabbits they go as he goes and then he goes fast and that was a big time play there in the backfield getting to dom just as he was getting the handoff and making sure that uh this drive gets stalled and what looked promising for the panthers now ends in a punt and you know you got to be ready you blocked one already this could be a big momentum shifter if they can get another one a third and one turns into a fourth and two so murphy punts it away calling for the fair catch is jackson yankee and south dakota states defense holds three good plays to start the third quarter for uni's offense but no points come out of it sdsu ball when we come back you're watching panther football and the panther sports network from learfield img college sponsored by casey's [Applause] uni football is brought to you by casey's try new curbside pickup casey's here for good the south dakota state jack rabbit fans that are in attendance are enjoying what they're seeing so far a 10-point lead and the football for the first time and a handoff to pierre strong who gets wrapped up by bronte wells and then gets tripped up as well as comes up with a big tackle yeah big time bronte wells grabbing on to pierre strong and not letting go that's a big time play they're backing up to jack rabbits to make it tough on them as an offense bronte wells that was that was huge an injured player down for south dakota state on the play did not see who that is down on the field timeout taken here well let's take a look and compare some of the preseason standings yeah a lot of things moving and shaking here with the valley obviously some preseason some players gone some players chose to transfer opt out of the season adding some transfers from fbs schools so a lot of moving and shaking with these teams and things like i mean if gronowski is going to play like this i mean who knew that uh you know he would be the guy opening day south dakota state picked you know uh seven uh picked to finish third in the preseason but right now taking it to the number two preseason and you've got a few teams that played in the fall north dakota state winning a football game southern illinois winning a football game missouri state going 0-3 in the fall as you see right there so really you've got a what eight-way tie for third place there is a lot of teams trying to get started uh this weekend and tell you what with two football games in the missouri valley football conference already being announced as postponed you just want to feel fortunate that you're out here watching your team play football yeah it's a privilege to be able to play this game and i mean 2020 taught us you know anything it's that you know i mean life is so precious and just to be able to play a game like this uh can take you away from all the you know the somber news that 2020 and into 2021 now has has given us and provided and taken away from us so having something given to you like football is is great to be able to be out there that was mason mccormick the sophomore out of sioux falls walking off to the sideline as back to pass is gronowski and gets bottled up that uni defense starting to come after gronowski here the freshman and this time it's bronte wells the first man there yeah bronte wells came out on fire in the second half he's really surging in the backfield tackle for loss on strong and now this sack on gronowski and a huge third down they can get a stop runs guaranteed some pretty good field position the last time the fans were able to score they were given great field position after that fumble so that's what they're going to need the defense to step up and kind of help the offense along in this game there's gronowski hands it off strong makes a man miss flater in there to make the tackle as he's back out on the football field in this second half for uni and a tackle brings up fourth down yeah big time play there getting in the backfield multiple panthers able to corral them down to force this punt and now you can bring some pressure on that punter backed up in his own end zone a lot of things can happen and you just have to make sure you don't get a penalty any roughing the punter running into the punter and you're almost guaranteed great field position for an offense that's really been struggling flag comes out false start offense number 33 pick up south dakota penalty fourth down and i think they're at the part of the field where you don't have to really be worried about bringing pressure because even an incredible punt is probably only going to get the ball to you know midfield or the the panthers 45 if he's if he's got a booming leg in blooms so bringing pressure is not going to hurt your punt return game because you don't need to be worried about that dinkle able to get it away hampton backs up to midfield oh lets it bounce and it bounces into uni territory all the way down to the 33-yard line where hampton could have made the fair catch at midfield the panther football though when we come back 9 46 to play in the third you're watching uni football on the panther sports network from learfield img college sponsored by casey's 17-7 is our score a top five battle to begin the 2021 spring season as you see the uni offense re-huddling and justin we're finding out today uni officials and making it official that uni offensive coordinator ryan mahaffey is not on the sidelines for tonight's game as it's confirmed he has accepted a job with the green bay packers as we were talking about it before the broadcast this is the time of year when the nfl fbs programs have coaching changes and already we see it affecting the uni panthers here as yeah offensive coordinator ryan mahaffia a bright young star in the coaching world back into the nfl ranks yeah my happy you know is a guy that a lot of teams want he played at uni got into coaching has a love for coach and a passion for teaching the game and uh as a february 12th brad he was on the roster as the offensive corner february 12th was the last updated roster that we received and and and you would think that a you know coach wouldn't change that much but it's a spring season like i said this is when teams go and get new coaches as of this week he was with the staff and here's a pass to hampton and caught and tackled made right away by logan backus the senior can fly to the football yeah the panthers really need to get something going i mean mcelveen percentage-wise his completion rate is solid uh nine of 14 but they're all you know three yard screen passes six yard passes they need to really stretch this defense and be a threat otherwise they're just gonna keep bringing that pressure and not respect the throwing game of the panthers third and six pressure comes on mcvein throws it over the middle that's caught by hampton and gets into jack rabbit's territory as quan hampton the junior out of texarkana texas makes the catch for the first down yeah great job mclevane seeing that blitz coming right up the middle from the jackrabbits logan logan backus coming streaking in and then able to find hampton where that linebacker was replaced by hampton because of the blitz so solid play there mcelveen hands it off williams left side and first hit paxton schaefer in there on the tackle with caleb sanders on the defensive line yeah great job there uni offense the center eric sorenson pulling on that play creating some some holes for dom and you like to see some positive gains out of the running game here for uni which they haven't had this game a couple here and there from down but solid back that he is like to see he's the type that can wear on a defense and if they can get some positivity out of that then they can really get something going on offense mcelveen back to throw throws right side once again as