Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes. YSU senior linebacker Preston Zandier (right) tackles South Dakota State tailback Julius Loughridge (left) during the first half of the Penguins' 35-30 loss to the Jackrabbits on Saturday night at Stambaugh Stadium.

YOUNGSTOWN — In college football, the recipe for an upset usually requires a myriad of things to go right.

For No. 24 Youngstown State, the Penguins did almost everything they needed to do for three quarters.

But after trailing by 10 at halftime, No. 2 South Dakota State put together almost a flawless third quarter, scoring 21 unanswered points to pull ahead, before holding on late for a 35-30 victory over YSU at Stambaugh Stadium.

“In reality this hurts because I feel like we beat ourselves. We beat ourselves, and we gotta get back to work to learn from it,” head coach Doug Phillips said. “It’s going to be a dogfight. We know every Missouri Valley Football Conference game is going to be hard-fought. They’re not just going to go away. They’re going to come back, they made adjustments and I thought they controlled the whole third quarter.”

At first, just about everything went the Penguins’ way.

YSU forced a turnover-on-downs on SDSU’s opening possession and quickly scored a touchdown on the ensuing possession when quarterback Beau Brungard connected with Max Tomczak from 23 yards out.

The Penguins’ defense got stops on each of the Jackrabbits’ first three possessions and scored two touchdowns to take a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.

But then things started getting shaky for YSU, as SDSU got on the board with a Chase Mason touchdown pass.

The Penguins added to their lead with a 29-yard Andrew Lastovka field goal that made it 17-7 and had a chance to stretch their advantage when defensive back Dathan Hickey picked off Mason with about a minute left in the first half.

But with YSU in position to at least add a field goal before halftime, Brungard was strip sacked by SDSU’s Dawson Ripperda, and the Jackrabbits recovered the fumble to end the half.

“I thought we left a lot of points on the board in that first half and knew that would come back to hurt us,” Phillips said. “I thought we had two opportunities there in the second quarter. We got some stops, I thought the defense was flying around, making stops for us. Got the ball, had good field position, and didn’t finish. Didn’t finish those drives.”

Despite getting the ball to start the second half, those missed opportunities came back to bite the Penguins in the third quarter when Jackrabbits tailback Julius Loughridge ran for three touchdowns, as SDSU scored 21 straight points to seize all the momentum.

YSU struggled to slow Loughridge, who finished with 176 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns on 25 carries.

“The tide’s going to swing both ways,” Brungard said. “They’re a great football team, and in order to win those games, you have to play your very best. You have to play mistake-free football, and we kind of beat ourselves in a few areas tonight.”

During the media timeout between the third and fourth quarters, all the Penguins on the sideline gathered and huddled around the coaches, as YSU hit the reset button heading into the final period.

The defense got a stop deep in Jackrabbits territory to begin the fourth quarter, and the offense scored a quick touchdown three plays later to quell SDSU’s momentum.

Trailing by four, YSU got the ball back with 6:49 left. But ended up going backwards on the drive. Instead of trying to go for it from deep in its own territory, the Penguins opted to punt.

But that left the Jackrabbits with a short field and they needed only three plays to deliver the final dagger to YSU’s heart with a Loughridge’s fourth and final touchdown of the night.

The Penguins quickly drove 72 yards in 10 plays and added one more touchdown with 38 seconds left. But it was too little, too late, as they failed to convert the two-point conversion or recover the onside kick.

“I thought our kids bounced back from a terrible third quarter. That was one of the ugliest third quarters, and I thought our kids came back and gave ourselves a chance to fight our way back in the game,” Phillips said. “I loved how our kids responded in the fourth. … It starts with our guys making some plays, which they did, and we feel we can score quickly, so we tried to fight our way back in the game.”

Brungard finished by completing 29-of-44 of his passes for 275 yards and three touchdowns, while also rushing for 130 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries.

Tomczak had 92 yards and three touchdowns on eight receptions, while Ethan Wright had two carries for 24 yards and three receptions for 35 yards in his first game since the end of last season.

“Losing stinks. Nobody likes losing,” Brungard said. “But we know what we need to fix, and we know that we’re going to fix it. So the guys in there, we’re going to hold our heads high and we’re going to have a good week of practice. We’re going to attack it going forward and we’re not going to sit and linger on this.”

No. 2 South Dakota State 35, No. 24 Youngstown State 30

AT STAMBAUGH STADIUM

BY QUARTERS

SDSU 0 7 21 7–35

YSU 7 10 0 13–30

TEAM STATISTICS

First Downs: SDSU: 20, YSU: 25; Rushes/Yards Rushing: SDSU: 40-211, YSU: 29-156; Yards Passing: SDSU: 189, YSU: 275; Comp-Att-Int: SDSU: 14-29-1, YSU: 29-44-0; Penalties: SDSU: 7-43, YSU: 7-60; Fumbles-Lost: SDSU: 0-0, YSU: 1-1; Total Yards: SDSU: 400, YSU: 431; Offensive Plays: SDSU: 69, YSU: 73

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

Passing: SDSU: Chase Mason 14-for-29 189 yds TD INT; YSU: Beau Brungard 29-for-44 275 yds 3 TDs

Rushing: SDSU: Julius Loughridge 25 carries 176 yds 4 TDs; YSU: Beau Brungard 22 carries 130 yds TD

Receiving: SDSU: Alex Bullock 10 rec. 162 yds; YSU: Max Tomczak 8 rec. 92 yds 3 TDs

Scoring summary

First quarter

YSU: Tomczak 23 pass Brungard (Lastovka kick)

Second quarter

YSU: Brungard 4 run (Lastovka kick)

SDSU: Gannon 4 pass from Mason (Stader kick)

YSU: Lastovka 29 field goal

Third quarter

SDSU: Loughridge 3 run (Stader kick)

SDSU: Loughridge 14 run (Stader kick)

SDSU: Loughridge 2 run (Stader kick)

Fourth quarter

YSU: Tomczak 29 pass from Brungard (Lastovka kick)

SDSU: Loughridge 24 run (Stader kick)

YSU: Tomczak 2 pass from Brungard (pass failed)