SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Augustana football team blew past Southwest Minnesota State, 38-6, Saturday to move to 6-0 on the season. The Vikings used three passing touchdowns, two rushing touchdowns and a field goal to rack up their 38 points en route to their seventh-straight victory when dating back to 2022.
 
Jack Fisher tallied a career-high 164 receiving yards with a touchdown while Jarod Epperson ran for 76 yards. The two rushing touchdowns came from the feet of wide receiver Devon Jones and Kyle Graham.
 
Jones started the scoring in the first quarter as he moved from his wideout slot to a split running back situation and took the jet sweep to the right side of the field 27 yards for the touchdown.
 
The score moved to 14-0 as Casey Bauman connected with Logan Uttecht for a nine-yard touchdown to cap a 5-play, 80-yard drive.
 
Jake Pecina split the uprights from 37 yards out midway through the second quarter to give the Vikings a 17-0 lead.
 
Southwest Minnesota State, 1-5 on the year, scored its lone points with 1:38 remaining in the opening half as Donald Austin rushed in from three yards out. The point-after failed giving SMSU just the six points.
 
On the Vikings' opening drive of the second half, Bauman and Fisher made it a quick one. On the second play of the half, Bauman connected with Fisher for a 77-yard touchdown and the rout was one.
 
Early in the fourth quarter, Graham completed a 9-play, 63-yard drive that spanned 5:14 to give Augustana a 31-6 lead.
 
The final score of the game was another two-play drive. Rashad Lampkin rushed up the middle for five yards. That followed with a pass completion to Fisher for 82 yards, but after Fisher had the ball stripped, Isaiah Huber swiped up the ball and ran into the end zone.
 
Huber's final stat line read zero receptions for five yards and the touchdown.
 
Bauman completed 14-of-21 passes for 287 yards and the three touchdowns with his long of 82 yards.
 
Avery Book again had an outstanding day punting with an average of 52.2 yards including a nice 69-yard punt.
 
Augustana's defense held SMSU to just 76 yards rushing and 145 yards passing while getting to the SMSU quarterback four times for a loss of 25 yards. Those sacks came from four different Vikings: Brayden Hoops, Isaiah Ryan, Tyler Birn and Chase Emsick. Peyton Buckley recorded five tackles, all solo, to lead in the tackles category with Hoops and Alex Belongia.
 
The Vikings are at Winona State on Saturday for a 2 p.m. kickoff.
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