this is caught by hampton a spin move and then gets tackled by by backus once again yeah mclevine and hampton really have a connection here especially on these kind of box route slant route where he goes up the field and then cuts towards the middle south dakota state kind of finding themselves in a zone defense and hampton able to find that and sit down in it sometimes go right through it and mcelveen is able to get it he can get the ball out of his hands quick and avoids that pressure as well dashon gales was actually the tackler for the jackrabbits there's a handoff to nick mccabe brought down by tolu ogrindi a senior out of cottage grove minnesota mccabe getting some more reps there just a great job by the jack rabbits to break through the line and get him behind the line of scrimmage solid play there and creating a second and long situation the panthers in long down situations have not been very good today at all so they have a lot to prove on this drive here as they've crossed midfield a promising drive here for sean watson who's calling plays for the uni offense mcelveen flushed out to his right avoids the pressure throws downfield and incomplete cade turver made the initial pressure to revere rather the sophomore from brandon as mackelvein essentially threw it away in third and long now coming up for uni yeah really impressed with the jackrabbit secondary i mean we knew that they were experienced but gardner griffin noor blade taylor being physical keeping everything in front of them i mean the panther offense has not been able to get behind this secondary at all keeping everything in front of them even when it is a completion you know oftentimes it's you know six yards and not enough for the first down mcelveen back to throw the panthers need 12 over the middle that's caught by phillips and it's close to a first down he'll be a yard yard and a half shy nick phillips the fifth year senior out of iowa city with his first reception yeah another great job by the secondary i mean it's complete but it's in front of the sticks sometimes when it's third in an awkward third and 12 right third and 13. there's no routes that are really going to be that that that length but you have to try to run your route to the sticks because when that happens when you get tackled as soon as you get the catch you're short of the first down and that is something that uh you know experience can can happen and you learn that over time but uh you know great throwing catch but now it's fourth and short and it's not enough for the first down and the timeout taken by uni football coach mark farley as the uni panthers will talk it over and we will take a break 17-7 is our score the panthers threatening here in the third quarter this is uni panther football in the panthers sports network from leerfield img college sponsored by casey's five and a half minutes to play in the third quarter the uni panthers with a fourth and short had the offense on the field and now they come out with the field goal unit as matthew cook the sophomore from cedar falls iowa has the ball ready to be spotted at the 33-yard line making this a 43 yard field goal as he has been hitting some long kicks in his time as a panther and that one is true a 43-yarder the first field goal of the season for matthew cook started with a 50-yarder a season ago as a freshman at iowa state but pulls you and i within one possession yeah cook like you said sure-footed kicker now just 10 made field goals away from breaking into the top 10 all time in uni football history so they're going to need them today one possession game now that field goal was big when you have a strong defense like the panthers have or south dakota state has when you won possession away you're in the game because you know your defense can create a turnover and get a pick a tip a tip pick uh strip sack create some kind of havoc and we've seen it a lot in the dome when the crowd gets going and the defense gets that momentum ears pinned back this is a big drive for both teams right here an answer for the jackrabbits or a big stop for the panthers as we see the stats here for both teams the panthers trying to even things up a little bit lopsided in favor of south dakota state that first half so you like that decision make sure you get some points when you're in a position to do so yeah i think so uh getting points right now is great because like i said you're only one possession down you're going to get the ball back i mean plenty of time to score a touchdown but right now is not the time to maybe risk it and then still be two possessions down cook kicks it off and meacham takes it to the back of the end zone takes a knee south dakota state will begin at the 25 yard line and jack rabbit is slow to get up as thomas matzko a linebacker playing on special teams a little slow to get up we've had a few injuries a few guys that we haven't seen return in this football game and justin that's something to think about too is you've been 14 15 months from a football game just to see where are you at as far as gain shape as we take a look at the schedule coming up here in the spring this is south dakota state's schedule opening at uni here and then on the road at new missouri valley football conference member north dakota before a couple of home games to start march yeah you think you know oh game season opener and you're the jack rabbits and you go to uni the number you know three ranked team in the country for fcs and you think okay well they're ranked high if we do lose it's not a big deal well it doesn't get any easier in the valley no not at all if you can pull off a win even though it's a highly ranked team it's almost a must win north dakota has been in the playoffs they're a new team to the valley but they're not a new team to being in the playoffs western illinois always plays tough uh youngstown state good thing that the jack rabbits you know have them at home that's going to be extremely tough place to play especially in february where the panthers have to go next week but then southern illinois ranked team i mean obviously north dakota state you got to find wins some way in some fashion it's going to require beating some top teams because the valley conference is so hard north dakota state the reigning national champion towards the end of the season a big one there in the north dakota state south dakota state battle as the jack rabbits with the football here in the third and gronowski just throws this one away and lives to see another day freshman quarterback making some good decisions here today in his college debut yeah not trying to force anything not tucking in running when he didn't really have a lane you know sometimes guys will you know try to make a big play and that's when the fumbles come in when you try to cut it back from the sideline instead of going out of bounds or instead of throwing the ball away so great play there by gronowski hail they're still second and third down sometimes guys that want to make the big play they forget about that they want it all at once that first down they're showing pressure here on second down they drop out of it gronowski keeps the football goes straight ahead a gain of three and tackled by isaiah nimmers great job there by the panthers creating some pressure inside internally in the front seven was huge there gronowski not able to get into a rhythm and just a little you know a touch there creating some loss of momentum for garnowski and not able to use his legs like he has been in that first half where he was dangerous now third and seventh situation tough to run the football so you become a little more one-dimensional now it's up to the defense to really get that coverage right and maybe get some pressure on granowski