South Dakota State football dominates Albany 59-0 in FCS semifinals

sports history 11:21 PM 0 Comments

South Dakota State Routs UAlbany 59-0, booked ticket to the FCS Championship Game in 2024.

Large dodged to the left to avoid the first tackler, then found a burst of speed to run past three Albany Great Dane defenders. Someone got a hand on his jersey, but Large shrugged it off as he crossed midfield. He juked right to avoid another, then made a sharp cut back to his left to make one more Great Dane miss, and from there he was gone.

The 79-yard punt return touchdown was one of the most exciting plays in a season chock full of them, and it was undoubtedly the exclamation point on the top-ranked, top-seeded Jackrabbits 59-0 stomping of 5th-seeded Albany in the FCS playoff semifinals in front of 12,265 Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium fans.

That made the score 28-0. The Jacks had already been dominating the game, but Albany coach Greg Gattuso said they were still holding out hope of getting back in the game. Large's punt return ended any realistic hopes of a comeback, and whipped a loud and raucous crowd into even more of a frenzy than they were already enjoying.

The win sends SDSU (14-0) to Frisco, Texas for the FCS national title game, Jan. 7, where they'll look to repeat as champions. It was the Jackrabbits' 28th win in a row. Was it the biggest blowout in FCS semifinals history? The Jacks outscored their three playoff opponents 123-12.

The Jacks went 11 plays in 74 yards on the game's opening drive, taking a 7-0 lead on a Gronowski third-down strike to Zach Heins, then got it right back when Large snagged a pass over the middle, the first of three SDSU interceptions.

Gronowski threw for 265 yards and three scores while rushing for 50 yards. Davis had 107 yards on 15 carries. Janke had six catches for 151 yards, Heins had two touchdown catches and late in the game Chase Mason found Griffin Wilde for a 71-yard touchdown.