3 takeaways from South Dakota State's Hobo Day victory over Northern Iowa

The Northern Iowa-South Dakota State Hobo Day rivalry was on the players' minds after too much was made of UNI defeating the Jackrabbits on three straight occasions at the university's annual homecoming celebration.

The Jacks earned sweet revenge in front of a sellout crowd of 19,357, the second-largest crowd in stadium history, with a huge 41-6 win over the Panthers.

"It felt really good, you know, just kind of hearing about our past history against these guys on Hobo Days and just kind of going out there and taking care of business," Jackrabbits tight end Zach Heins said postgame.

The first half was as sloppy -- albeit entertaining -- as we’ve seen from both sides. The Jackrabbits fumbled the ball to the Panthers twice, while their defense forced five straight turnovers including three fumbles and two interceptions.

At one point early in the second quarter Gronowski attempted to rush for a first down and fumbled it. On the first play of the ensuing drive, UNI coughed it up right back to South Dakota State.

Offensively, the Jackrabbits started quick, scoring on their first two touchdown drives before struggling with turnovers themselves. Then, after two consecutive turnovers, they scored on the ensuing five drives.

South Dakota State outgained the Panthers 460-264 in total yardage, with the widest margin coming in the rushing game. The Jackrabbits outrushed UNI 169-40.

Here are three takeaways from South Dakota State’s win over Northern Iowa.

South Dakota State defense forcing turnovers

The number of turnovers in this game was unbelievable.

There were eight total in the first half across both teams. UNI forced the Jackrabbits to fumble twice in the first half while SDSU forced four fumbles and had two interceptions.

"It was just an overemphasis in practice on getting turnovers," Jackrabbits linebacker Jason Freeman said. "Just like stripping out the ball, breaking on passes, things like that. And kind of like Heins mentioned for the offense, just that attention to detail, and it panned out."

The defensive playmaking was spread pretty evenly throughout the roster. The Jackrabbits had six different players each forcing either a fumble or an interception.

Keeping UNI out of the end zone

On top of forcing turnovers, the South Dakota State defense was effective, keeping the Panthers' offense from scoring a touchdown in the game.

UNI only got in the red zone twice and the SDSU defense forced them to take field goals both times.

Their pass rush kept the pressure on UNI''s Theo Day, holding the Walter Payton watchlist quarterback to a pretty pedestrian game. The increased pressure resulted in four sacks.

Day completed 16 of his 24 passes for only 210 yards and didn't have a single touchdown pass.

The Jackrabbits defense also continued their dominance against the run game, holding Northern Iowa well below their 107-yard average. The Panthers ended the game with only 40 rushing yards.

South Dakota State football coach Jimmy Rogers called this game the best defensive showing of the year so far.

"Not just with the turnovers," Rogers said postgame. "It wasn't the same (looks) consistently and because of that our multiplicity on defense threw them off and we were able to have success."

Adam Bock out again

Bock was kept out of action again on Saturday afternoon.

The only game he’s played in was on Saturday, Sept. 30 against North Dakota in the conference opener. Bock finished that game with 10 total tackles.

"He's coming along," Rogers said of Bock postgame. "Would it have helped to have Adam Bock back? It helps to have every All-American player that you have on the roster healthy. We just don't have it ... We're hoping to have him back here soon."

Since his return against North Dakota, Bock’s missed two consecutive games, but so far, the Jackrabbits have had no problem continuing their winning ways during his absence.

Jonathan Fernandez covers high school and college sports for the Argus Leader. Contact him at jfernandez1@argusleader.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JFERN31

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: 3 takeaways from South Dakota State football's win over UNI