and not let him pick up this first down with his legs 15 capacity crowd making a little noise granowski rolling left looking to throw throws downfield and it's incomplete nearly picked off by austin evans but south dakota state will be forced to punt yeah stout stand there by the defense jared brickman coming hard off the spin getting a hit getting a quarterback hurry and almost a pick right there in games like this obviously any time you have a shot at an interception goodin getting so close can can be huge because that offers great field position but a good job of forcing this punt and the panthers again with a very important drive and with an offense that hasn't scored a touchdown uh for since the first quarter ben dinkled the punt it's dion mcshane back on the punt return this time for the uni panthers fourth and seven the snap is good the kick is away by dinkling an end over end kick and it bounces straight up and will hold up at the 37 yard line where the uni panther offense and sophomore quarterback will mcelveen back out onto the field let's take a look at that uni panther football schedule coming up going on the road next weekend at youngstown state returning home to the dome on march 6th and that's southern again it just does not get easy you don't have any easy weeks in the valley yeah tough road schedule um obviously you don't have youngstown state isn't the team that they've you know had where they're knocking on the door of national championships but the ice castle is literally going to be the ice castle this year in february i mean it is it is ice cold literally there right now so much snow that's going to be a tough game next week mcelveen throws it out to mcshane mcshane makes a man miss and gets drugged down by gardner dion mcshane with the reception for uni yeah great job just trying to pick this defense apart you can't really get over the top because you don't have isaiah weston right now so finding a guy that's why mcshane is so important with his ability after the catch you can throw a screen you can throw a four yard five yard route and he can make some guys miss and turn it into a 10 yard gain so that kind of makes up for the lack of being able to throw it deep right now that was stalberg on the tackle as mcelveen back to throw once again and throws another strike as hampton comes up with another catch for uni yeah also very important to keep just kind of being an offense that's kind of nagging on this defense just being annoying pestering them up front with short stuff then force those safeties to come up and that's when you can maybe catch him sleeping and hit him with a double move and over the top to catch him really eager to make a play and that's i think what the panthers are going to have to do to try to you know get those safeties of respect underneath routes reception number seven for quan hampton here's a handoff to williams left side goes up over the top going over gardner and it's a uni first down yeah this is going to be a big game for the offensive line for the panthers they're going to have to have these long drives it's probably not going to be one big play on the offensive side it looks like that's going to put the panthers back into this game but it will be the offensive line the guys that you know big bodies up front the earth movers that are just trying to create lanes give mclevane some time against the south dakota state defense and because the secondary is so strong they're doing a tremendous job against these panther wide receivers nick mccabe in at running back for uni as mcelveen hands it off to mccabe back to the line of scrimmage nice tackle by preston tetzloff out of that linebacker position his dad kevin an all-american football player at south dakota state is in the jack rabbit's hall of fame 6-2 215 pounds senior out of brookings south dakota yeah great pedigree a lot of passion for the school runs deep runs in his blood literally the jack rabbits are happy to have him out there making plays as a legacy for the jack ravens mcelveen on second down looking to throw he's been doing it with his arm today hampton made the catch oh my goodness a scary fall onto the turf for hampton landing right on his head went up for the catch yeah hampton is undercut skied for the ball headed in his hands defender going to you know make the tackle like you're often told to and just undercutting hampton and unfortunately just the awkward way to land look away if you've got a squeezy stomach twisting his body too landing on the side of his helmet you can tell him squeezing his fist right away making sure everything is all right but that's a scary nasty looking fall yeah and as a receiver when you're up in the air like that you know you can't control how you land that's the worst part about it when you get your legs taken out from you i mean you reach out for the ball you can't let go you don't want to let go of the ball to be able to brace with your hands down because you want to make the catch and you're upside down all of a sudden in the snap of a finger because you've been undercut kwon hampton the junior out of texarkana transfer from kansas a couple receptions in 2019 and i don't want to see that play any more than i have to there as you see hampton getting tended to by the medical staff all precautions will be taken after a fall like that and man just seeing him sit up on his own that is a great sign you see head football coach mark farley out there checking on his his first year panther yeah out there right away obviously cares about these guys and you know wants them first to be you know healthy and that's you know what ultimately what he cares about and then the winning comes after but you can really tell how much farley just cares about his guys some coaches stigglemeyer out there too for south dakota state two class sacks right there as head coaches and he is up walking on his own as you see a lot of panthers coming up checking on him quan hampton kind of brings a little leadership to this young offense and you can see so many guys coming up and checking on him yeah and he's it seems to have a great relationship with mclevine whenever mcelveen's been in trouble boom that's where he goes to right over the middle little slant routes little flat routes getting it to hampton and he's been a big part of this offense so now you're looking at the panther offense and when the game started you got isaiah weston in in hampton and mcshane now weston's out hampton's out so now you're looking at the depth and you're going to your fifth sixth seventh receivers who are now on the field got kershaw in the game nick phillips in the game as well and phillips with the reception but the tackle made by manchega for the defense a big play there jack rabbits forcing the third and fourth in on the third and long getting the stop there so now the panthers forced to where they are in the field to go for three here i think the field goal unit well it's gonna be it's gonna be tough but you know they have the leg to do it but a huge stop that's why that stop was so important for the jack rabbits because this is a really long field goal and if he's able to you know get this three it's gonna be you know one of the longer ones he'll he'll have the season he made a 50-yarder at iowa state here's a 51-yarder high snap is there enough leg this is close it was just short matthew cook didn't quite have the perfect snap and hold on that one and almost enough leg yeah a little bit of a high snap there which delays some of the timing um for the panthers nick simpson the long snapper on that one great job by the holder to get that down murphy but just about a yard or two short and and this is you know they say it's cliche it's a game of inches it's