BROOKINGS, S.D. – South Dakota State utilized a series of quick-strike scoring opportunities to build an insurmountable lead over Missouri State en route to a 59-7 Missouri Valley Football Conference victory over the Bears Saturday afternoon at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.
 

The seventh-ranked Jackrabbits piled up 421 first-half yards, highlighted by nine different gains of 20 yards or more, to take a 31-point bulge into intermission. Five of those big gains went the distance, with quarterback Taryn Christion passing for a pair of touchdowns and rushing for another in a 31-point, second-quarter outburst by the MVFC's top offensive unit.
 
SDSU's defense was equally as impressive, limiting the Bears to just 183 total yards—including just 35 in the second half—and 30 rushing yards on 31 attempts for the game. The Jacks intercepted four MSU passes and held the Bears to 5-of-18 third-down conversions on the day.
 

Freshman running back Pierre Strong provided the initial spark for the Jackrabbits (6-2, 4-2 MVFC), breaking off a pair of long scoring rushes for the first two touchdowns of his SDSU career that staked his club to an early double-digit advantage. SDSU took control on its second possession of the game, needing just one play to strike pay dirt with a 55-yard dash from Strong for a 7-0 lead.

The Bears (4-5, 2-4 MVFC) halted a second Jackrabbit scoring threat late in the opening period, when Jared Beshore snared a deflected Christion pass deep in MSU territory.

But Strong struck again early in the second quarter, capping a 94-yard SDSU drive with a 54-yard burst to put the Jacks in front by a 14-0 score. The duo of Christion and Cade Johnson teamed up on a pair of back-breaking touchdowns to double the SDSU lead in the span of just 27 seconds. After the senior signal-caller found Johnson for a 34-yard TD toss with 6:52 to play in the half, the Jacks took advantage of a Christian Rozeboom interception to cash in on their third one-play scoring drive of the half.

Unable to generate any offensive momentum against the Jackrabbit defense, the Bears were forced to punt on six of their first seven possessions of the game. The only early drive that did not end in a punt for MSU also proved fruitful for the Jacks, as Rozeboom snatched a deflected Peyton Huslig pass out of the air to set up another Christion-to-Johnson scoring connection—this one from 42 yards out for a 28-0 SDSU lead at the 6:25 mark.

Chase Vinatieri added a 45-yard field goal to stretch the margin to 31 points, before Huslig engineered the Bears' first successful scoring drive of the day late in the half. The junior hooked up with Tyler Currie on a 10-yard touchdown pass with 1:35 left on the clock, closing the gap to 31-7.

But Christion had two more big plays up his sleeve in the closing moments of the half, finding Johnson for a 22-yard gain, then breaking free for a 32-yard scoring run of his own to cap the second-quarter scoring spree for SDSU.

SDSU added three more scoring drives over the final two quarters to account for the final 52-point margin, with Christion completing a pair of TD tosses to Adam Anderson, before a late one-yard run by Blair Mulholland.

Christion went 15-of-28 passing for 259 yards and four touchdowns, with Anderson serving as his primary target with six receptions for 85 yards a two scores. Strong led the Jacks with a game and career-high 136 yards on just nine attempts.

Huslig finished the day 15-for-31 for 134 yards and a touchdown for the Bears, connecting with Currie four times for a total of 78 yards. Angelo Garbutt provided a bright spot for the MSU defense, logging 11 tackles to register his fifth-consecutive double-digit tackle total. Kam Carter also recorded 10 stops, and Beshore picked off a pair of passes to lead the Bears defense.

Up next, the Bears return to Robert W. Plaster Stadium for a 2 p.m., Senior Day contest against No. 1 North Dakota State next Saturday (Nov. 10).
 
Postgame Notes: MSU dropped to 1-10 all-time vs. SDSU and remained winless against the Jacks in its six trips to Brookings…SDSU's 31-point second quarter represented the most productive offensive output in a single quarter this season by a Bears opponent; MSU entered the game with a cumulative 90-43 scoring advantage in the second period this season…With 135 yards of total offense, Huslig (2,331) moved up to eighth on the Bears' single-season yardage chart, passing Cody Kirby (2,227 in 2008) and Jeremy Hoog (2,250 in 1996)…Huslig also climbed to eighth on MSU's career list for passing TD's with the 22nd of his Bears' career in just 20 career games…Beshore picked off two passes for the day, giving him seven for his four-year MSU career…