UAlbany defensive tackle Elijah Hills (93), who had a key fumble recovery against Idaho, said games like Friday’s FCS semifinal at South Dakota State are “a time to prove yourself.”
UAlbany athletic communications
UAlbany defensive end AJ Simon has 12 ½ of his team’s FCS-leading 50 sacks entering Friday’s semifinal at South Dakota State.
UAlbany athletic communications
UAlbany’s defensive line, right, has been stout all season, including against Idaho.
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UAlbany Athletic Communications
UAlbany defensive players, including defensive end Anton Juncaj (4), played a strong game against Idaho, and have been outstanding all season. Juncaj has 15 sacks this season.
UAlbany Athletic Communications
ALBANY — The University at Albany defensive line has seldom met its match this season.
The Great Danes have terrorized quarterbacks en route to a nation-leading 50 sacks. They’ve stuffed opposing runners to lead the Football Championship Subdivision in rushing defense at 78.1 yards per game.
UAlbany at South Dakota State
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium, Brookings, S.D.
TV/Radio: ESPN2, WTMM 104.5 FM
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The foursome of defensive ends Anton Juncaj and AJ Simon and tackles Elijah Hills and Joseph Greaney might face their greatest challenge yet against top-ranked South Dakota State in Friday’s FCS semifinal in Brookings, S.D.
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The Jackrabbits’ offensive line is an imposing group of four seniors and one junior, including two NFL draft prospects, who protect All-American junior quarterback Mark Gronowski.
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“I think it’s going to be one of the great matchups,” said UAlbany coach Greg Gattuso, a former Penn State defensive lineman. “We’ve got to get near this guy. He doesn’t get a whole lot of pressure and we’re going to have to get him. We have the right group and they’re excited about this challenge.”
South Dakota State has allowed only 10 sacks in 13 games, an average of 0.77 per contest that ranks sixth-best in the FCS. The offensive line also powers a running game that averages 231.3 yards, fifth in the country, led by running back Isaiah Davis.
Jackrabbits left tackle Garret Greenfield, who is 6-foot-7 and 320 pounds, and left guard Mason McCormick, at 6-5 and 315, are sixth-year seniors who are committed to the East-West Shrine Bowl on Feb. 1 for NFL prospects.
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The size and experience runs through the rest of the line with 6-3, 295-pound junior center Gus Miller, 6-4, 300-pound senior right guard Evan Beerntsen and 6-5, 300-pound senior right tackle John O’Brian. Greenfield and McCormick are four-year starters. The other three have started for two seasons.
“They’re aggressive, they play well together and they’re smart and well-coached,” UAlbany junior defensive tackle Elijah Hills said.
That said, Hills and his defensive linemates are looking forward to the challenge.
“It’s super exciting,” Hills said. “You always look forward to games like this. It’s a time to prove yourself, and times like that are really fun.”
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At the same time, South Dakota State might not have faced a defensive front as accomplished as the Great Danes. Juncaj, a 6-foot-3, 273-pound senior, leads FCS with a program record 15 sacks from his right end position. Simon, a 6-1, 267-pound senior, has 12½ sacks on the other side.
Stalwart up the middle, the 6-foot-2, 281-pound Hills and 6-3, 280-pound Greaney, a graduate student, have a combined 56 tackles, including 16 for loss. They’re also the foundation of a tough goal-line defense.
“Their D-ends are extremely explosive,” South Dakota State coach Jimmy Rogers said. “Their interior guys are really sound in what they do. So we’ve got to do a good job of being physical and matching their physicality and doing a great job in communication so we can pick up some of the twists and the blitzes that they will run.”
In the 30-22 quarterfinal win over Idaho, UAlbany had one sack and allowed 104 rushing yards to Anthony Woods, only the second back to surpass 100 yards against the Great Danes, who allowed Marshall’s Rasheen Ali to rush for 137 yards on Sept. 2.
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But UAlbany rose up when it mattered most. Juncaj sacked quarterback Gevani McCoy and Hills recovered the fumble with 2:46 left to help preserve the win.
“It’s not about sacks,” Gattuso said. “It’s about pressure on the quarterbacks. It’s about stopping the run. Their back had 105 yards, but they were not yards that hurt us. … We hit their quarterback and knocked him on the ground eight, nine times.”
In a marquee matchup, Juncaj will line up against Greenfield in a battle of Associated Press first-team all-Americans.