a game of yards think about it if the panthers would have completed a pass just two yards further or they missed that tackle and cook has a two yard shorter field goal and that's in and that's how how big each and every play can be so south dakota state's defense comes up with a stand and holds on to their seven point lead for now carry straight ahead strong with the run couvelier with the tackle strong one of those running backs you know with that speed and that power and agility and and you're a defense that's maybe tired in the fourth quarter i mean you do not want to see the running back like strong because he is able to make people miss when you are fresh think about in the fourth quarter when you're tired and you've been making big plays and your shoulder's a little sore your legs are sore and you have to go and tackle a guy that's so quick and agile like strong is it can be it could be real tough in the fourth quarter for the panthers if they let this one get out of hand 70 yards now on the day for pierre strong and he gets the carry here on second and short finds a first down and increase out the left side penalty flag comes out as austin evans makes the tackle as strong wiggles forward for 15. we'll check the penalty flag as it looks like it's coming back off number 77. 10 yard penalties from the spot at the foul boy now and that could have been a backbreaker right there especially uh you know heading into this third quarter that big time that one two step there makes bronte wells miss and he's almost off to the races getting past midfield but huge penalty for the jackrabbits not only does that negate that play but now you're extremely backed up and you're almost forced to you know start to go to the air and some of the strength for the panthers is that past defense and that's what you don't want to be going up against if your south dakota state 100 yards rushing and 100 yards passing for south dakota state as we are through three quarters the jackrabbits a seven point lead in the unidom you're watching uni panthers football on the panther sports network from learfield img college [Applause] [Music] 17-10 as we begin the fourth quarter alongside justin surrency i am brad wells a top five battle to open the 2021 spring fcs football season for the panthers and the jack rabbits pierre strong tackled by spencer cuvelier as strong's been having a good game and couvelier is starting to show up in your frame a lot here in the second half yeah the panther defense is really starting to you know corral the jackrabbits on offense you know pair strong not having the prolific game that he started looking like he was really good opening drive exactly and obviously that he had the great run but then was negated by the holding so big penalty there to kind of knock strong's momentum and this is a big third down for the panthers it's a real big one as heinz goes in motion and gronowski looking to throw has plenty of time and tipped away by bauer and that would have been a uni interception had king and bauer the freshman not got his hands on that football yeah two crazy things about this play one is bad pass by gronowski because it should have been a completion and then the second one had it not been tipped because of the bad pass that's an interception so uh both teams kind of get lucky on that play there now punt and the panthers with the chance to tie this game up after being extremely sluggish on offense but the defense carrying the team right now dinkle the punt panthers bring pressure he gets it away as mcshane gives chase and it gets angled towards the sideline and falls out of bounds the panthers will begin at the 32 yard line the offense comes out when we come back 17-10 is our score in the fourth quarter this is unh panther football on the panther sports network from leerfield img college sponsored by casey's changes tv from cedar falls utilities get connected to the power of service panther football here first and ten completion two dion mcshane that's a gain of seven second and three yeah it's not getting any easier for the panther offense besides just having to deal with this tough jack rabbit defense now you're without you know some of your your key players hampton who we don't see on this drive after taking that crazy fall we hope he's all right but he had 65 yards receiving the whole team for the panthers only 168 he's nearly 40 percent of the offensive production off the field mcshane becomes that next favorite target as that was his fourth reception of this football game and that carry is enough for the first down for dom williams as in on the tackle cayden johnson the freshman at oahu nebraska now the jackrabbit defense will have some some chances here i mean they've got a secondary that's real pass happy they can get a pick real quick and and make some changes to the game and really shut out the panthers because the panthers are going to have to throw the football and their strength is their defensive secondary mcelveen to throw gets flushed to his left he's on the run and heads towards the sideline getting chased by clinton hicks a sophomore out of wichita kansas swiping at the feet of mcelveen yeah great job by mcelveen by just getting some positive yards moves out of the pocket it's caught from behind there but you know definitely better than a second and ten now that it's you know second and eight get a couple of yards and you know maybe you can make something happen better than a loss for sure but this jackrabbit defense not letting mcleven get very much when he does take off and run second down and eight mcelveen two receivers stacked to each side back to throw looking to his right and it's in and out of the hands of tyson kershaw the freshman out of fort dodge yeah great throw there by michael vain getting out it's a tough throw from the left hash towards the numbers and he's got the arm strength to do it right there typically a catch that kershaw will make um and panther fans will see him make many great catches that's one he wishes he could have back again we talked about depth right 84 players suited up for this game farley says they usually have about 104 you don't have those incoming freshmen you lose some seniors who decided you know move on with their careers didn't play in the fall so i'm going to graduate and i've got other things that i need to do i'm not going to play football anymore and and you're left with you know some inexperienced players and you don't have isaiah weston out there here's the third down mcelveen gets slung to the turf that's ogrindi the senior on the tackle big time pressure there that one panthers looked like they had some stuff going there the drop pass that would have been a first down but still getting open the receivers were getting open having some some luck in the backfield but when you have pressure like that there's not much mclvane can do he's a sitting duck and the pressure was big time they dialed it up the jackrabbit's doing a great job and now the chances are getting slimmer and slimmer for you and i and you just got to put more workload on the defense who's been saving the panthers in the second half back to punt nate murphy rolls to his right boots it away a high short punt bounces at the 30. and the panthers surround it as it bounces inside the 20-yard line our south dakota state's offense will have the football with 11 23 to play in a seven point lead 17-10 you're watching uni panthers football on the panther sports network from learfield img college sponsored by casey's 17-10 south dakota state with the lead over the uni panthers on the panthers home turf inside the unit home in cedar falls iowa gronowski to throw on first down and that falls incomplete looking for jaden yankee the sophomore