South Dakota State takes down North Dakota State 33-21

(STATS) -- Lugging around a 75-pound trophy sure didn't make for an easy victory lap by South Dakota State defensive tackle Kellen Soulek on Saturday.

Nothing was going to bother any of the Jackrabbits, however, after the 10th-ranked FCS team beat No. 2 North Dakota State 33-21 to retain the Dakota Marker on Saturday before a sellout of 18,130 at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium in Brookings, South Dakota.

"It's a trophy, it's bragging rights," SDSU coach John Stiegelmeier said. "We beat a really good football team; North Dakota State's a really good football team. I guess that makes us a really good football team. And our guys are really proud of that."

SDSU (7-2, 4-2) took the game to NDSU offensively and forced five turnovers on defense for its second straight win over the Bison (8-1, 5-1) in the regular season. But the six-time defending champions held on to first place in the Missouri Valley Football Conference because Illinois State and South Dakota suffered their second conference losses Saturday, joining the Jackrabbits and Northern Iowa in a four-way tie for second place.

The Jackrabbits never trailed in the game and held a 10-minute, 8-second advantage in time of possession to outgain the Bison 473-337 in yards.

While ending the visitors' 12-game road winning streak, the Jackrabbits scored 17 points off turnovers by Bison quarterback Easton Stick, who threw three interceptions and lost a fumble. His counterpart, Taryn Christion, riddled the top-ranked defense in the FCS, completing 23 of 33 passes for 329 yards with touchdowns to wide receiver Jacob Brown and Dallas Goedert (seven receptions, 116 yards), who became the MVFC's all-time leader in receiving yards by a tight end (2,693).

Wide receiver Jake Wieneke passed Jerry Rice for third place in FCS career receiving yards, ending the game with 4,730.