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“I feel like we’ve been facing good offensive lines, like Marshall,” Juncaj said. “So this is another test and we’ve got to just do our jobs.”
A committee of South Dakota legislators advanced a bill Tuesday at the Capitol in Pierre that would define lab-grown meat and require it to be clearly labeled.
The state Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources proposed the legislation. Cheyenne Tant, a policy adviser for the department, explained it to legislators.
“South Dakota consumers deserve transparency when deciding whether to purchase a product grown in a lab versus products grown by our hardworking farmers and ranchers,” Tant said.
The House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee voted 13-0 to send the bill to the full House of Representatives.
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Was that chicken cutlet grown in a lab? These states (including SD) want you to know.
The legislation describes lab-grown meat as “cell-cultured protein” and defines it as “a product that is produced for use as human food, made wholly or in part from any cell culture or the DNA of a host animal, and grown or cultivated outside a live animal.”
The bill also says any product that contains cell-cultured protein without being clearly labeled as “cell-cultured” or “lab-grown” would be considered misbranded. That provision builds on a state law adopted in 2019 that prohibits the mislabeling of meat. Enforcement would fall to the state Animal Industry Board, Tant said, which could work with companies to change their labels or take steps to remove noncompliant products from South Dakota shelves.
Nobody testified against the bill, and supporters represented diverse interests.
Hunter Roberts, secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, called lab-grown meat “gross.” Several groups representing farmers and ranchers said they want transparency in labeling to differentiate their traditionally raised meat from lab-grown versions.
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Good Food Institute, a group that works to advance innovation in alternative proteins, also supported the bill. The nonpartisan, nonprofit organization was represented at the committee meeting by Erin Rees Clayton, a Pierre-based senior scientific adviser for the institute.
She said producers of alternative proteins also want to differentiate their products.
“Just as South Dakota farmers and ranchers are proud of their products, cultivated meat producers are proud of their products, too,” Rees Clayton said. “They want to celebrate the innovation and production processes behind the meat they produce.”
She said lab-cultivated meat has existed for a little more than a decade. It starts from a small sample of animal cells that are fed the sugars, water, proteins and vitamins needed to grow into muscle and fat.
“Cultivated meat is meat at the cellular level, offering similar taste, texture and safety profiles,” Rees Clayton said. “It’s just produced in a different way.”
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She said the fledgling industry may someday be able to help satisfy the rising global population’s demand for protein. It could also add resiliency to food supply chains, she said, because it’s less vulnerable to natural disasters and other unpredictable events that can affect traditional meat production.
For now, Rees Clayton said, federal regulators have approved only two U.S. companies to produce and sell cultivated meat, and neither company has brought a product to the market yet.
Rees Clayton failed to convince legislators to consider what she described as a “minor” amendment. It would add terms such as “cell-cultivated” or “cultivated” to the bill’s definition of lab-grown meat, which she said would better align the legislation with industry standards.
Some other states, including Florida and Alabama, have banned lab-grown meat. Nebraska is considering a ban.
BROOKINGS, S.D. — South Dakota State University announces Katelyn Engel of Hays has been named to the dean’s list for the fall 2024 semester.
Engel is a student in SDSU’s College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
To earn dean’s list distinctions in SDSU’s colleges, students must have completed a minimum of 12 credits and must have earned at least a 3.5 GPA on a 4.0 scale. Overall, 3,901 students from 40 states and 32 foreign nations are on the list. More than 1,600 students received a 4.0 GPA.
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About South Dakota State University
Founded in 1881, South Dakota State University is the state’s Morrill Act land-grant institution as well as its largest, most comprehensive school of higher education.
MARSHALL— The National Weather Service has issued an Extreme Cold Warning in effect until noon CST Tuesday for portions of southwest Minnesota and east-central South Dakota.
The affected area includes cities such as Hendricks, Ivanhoe, Madison, Pipestone, Arlington, Lake Preston, Orland, Flandreau, Brookings, De Smet, Marshall, Tyler, Slayton, Lake Benton, and Fulda.
Wind chills may plunge as low as -40°F, creating life-threatening conditions. Frostbite can occur on exposed skin within 10 minutes.
Limit outdoor exposure. If you must go outside, dress in layers, including a hat, face mask, and gloves. Keep pets indoors and check on vulnerable individuals, including older adults and neighbors. Use portable heaters safely and avoid indoor use of generators or grills.
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