the twin brothers the two yankee brothers three receptions 38 yards total between the two big targets though for gronowski in this offense they really are size and speed they bring a winning mentality three-time high school state champs out of madison high school so they're bringing a little pedigree there gronowski not able to hit him going across the middle had him open once again those crossing routes giving gronowski a little bit of trouble he's got guys open but you know in the panthers defense they're happy that those are not connecting right now karnowski an empty backfield looking to throw on second down rolls to his left and goes into corby sander who puts his shoulder into him a gain of four for gronowski on the scramble yeah solid tackle there by sander again just a a great plus added to the panther defense having him back for this spring season stopping gronowski from getting some added yardage which he was able to pick up at ease it seemed like in the first half now a third and sixth situation here for this defense and it is something they need to kind of drum up some support some momentum for the offense and sometimes you can do that with a big play on third down and get that offense going when they need some kind of spark on offense the defense is bringing it tonight they need offense to do the same it's just a one possession game gronowski's pass incomplete tried to thread the needle cuvelier and sap defending yeah it looked like the jack rabbits had two guys in the same place one of them jaden yankee and then maybe the tight end pines yeah heinz right there usually that means that somebody ran the wrong route should have went in when they went out but uh that obviously created some confusion but a big play sap coming up huge forcing this punt and you need a big return if you're the panthers or some good field position now we saw a little bit of a weird uh situation with mcshane uh letting a punt return go over his head he's been back there since hampton was back on that punt return mcshane fields this one at the 42 and maybe a face mask penalty flags come out mcshane rolls to the 50-yard line and gets hit along the sideline a good return by mcshane and potentially some yards being added as the flags came out right is there a face mask here [Applause] absolutely yes and that's going to be just as good as a big pump return right there getting those penalties that 15-yarder getting the ball past midfield for the panthers and you're right yeah hampton was in that phone returner this is mcshane who is filling in but hampton was the one that let it go over his head going to foul return mask piggy team that 15 yard penalty is enforced from the end of the run first down kinser madison whistled for the personal foul so at 15 yards on the end of the run and the panther offense starts at the 35 yard line and this one play a momentum swing we saw it for south dakota state in that first half with the punt block that set up the short field now you and i an opportunity to return the favor in the fourth quarter yeah and you only get so many you can't let it squander the panthers have got to make something happen out of this drive here's mclevane faking the handoff to williams looking to throw he's looking deep going for mcshane in the end zone and it falls in the turf penalty flag sitting at the 11 yard line as mcshane was bumped off of his route yeah this is why sometimes you take chances deep you've been hitting them underneath hitting him underneath and then you take something and they're used to coming up and stopping a pass but now you go deep and then you get a little tug you get caught off guard if you're a defender in the jack rabbit secondary because they've gone so many times holding defense number 21 that 10 yard penalty is a force from the previous spot automatic first down goes down as a holding penalty that great play fake there by mcleve draw up some of those safeties and then kind of catch him sleeping because you've done the play action and then hit the five and six yard underneath route so many times throughout the game throughout the third three quarters now it's the fourth quarter take a shot deep never know what can happen williams in the backfield he's gonna get the carry on first down and runs right into the jackrabbit helmet of preston tetzloff now great tackle there by tesla squaring up dom williams and playing them right back in the ground oh excuse me that was no spalding leading the way got to give spaulding some credit that was a great tackle coming up stuffing them right at the line of scrimmage that's how you make a form tackle right there try to stop some momentum for the panthers 9 33 to go in the fourth quarter mcelveen direct in offense the panthers already in field goal territory but looking for the first down mcshane the intended receiver that was knocked up and dangerous the panthers lucky it falls in complete yeah sometimes we're a little too eager and we've seen it a lot today with the panther offense mackleman throwing high throwing and sometimes they like to say the quarterbacks they're just a little little too eager a little too much juice and you throw those errand passes obviously i mean 344 days right michael van's trying to you know put balls through the receiver's chest by throwing showing off that cannon but you just gotta you know gather yourself calm down he's got the arm to make the throws we just got to put him in the right position but we've seen a lot sail high on him today mcelveen looking to throw third and 10 uni needing a first down to keep this drive alive throws out into the flats it's caught by nick phillips but short of the first down it will make the field goal easier for the panthers as they'll be able to get three not seven here yeah richard trying to make something happen trying to keep it alive mclevin creating the new pocket scrambling it out and finding his receiver just a couple of yards short of the first down would like to have that first down but hey cutting into this lead and you get a field goal and then you know you hope that your defense can make yet another stop and give you a chance to win this game made of 43 yarder missed a 51-yarder here is matthew cook the snap is good the hold looks good and the field goal finish is right down the middle for matthew cook and the uni panthers are on the board here in the second half 17-13 chipping into that jack rabbit's lead 8 35 to play you're watching uni panthers football on the panther sports network from leerfield img college sponsored by casey's the uni panthers put a field goal on the board a 35 yard field goal for matthew cook his second of the game he's two for three missed a 51-yarder left it just short but has the uni panthers now within four from the goal line south dakota state brings it out meecham out across the 25 yard line and the jack rabbit offense back out on the field a penalty flag out back near the 35 where you and i kicked it off from offside kiki team number 48 that five-yard penalty is enforced from the end of the run first down so they can tack the five yards on to the end of the run south dakota state will begin at the 32 yard line well the spring football season justin it's now in full sprint in full swing excuse me join us in two weeks back here in the dome as uni takes on illinois state in a classic mvfc football battle kickoff at 4 p.m join us online earlier for an in-depth pregame show brought to you by cedar falls utilities a little more pregame analysis from justin cerncy and myself i'm brad wells we are glad you're joining us and we are glad to have some football to watch here this evening season opener for the missouri valley football conference this spring this season is strong running so hard he's lost