South Dakota State football's semifinal history in FCS playoffs
South Dakota State is appearing in the FCS semifinals for the fifth time since 2017 with Saturday’s tilt against Montana State, and the only time they’ve won out of the first four was the one when they were at home. That’s where they’ll be again on Saturday, hosting the same Bobcats team that knocked them out last year in Bozeman.
The Jacks are hopeful that home field advantage is as important in this one as it has been the first four times they reached the subdivision’s final four, but either way, the matchup between the No. 1 Jackrabbits and third-ranked and fourth-seeded Bobcats should be a good one.
Here’s a look back at SDSU’s first four trips to the semifinals.
2017: James Madison 51, South Dakota State 16
The memory of this one is painful for Jacks fans, though many forget the Jacks were in this one early, they just never gave themselves a chance due to turnovers.
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With junior quarterback Taryn Christion throwing to senior pass-catchers Jake Wieneke and Dallas Goedert, the Jackrabbits looked to be as formidable as they’d ever been in program history. They carried a seven-game winning streak into Bridgeforth Stadium in Harrisonburg, Va., where they were challenging the defending national champion Dukes for a chance to face off with North Dakota State in Frisco.
The Jacks had scored 93 points in their first two playoff games, and wanting to keep that offensive momentum, they won the toss and took the ball, driving right down the field on the JMU defense. But then running back Brady Mengarelli was drilled, fumbled, and the Dukes recovered.
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SDSU would end up turning the ball over on all five of their first quarter possessions – yes, five first quarter turnovers – but JMU led only 7-0. The Jacks tied it at 7-7 and were down just 14-10 with :56 left in the first half. But they gave up a quick touchdown before half and two more quick touchdowns early in the third, and that was that. SDSU ended up with 10 turnovers in what was a deflating semifinal debut, and the final career game for Goedert and Wieneke.
2018: North Dakota State 44, South Dakota State 21
For the second year in a row, SDSU fought for a half in a tough road semifinal, and for the second year in a row, faded in the second.
The Jacks trailed 14-7 at the break and 21-14 early in the third after a Christion to Blake Kunz touchdown pass. But a pair of Bruce Anderson touchdown runs stretched the Bison lead to 21, and after Christion found Cade Johnson for a 52-yard score to briefly give the Jacks life, NDSU outscored them 10-0 in the fourth. Christion was left battered and bruised in the last game of his career, and SDSU dropped to 0-2 in semifinal games in what was their second loss of the season to the Bison.
2020/21: South Dakota State 33, Delaware 3
After the 2019 team went one-and-done in the playoffs, the 2020 season was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the FCS level ultimately deciding to push the playoffs to the spring, with most leagues falling in line to play their regular seasons then, too.
The Jacks decided to take the disjointed spring season as seriously as anyone else, and went 5-1 in the shortened regular season behind true freshman quarterback Mark Gronowski.
They were the No. 1 seed in a shortened, 16-team playoff, and after beating Holy Cross and Southern Illinois in the first two rounds, hosted a 7-0 Delaware team in the semis. A fierce Missouri Valley vs. CAA battle was expected, but the Jacks blasted the Blue Hens on a 47-degree May afternoon.
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Delaware struck first with a field goal, then watched the Jacks close the first half with 27 unanswered points on two touchdown passes by Gronowski, a Pierre Strong touchdown run and a Strong to Gronowski touchdown pass on a trick play.
Alabama’s ‘If You’re Gonna Play in Texas’ played over the Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium speakers as the Jackrabbits celebrated their win.
2021: Montana State 31, South Dakota State 17
On the one hand, SDSU felt a bit like a team of destiny. Their first trip to Frisco had ended in a heartbreaking last-second loss, in a game where Gronowski had gone down with a serious knee injury just a couple plays in.
Future NFL quarterback Chris Oladokun was brought in to serve as a one-year bandaid while Gronowski recovered, and when he led the Jacks to a rout of Colorado State in the season opener, big things were expected.
A few regular season letdowns denied them a playoff seed, however, forcing SDSU to take a long and tiring path back to Frisco.
They almost made it.
SDSU beat Cal-Davis at home in the first round, won at Sacramento State in the second round and at Villanova in the quarterfinals. That sent them to Bozeman for the semis – their fourth game in four different time zones in four weeks.
Maybe they were tired and beaten down by then, but with the way Montana State quarterback Tommy Mellott played, it might not have mattered. The freshman rushed for 155 yards and threw for 233, as the Bobcats outscored SDSU 14-0 in the second half after the teams had gone to their locker rooms tied at 17.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota State football's semifinal history in FCS playoffs
