Inside the Missouri Valley: South Dakota State celebrates a rare 'Dakota Champs' sweep

Oct. 25—BROOKINGS — This season was the 81st in South Dakota State football history where the Jackrabbits faced all three of their Dakota brethren — South Dakota, North Dakota and North Dakota State — within the same season.

And for the first time in nearly 60 years (since 1963), SDSU swept the bunch, becoming the 'Champions of the Dakotas' with wins in back-to-back-to-back weeks over, in order, USD, NDSU and UND.

"It would mean we were able to get three wins against three really good football teams," SDSU head coach John Stiegelmeier said of potentially accomplishing the feat ahead of the UND game. "Bragging rights, recruiting advantages, all that stuff [comes with it]. But it's kind of like being ranked No. 1 or winning a national championship. If we're lucky enough to do that, we're going to move on real quick."

This season marked only the third time since SDSU and NDSU began their Division I transition following 2003 that the Jackrabbits have even had the chance to defeat all three rivals in a single campaign. In 2013, SDSU defeated USD and UND but fell to NDSU, and in 2021 it was the Coyotes that tripped up the Jacks, who defeated NDSU and UND.

Going back to 1915, the first year in which SDSU played USD, NDSU and UND, the Jackrabbits have won all three rivalry games in the same season nine times (1921, 1924, 1933, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1962, 1963 and 2022) and had four additional instances (1919, 1926, 1950 and 1953) where they won two out of three and tied the third to maintain an undefeated claim. (Note: The Jackrabbits and Coyotes actually played twice during the 1933 season and split the meetings, but SDSU had the edge in aggregate score.)

Following the win over NDSU on Oct. 15, Jackrabbits quarterback Mark Gronowski alluded to being crowned 'Champion of the Dakotas' in his postgame remarks if his team could take down No. 20 North Dakota on its home field on Oct. 22.

SDSU fell behind by two touchdowns early but roared back for a 49-35 win to move to 7-1 overall and 5-0 in the MVFC, prompting Gronowski to take to Twitter where his Saturday night tweet read "Dakotas" with three broom emojis to signify sweeping the three-game slate and equally emotive hashtag.

"In the Division II era, we really did not talk about the Dakotas, we talked about sweeping South Dakota which was Augustana and USD," Stiegelmeier explained. "Our guys took a lot of pride in that."

In those Division II days, SDSU was not an NCC power, with that label going to NDSU and UND, with the conference and national success mostly coming exclusively in the Division I days for SDSU. Regardless, it's another item for the burgeoning program to celebrate.

"I've never talked about sweeping the Dakotas, so I don't know where they got it as a team," Stiegelmeier continued as a large smile crept across his face. "I think they're lobbying to get some new T-shirts is what they're doing."

Saturday, Oct. 22

Illinois State 27, Indiana State 21

Northern Iowa 41, Missouri State 20

South Dakota 27, Southern Illinois 24

South Dakota State 49, North Dakota 35

Youngstown State 28, Western Illinois 27

One top performance from the conference for the week:

Zach Annexstad, Illinois State: The transfer from Minnesota was the right man at QB for the Redbirds on Saturday in a 27-21 win at Indiana State. He completed 24-of-38 pass attempts for a career-best 274 yards and accounted for four touchdowns (two rushing, two passing) for the Redbirds, including an 18-yard touchdown pass to older brother, Brock.

With the win in the battle of ISUs, the Redbirds are firmly in the playoff mix in the Missouri Valley with a 5-2 record and North Dakota State on the schedule this week.

One top play from this past week's games:

It was that kind of day for Missouri State in Cedar Falls. The Bears were driving to potentially get within 10 points late in the third quarter when Jason Shelly was sacked by UNI's Cardarrius Bailey, and Spencer Cuvelier fell on it to essentially squash Missouri State's hopes for a win and salvaging a season gone wrong.

Rankings are from the Stats Perform FCS Top 25.

Saturday, Oct. 29

South Dakota at Youngstown State, 1 p.m.

Indiana State at No. 1 South Dakota State, 2 p.m.

Northern Iowa at No. 20 Southern Illinois, 2 p.m.

Western Illinois at Missouri State, 2 p.m.

Illinois State at No. 4 North Dakota State, 2:30 p.m.

Abilene Christian at No. 23 North Dakota, 3 p.m.

One Missouri Valley game we're eager to watch this week:

Northern Iowa at Southern Illinois, 2 p.m.: We're reaching the point of the season where the games are starting to become elimination games for the postseason. Saturday's matchup in Carbondale is that for the Panthers, while the Salukis are in a bit more peril than they were last week before they lost at USD.

SIU started 0-2, including an embarrassing loss at Incarnate Word by a score of 64-29 (the Cardinals are good but that's way too many points to give up). They then scored five straight wins, including three on the road and a triumph at Big Ten doormat Northwestern. The Salukis are likely frustrated by the loss in Vermillion, where they were fine in nearly every statistical category but had two turnovers and saw their offense grind down in the second half to be outscored 17-3 after halftime, giving up a 21-10 lead.

UNI is doing what they seem to have a habit of doing, playing a really tough early part of the season and falling into a hole — this year, an 0-3 start that turned into 2-4 — and then rallying, with four wins in their last five games. The most recent of those was a 41-20 blasting of Missouri State, which has turned into a paper tiger (or paper bear) in the Valley landscape after big preseason expectations.

If the Salukis lose this game, they will be 5-4 with a home game against NDSU still ahead, plus a tricky season finale at Youngstown State, which is still playing for its postseason hopes as of now at 4-3. UNI is 4-4, with a home game against SDSU and a trip to USD left in the final two weeks. Wins in two of the last three games would have UNI on the cusp of the playoffs, and 6-5 might get them in, with one of those non-conference losses being at No. 2-ranked Sacramento State.