his shoe a couple times now speedy and agile like that you know sometimes you just cut too fast for the shoes you know they're not made for athletes like him apparently but uh yeah got those low-cut shoes for the turf looks like his lineman just stepped on the foot there luckily he was all right didn't get caught up or rolled or anything but uh here strong having a wonderful day over 80 yards rushing and a guy that uh you know has the ability to like we said change change the dynamics of a game in one place so he could blow it open with one big run second down here strong straight ahead blows it straight up the middle for six yards just brings a power to his game but he's got some speed as well if he gets out in some space yeah he ran track in high school as well back in arkansas where he's from surprise obviously that you know teams like central arkansas or or arkansas state didn't pick them but the jack rabbits are thrilled right hey you want to look you're going to overlook this guy we'll take him thousand yards as a freshman thousand yards as a sophomore like you seriously only the seventh running back for south dakota state to do that in the history of their program and the missouri valley has strong defenses so incredibly more remarkable to do that 19 tds those first two seasons as well gronowski loses the football and the panthers trying to fall on it and picking it up as benny sapp panther football inside the 20. the ball tends to find its way to a sap in the uni dome right his dad back in 2003 big time plays in this dome now he makes one of his own with his fumble recovery but the defense like we said carrying this team right here making offense from their defense jared brookman pre-season all-america player right there getting to the quarterback only a matter of time like we said if you keep it a one possession game the panthers have a defense that can get you right back in it and the same with the jack rabbit's defense i mean they have a defense they can get you right back in it too they have the lead now but the panthers come away with a big one and this is just what they needed now they need to punch it in a field goal after field goal is is not going to beat the jack rabbits you have to capitalize in the end zone it's going to be tough without their playmakers on offense but they have to do it remember jared brinkman's dad a former uni panther football player as well second generation coming up with a big play as williams gets flung down good defensive pursuit as the jackrabbit front seven trying to stand strong here against this panther front yeah it's tough to do that quick change you know a lot of offensive quarters like to go for a big play because of that quick change the defense has to run out on the field and there's a lot of confusion and chaos but a great job jack rabbits were ready just corralling the running back there it's as stout front seven that the jack rabbits have and proving that they're not just a pass defense that can stop you they stop you on the run as well graham spaulding the redshirt freshman another positive play on defense second and along mcelveen looking to throw he's throwing right side a jersey tug on kershaw and a penalty flag comes out yeah got to take some chances downfield against this defense even though they have a great secondary because they're just gonna if you're one dimensional going underneath but you got a good chances even though he's good he's gonna grab if he gets beat od defense number one penalties or force from the previous spot automatically interference an automatic first down as he had his right hand inside the shoulder pads and mcelveen could tell he just has a motor he wants to go yeah and you're bringing up because of the the lack of downfield throwing the defensive backs are coming up close and tight to press coverage they do not respect the panthers over the top for the deep pass and that's why that that attempt even though it wasn't completed it worked so well because they weren't expecting a deep play first and ten from the 13. mcelveen to throw wants to go back to kershaw touchdown tyson kershaw and that's why they liked what they saw so much in fall camp giving tyson kershaw an opportunity now they didn't think that it would have to come in the fourth quarter of this game just because you have weston and you have hampton but next man up mentality cursed shot showing that he is ready for the big stage as a freshman coming in here against the top secondary with the fade route to put the panthers up late against number five team in the country here in the fcs and the jack rabbits now gotta compose themselves quick get on the field they have to make something happen can't get too down because you're still in this game with just under six minutes left but a great throw and catch by the freshman kershaw from mcelveen to give the panthers a lead beating daishon gales on the play the panthers in front the extra point from cook is good and you and i now in front 20 to 17. the third ranked uni panthers trying to defend their home turf first the pass interference called on lofton and the panthers went right back to kershaw the 6-3 freshman from fort dodge finds the end zone dodging his way past the d-backs the fort dodge dodger great play there and showing that there should be many bright days ahead for that young man farley calls him tk so i'm sure everyone's going to get accustomed to his nickname by now but earlier in the season he was running scout team because they weren't even sure if he would be able to play as a freshman and he was one of the few scout team players just uh creating you know whatever south dakota state's offense was doing that's how he was helping prep the defense throughout this this uh this spring winter whatever you want to call it but now he's scoring touchdowns against that team so much more than a scout team player and when you get the call you have to be ready i'm sure heading into this game didn't know if he would even get onto the field and get throws throws uh in his direction but he proved that he was ready and prepared and that's something a lot of young guys aren't ready for they think oh i'm not gonna get in the game i'm okay i can just chill and just cheer my guys on but he got his head in the playbook and it paid off see nick ellis logan wolfe congratulating the young freshman on the touchdown and giving the uni panthers the lead here with six minutes to play in the fourth quarter it started with the defense as it was jared brinkman knocked the ball away from gronowski recovered by benny sapp the third and then it was mcelveen to kershaw in the end zone yeah and it shows on that play just how hard work the hard work that pays off brinkman misses the quarterback he's on the ground doesn't stay there gets up finds the quarterback and bats it away uh the second and third effort you know you don't become a preseason on america just you know by chance it's effort it's working that play showed the effort and work that rickman puts into making the big plays he was our cfu panther watching there showing why he's one of the best returning defensive linemen well strong in the south dakota state offense now playing from behind for the first time in this second half couvelier with the tackle as there's gonna be a lot of eyeballs and tacklers heading towards number 20. yeah this is mark farley does such a good job if if they are fortunate enough to have a lead the panther defense it's like a shark in the water they swarm right once they have a lead they can be aggressive they can take some more chances and they you just feel like you're suffocated you feel like you have 12 13 defenders out there if they have the lead that's why it's so important to get an early lead