Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes. YSU's Greg Benton applies pressure against Jackrabbits quarterback Mark Gronowski during the first half on Saturday against South Dakota State.

YOUNGSTOWN — South Dakota State flexed its muscles and showed Youngstown State why it’s the No. 1 team in the FCS, the defending national champion and now the winners of 24 straight games.

With a stifling defense leading the way, the Jackrabbits shut out the Penguins 34-0 on Saturday afternoon, while limiting YSU to just 207 total yards.

It was the first time the Penguins have been held scoreless since last season at Kentucky, and the first time they were held scoreless at home since October 2017 vs. Illinois State.

“They kicked our butts in every phase, and it starts with coaching,” head coach Doug Phillips said. “If you want to point fingers, you can point it at me. But they beat us in every phase, whether it was coaching, special teams, defense, offense — it’s the reason they have a 24-game winning streak going. That’s what it looks like. We haven’t had that kind of beat down for a couple years now, so it humbles you. You get the realization that’s what it looks like, and we’ll get to work tomorrow and continue working and building it to try to look like that.”

Even when YSU started to get the offense going and string together chunk plays and first downs, it couldn’t finish or sustain those drives against the Jackrabbits’ vaunted defense.

The Penguins moved the ball into the red zone three times, each time coming away with nothing. On the flip side, SDSU was 4-for-4 in the red zone. The Jackrabbits came in leading the country in red zone efficiency at 97.1%.

On the first red zone trip, YSU had driven 63 yards in 13 plays before stalling out and settling for a 29-yard field goal. But the Jackrabbits blocked the field goal and returned it back near midfield. SDSU then turned that possession into a field goal of its own right on the cusp of halftime to go into the intermission up 20-0.

YSU’s second venture into the red zone came just after the Jackrabbits had opened the second half with a 56-yard touchdown pass from Mark Gronowski to Jadon Janke. The Penguins drove 70 yards in 11 plays, only to stall out at the SDSU 11 yard line and turn the ball over on downs.

On YSU’s third time in the red zone, the Penguins once again turned the ball over on downs after driving 82 yards.

“Defensively, they’re big up front, (and) hard to move,” Phillips said. “They really squeezed the gaps and they have flowing linebackers. Their secondary, they have 15 interceptions in 10 games now. So they do a great job — well-coached, fundamentally sound. Again, I applaud them and have respect. They’ve been building this over time. That’s the defending national champion, and there’s a reason. It shows us there’s certain areas we’ve got to get better.”

Normally, YSU leans on its run game and tries to establish the ground attack to help the offense get into a rhythm, but the Jackrabbits were able to completely take that away — holding the Penguins to just 47 total rushing yards on 25 carries.

YSU’s passing offense didn’t fare much better, as quarterback Mitch Davidson was 18-for-30 for 160 yards and an interception.

“We just didn’t come out to play as an offense,” Davidson said. “We’ve gotta be able to complete balls downfield when they give it to us. To be able to run the football, we’ve gotta establish the run game — we’ve gotta be mistake-free and we weren’t today. We knew all week we gotta take care of the football or they’re going to capitalize on it, and they did.”

On the drive that ended in the blocked field goal before halftime, the Penguins thought they had a 40-yard touchdown connection earlier in the series, but the play was blown dead by the officials just before the snap to review a targeting call from the previous play.

“I was in the middle of the play throwing the ball, and I hear the whistle. But that’s out of my control as a player,” Davidson said. “For me, the next play is the most important, and for us, we didn’t go down and we didn’t finish the drive. If we score there, it’s a ball game. But at the end of the day, it’s already over with and it doesn’t matter. … It was (the officials’) call and they made the call, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Now, the Penguins find themselves in a similar situation to where they were last season with regards to the FCS playoff bubble. YSU is currently 6-4 with one game remaining in the regular season next week at Murray State.

Win that, and the Penguins match last season’s record at 7-4. The difference this year though, is that YSU would have a ranked win on its resume — the 31-3 victory over Southern Illinois back on Oct. 7.

“That (Murray State) game is going to be a very important game,” Phillips said. “I always say it’s how you finish, and we’re going to find a way to get this team to bounce back and finish strong. We gotta finish on the practice field and we gotta finish in our meetings. Going on the road in the Missouri Valley is not easy, but I’ll worry about that (Sunday). Today, I’m humbled. You get your butt kicked like we did and we’re certainly going to learn from it and we’re going to get better.”

nmadhavan@tribtoday.com