After big Dakota Marker win, time for No. 1 South Dakota State football to finish the job
The month of October has been something of an NCC reunion for South Dakota State.
On Oct. 8 they hosted South Dakota for the latest edition of the in-state rivalry game, and avenged consecutive losses to the Coyotes with a 28-3 rout in front of a sold-out Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium crowd.
Then last week came the big one, with the Jacks fighting back from down 21-7 to beat North Dakota State 23-21 at the Fargodome to keep the Dakota Marker trophy in Brookings for another year. The win moved SDSU into the No. 1 spot in the national rankings for the first time in program history.
Now comes another trip up I-29, as the Jacks are set to visit North Dakota this Saturday at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks. No, we’re not going to try to sell this one as another rivalry game – the teams have played only twice since 2003 – but this is yet another former North Central Conference foe, a matchup that goes back to 1906, and Saturday’s game is arguably as big as any of the prior 87 meetings.
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Jacks quarterback Mark Gronowski pointed out that a win would give SDSU a sweep among the four Dakota schools, so there’s at least a little bit of regional bragging rights at stake. But everyone knows this game is about much more than that.
For the Jacks (6-1, 4-0), this is the toughest remaining game on their schedule. The Fighting Hawks are ranked 20th in the country, they’re coming off a bye week, and have won the only two home games on their schedule this year – over Northern Iowa and Missouri State. UND has won 17 of its last 18 games in the Alerus Center. The Jacks have only won once in the Alerus Center in their history – a 35-28 non-conference win in 2013. They lost the last time they were there, in the spring season of 2021.
For the Hawks, its just about as big. UND is 4-2 on the year. Following the Jacks they host Abilene Christian, visit Indiana State, host USD and visit North Dakota State. They’re going to need to win three of those to get a playoff berth, and if that wasn’t motivation enough, SDSU is the first No. 1 team to ever visit the Alerus Center.
And as Jacks guard Mason McCormick said after the win over NDSU, “It won’t mean too much to be No. 1 for one week and then go up to Grand Forks and lose.”
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He’s right, of course.
Let’s not beat around the bush, here. Let’s say out loud what Jacks fans are thinking: “OK, you got the win over North Dakota State again. Now go finish the job. Win the conference. Get a top-2 seed.”
As satisfying, impressive and important as the win over NDSU was, these next four are the ones that are going to determine if this Jackrabbit team is different. It starts with UND this week. And the Hawks are as pumped to knock off the No. 1 team in the nation as the Jacks were just last week.
"We're really excited about the opportunity in front of us," said UND coach Bubba Schweigert. "We've worked hard to put ourselves in a position to make it a big game for us, also. We want to be paying in big games in our program."
This would be the perfect scenario for an SDSU letdown. The Jacks are coming off two rivalry games, which can be as exhausting mentally and emotionally as they are physically. They’ve been battling injuries all season and suffered a few more against the Bison. Meanwhile the Hawks are coming off a bye week, giving them extra time to both heal and rest up and get in extra preparation for the Jacks.
SDSU has beaten NDSU before. What they haven’t done is make it through a full regular season without stubbing their toe and dropping a game they should not. You only need look back to last year. They blew a 20-0 lead at home to Southern Illinois, and lost. They were listless in a 26-17 Hobo Day loss to Northern Iowa. The Hail Mary. None of that should’ve happened to a team that whipped FBS Colorado State in its opener.
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The 2019 team lost two of three to end the regular season, then went one-and-done in the playoffs despite earning a seed. In 2017, losses to Youngstown State and at home to Northern Iowa forced the Jacks on the road in the semis, where they were pounded by James Madison.
The closest SDSU came to getting through a season without dropping a stinker was the spring season, and that was the year they got to Frisco. Their one regular season loss that year was at the Alerus Center, to the Fighting Hawks team they face Saturday (the Jacks were ranked third at the time, making that the highest-ranked team UND has ever beaten in the Alerus Center).
“We don’t talk about the past,” said Jacks coach John Stiegelmeier, who will likely have star tight end Tucker Kraft back after he missed six full games with a foot injury. “I’ve read that we don’t win some games we should win – I don’t know if that’s ever the case. How do you know what games you should win and not win? This is a very mature football team. Their goals are very lofty and they’re realistic. I don’t think there will be any worry about us not performing up to our potential. UND is a great program, a great football team. You watch the film and it doesn’t take much to get yourself up for this one.”
Expecting a team to run the table in Valley play is not exactly fair. And SDSU’s season is by no means ruined with a loss at some point in its last four games. But the path to the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs is wide open for the Jacks.
It’s up to them to charge through it.
“I know (the players) understand where we sit right now and what that could mean at the end of the season,” Stiegelmeier said. “We talked about what we accomplished in Fargo, but it really only matters on Nov. 20, which is the (FCS playoff) selection show. We have unbelievable leadership, and they do a great job of handling these types of situations.”
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Time for South Dakota State football to finish the job after NDSU win