on the panthers but come back davis in the backfield the throw goes out to the flats to jackson yonke another completion for gronowski so five minutes to go justin you're expecting a few more passes but you can't still run the ball here yeah especially when you have someone like strong in the elusiveness that he has you know he can turn a play that's supposed to be two yards into 80. i mean they're in a unique situation here it's third and two and most teams you know little dicey gets a run defense like the panthers to hand it off but you can with strong because you know that not only can we get you two yards he can take this one to the house off of just one cut gronowski sends morgan in motion and the panthers jump south dakota states going to get a first down off this penalty there is a discussion though offside defense number 41 with contact that five yard penalty results in the first down couvelier jumping and then the movement from the offensive line while he's still in the neutral zone uncharacteristic there for the panthers for brinkman but that's kind of why sometimes on third and short we like to give a little movement little motion it gets it gets the defense nervous they're trying to you know time the snap they're trying to get that sprint off with the ball and you start moving guys around and that can happen [Applause] gronowski to throw throws it into the flats looking for strong bobbled it caught it brought it in at the 31 or excuse me the 41 yard line nice hands here by strong yeah great job double catching this ball strong took his eyes off it then got his eyes back on it and able to get some positive yards there second down seven to go pierre strong 79 rushing yards also has three receptions for 27 yards so he's 100 over a hundred yards from scrimmage and is in the backfield here on second and long john gronowski's had some guys open on some earlier drives and missed them so you got to be careful if you're the panther defense strong gets the carry right side big opening and he's close to a first down out to the 48-yard line that will move the chain sander in on the tackle south dakota state doing a great job moving the football the offensive line for the jackrabbits who came into this game with just two returning offensive starters proving their worth and showing that they are ready for the big stage despite not having that type of experience and your quarterback situation too you had jabori gibbs listed as the starter keaton heidi the backup those two unavailable due to injuries gronowski gets the start and has played the entire game throws this one out to yankee as this is jackson yankee across midfield down to the 46 it's a gain of five on first down yeah gronowski you know i mean this worked out but if he puts that in front of yankee he has more time to run up field and gain more speed and see that tackler coming at him i think that was corby sander where he could maybe stiff arm or jump over him and that's just the difference by where you place that football giving your receiver time to have some run after the catch every little you know play like that especially in crunch time like this it means a lot and just that little throw behind slowed down yankee from gaining more steam and possibly even picking up the first down second down and five gronowski keeps it flips it to strong gets hit by sapp right away that's a loss of two on the play good pursuit by sack from the backfield great read and recognition from sap the transfer from the university of minnesota the former gopher comes up big time and a great job holding on to that ball by strong a lot of people wouldn't be able to have that strength in their hands they dropped that and they might have been a fumble if you would have lost that one there's brexflater once again slow to get up he left the game in the second quarter with a shoulder injury and there you seen another look at strong's catch sapp with the tackle [Applause] and flater [Applause] working through his right shoulder he may not quite be a hundred percent just yet yeah i hate to see that you know flater such a strong presence on the defense and uh i mean to to have an injury it's such a big game any game after not being able to play in the fall and not knowing what was going to happen with this unprecedented year it's an unprecedented season spring football games in february uh you know you don't like to see anyone get hurt from any amount of time and we've had some injuries on both sides of the football already you can see the frustration that it brings wait 14 months for this over 400 days since the last football game for both of these teams and now the final 220 flater exits third down and five for south dakota state's offense granowski looking to throw the double pump and heine beats the defense heinz breaks a tackle inside the five zack heinz the sophomore tight end a huge reception here for 40 yards and it's first and goal yeah the pressure that they brought just left heinz wide open he did a little flat and up and with the pressure you have one less guy in coverage and thinking that he's going to go in the flats when you know i think maybe austin evans had the flat but then he goes up and changes that route and leaves a wide open luckily for the panthers they're at least able to chase him down now the defense has held strong on the goal line we saw the jack rabbits early in that first half go for it on fourth down they were stopped so the panthers are going to have to use all they can and try to recreate some of that magic if they want to keep from going into a deficit and hopefully just force a field goal a minute 25 and south dakota state calls a time-out as they let the play clock wind down well mark granowski the freshman quarterback comes up with the biggest reception of the game right here as he finds his sophomore tied in the big guy 6-7 260. zach heinz coming at you too much for sander tackle by nimmers saves the touchdown but first and goal now from the three yeah great for the jack rabbits great play call there get a little double move action uh south dakota state just like the panthers haven't been throwing deep that much this game and so underneath pumps are going to be working for those safeties to draw them up and that's what they're able to do let's look at some red zone efficiency from a season ago the defenses both holding pretty strong the offenses both over 75 as well something's got to give here in the season opener of 2021 the spring season for fcs football first game of the year for the university of northern iowa and south dakota state [Music] as gronowski in the shotgun has strong behind him he gets the carry straight ahead strong down to the one and they mark him at the half yard line second down and gold coming up just inches away yeah great tackle there evans getting low lowering those pads perfect tackle stopping him short and of course for the jackrabbits you have plenty of opportunities here and they're going to run this clock down the clock ticking to under a minute now the uni panthers two timeouts left play clock down to ten south dakota state may use one of their two remaining timeouts as well and think this one over and they do after the play clock gets down under two so the uni panthers with a three point lead it was south dakota state scored first at the start of the game opening possession three points went up on the board the panthers responded with a touchdown and then two touchdowns in the second quarter from south dakota state it was a 17-7 lead at halftime the panthers have gone on to score 13 here in this second half have the lead but south dakota state knocking on the door right now yeah the defense for the panthers really set up the offense in this game and they've