Quarterback Zach Lujan of Anchorage did his part Saturday to lead South Dakota State to one of the biggest surprises on the first big day of college football Saturday.
The Kansas Jayhawks did their part too.
Lujan, a junior who starred at South High, threw for 293 yards and three touchdowns to carry the Jackrabbits to a 41-38 victory over Kansas of the Big 12 Conference in Lawrence, Kansas.
It was the first victory over a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) team in South Dakota State history.
The Jackrabbits nearly squandered a 31-7 lead. And had it not been for a monumental miscue by Kansas with time running out, the game might have gone to overtime.
On a play in which he was supposed to take the snap and spike the ball to stop the clock and set up a potential tying field goal, Kansas quarterback Montell Cozart fumbled. That cemented the outcome, because the Jayhawks had no timeouts left.
"This is a huge win for the history of the program and a great way to start the year," Lujan told the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame blog.
Lujan completed 17 of 33 passes and improved to 6-2 as the South Dakota State starting quarterback.
He started in several games as a sophomore when regular starter Austin Sumner was injured in the season-opening game against Missouri. Lujan threw for nearly 2,000 yards and led the Jackrabbits to five Football Championship Series (FCS) wins before Sumner returned.
Now Lujan is the regular starter and showing other teams what they missed by passing on him out of high school.
"I was highly under recruited out of high school and fortunate enough to go the JUCO route," Lujan said. "From there SDSU offered me (a scholarship), and despite getting attention from other schools, I really felt comfortable here and am part of a great program."
The Jackrabbits started strong, marching for an opening field goal, then picking off Cozart and nearly running it back for a touchdown, which they got two plays later.
Ryan Schadler returned the ensuing kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown to get Kansas within 10-7, but the Jackrabbits answered with two more scoring drives that finished with TD passes from Lujan.
Cozart committed his second turnover of the half when he was stripped while scrambling, and South Dakota State's Brady Mengarelli scored on a 29-yard scamper to make it 31-7 early in the second quarter.
"It's exactly how we wanted to start the game," Lujan said.
The loss spoiled the debut for Kansas coach David Beaty, who became the team's fourth head coach in seven years when he was hired to replace Charlie Weis. He worked previously as an assistant coach at Kansas and Texas A&M.
"Obviously, unbelievably disappointing right now," Beaty said. "That was a very tough locker room to look into for my first day as head football coach in Division I football."
Van Williams of the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame blog contributed to this report.