been able to crawl their way back into this football game and get that three-point lead but the jack rabbits i mean not giving up they put themselves in a position here 37 seconds left it's only second down and you're on the goal line you have one of the best running backs in all of fcs football and you think you have to just give him the ball and put this game on your offensive line to get lower and move the line of scrimmage 50 the jackrabbits heinz and morgan the two tight ends on the left side handoff to strong goes left side and he gets stopped second effort still going they're gonna mark him at the one-yard line a defensive goal line stand on second down and third down coming up as a timeout taken immediately now by south dakota state yeah strong tried to go up and over he saw sap close that hole great job of getting into that gap early and forcing strong to try to take an alternative route and no go there strong stop for the panthers a number of defenders just trying to stop him and cayden katie hoffman team huffington yep um just getting in there off the edge how telling did a good job of holding strong back after sap was able to stop the gap and that's what they're gonna need another another situation like this now both teams doing a poor job on third down efficiency south dakota state just three for 11 in this game so the defense is holding strong and we saw like we said in the first half a fourth down stand at the goal line by the panthers defense so they've done this once before obviously they're hoping they can do it again jackrabbit's hoping that that trend breaks uni head coach mark farley a former uni linebacker back in the 80s looking for another big play from his defense strong to the left of gronowski a shift by the offense three receivers right side kranowski's going to throw for it into the flats and wide open is strong in south dakota state takes the lead with 19 seconds left [Applause] big time play by strong gives them the little lebron james in the end zone potential game winner in his mind right there silences the crowd here with 19 seconds to go south dakota state takes the 23-20 lead and with the leg of uni kicker matthew cook a very important extra point here for cole frohm and the jackrabbits and some confusion here on special teams play clock down to five coach stiglemeyer says take the five yard penalty or get it straightened out here i might have only had 10 guys on the field there exactly right so they'd run an extra offensive lineman onto the field garrett greenfield is going to come in fill the gap cole from has come on where the kicking duties was one for two in field goals in 2019 just one for one in pats replacing chase finitari a six foot five inch 225 pound kicker and he boots it through to make it a very important four-point lead now for south dakota state where you and i wouldn't need a touchdown to come back and win yeah exactly and they're going to need to have a special kickoff return here i think if you're the panthers obviously you got to put dionne mcshane back there a guy that you know can really make something magical happen on the return somehow make sure that he can get the football it's probably your most athletic dynamic guy with the ball in his hands and you hope something could happen i mean crazy things have happened with less than 19 seconds left especially in these missouri valley football games we've had cole frohm kick it off out of bounds as well that would give uni the football at the 40-yard line which would be great field position now just 19 possession 19 seconds left so a lot needs to happen on this possession for the uni panthers to take it all the way to the end zone and on the offensive side you don't have to go for the home run on the first play on first down if this is a touch back you know there's still 19 seconds left give yourself some time but incompletions when you're trying to throw it down the field lead to you know fourth and ten because you're not you're not gaining any positive plays from kicks it off it's a high short kick coming up making the fair catch at the 36 yard line is uni panther linebacker eric mooney a former wide receiver so you and i not too bad field position here still a long way to go yeah and and that's a you know smart play you never know what could happen the guy who's not used to feeling the football drops it uh you know isn't aware of his surroundings and you know just decides to not fair catch it and then takes a big hit but that's kind of the effect of having a dion mcshane back there too they don't want to kick it off because they know what can happen if the ball gets in his hands so it forces them to do a little pop kick and you do get some decent field position now hopefully you know if you're the panthers you're trying you're not trying to pick up the you know the whole play in one down here's mcelveen back to throw steps up it's gonna try and run for what he can gets to the 40-yard line and you and i has to burn a time-out as the pocket started to collapse behind him he stepped up had nowhere to go with it yeah and that's what's tough when you send everybody streaking down the field on first down with 19 seconds left macklevane gets pressure he's got to step up in the pocket and try to run and he can't get out of bounds i mean you see everybody down the field running 15 yards and sometimes all you need is a quick 10 yard out trying to you know and that takes maybe three seconds off the clock and you're moving down the field now you have to waste the time out and it's still second and second and eight second and seven so it's tough it's a tough situation for any play caller but you know you really are you know got your back against the wall in any type of situation 13 seconds here looking if you're looking at completed passes you're looking at maybe you got time for three of them if they're quick once they'll be quick right to the sideline which the jack rabbit's defense will allow you to have right now three receivers left side mcelveen looking that way he's looking deep he's gonna take off and run once again looking for the sideline he can't get there and you and i will have to burn their final timeout but that play took a lot of time only four seconds left and the panthers now down to their final play yeah mcavee really i mean if you're going to scramble you have to be aware of clock and distance in the situation throw it out of bounds you cannot you cannot take a hit in in the field of play and there should always be some kind of safety valve you can send people back but just for this case he sees pressure where is somebody eight yards down the field just to have something and it doesn't have to be the big 30 yard play but if you could be at midfield or the 45 with four seconds left i mean macklevane you have a legit shot at running a regular play for a touchdown now backed up to the you know uh 43 yard line it's uh it's gonna take quite an arm now he has it but it's more of a hail mary than an actual you know post corner route or a deep fade three defensive backs for south dakota state stand back at the 10 yard line and the throw out into the flats for dom williams who was not looking it falls in complete penalty flag out it's a holding penalty against the uni panthers and that will be how the game will end south dakota state comes into the unidom and steals a victory to open the season 24-20 over the uni panthers we'll be back wrap it up you're watching uni panther football in the panther sports network from learfield img college sponsored by casey's

Channel: Wally the Bronco Too

Views: 20,514

Keywords: South Dakota State, Northern Iowa

Id: bmOBnIU_EXs

Length: 150min 46sec (9046 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 20 2021