South Dakota State, North Dakota State hope to learn from earlier matchup
The national championship is, by nature, the game of the year.
But when South Dakota State and North Dakota State face off in Frisco, it’ll be the second time they’ve staged the ‘game of the year’ just this season. The Jackrabbits visited the Bison in October, and at the time, NDSU was the No. 1 team in the nation. The Jacks were No. 2.
SDSU won, 23-21, erasing a 21-7 deficit by outscoring the hosts 16-0 in the second half. SDSU moved into the top spot in the national rankings for the first time in program history the next day. Neither team has lost since.
Now comes the rematch. On the one hand, beating NDSU (12-2) twice in one season feels almost impossible, given the Bison’s history. On the other, that game was in the Fargodome, and the Jacks (13-1) won despite a slow start and their own red zone struggles. They were also without star tight end Tucker Kraft.
Either way, there’s little doubt the FCS will be shining a spotlight on its two best programs on Sunday in Frisco. With any luck, the title tilt will be every bit as entertaining, tense and drama-dripped than the regular season matchup.
Bison dominated early in first meeting
SDSU’s defense came into the game riding high, having just held USD to three points and a mere 136 yards of offense in a 28-3 win the prior week. The Coyotes had only six first downs in the whole game and completed five passes for 44 yards through the air.
With the Bison being one of the most notoriously run-heavy offenses, it made sense to assume they wouldn’t spend a lot of time trying to throw against that, especially at home, right?
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Naturally, NDSU started the game with an air attack. They won the coin toss, took the ball, and drove 75 yards in seven plays, taking a 7-0 lead on a 22-yard strike from Cam Miller to DJ Hart. After SDSU answered with an impressive scoring drive of their own, the Bison needed just three plays to take back the lead at 14-7, and they stretched it to 21-7 on a 30-yard pass from Miller to fullback Hunter Luepke. Miller, at that point in the game, was 8-of-8 passing for 125 yards and two touchdowns.
“We did a great job in the passing game during the first half,” Miller recalled this week. “I played really fast. I didn’t really think much, I just kind of reacted to the looks they gave me.”
But at 21-7 the Bison weren’t done. Miller got them going again, connecting with Braylon Henderson on a 41-yard bomb to put them deep in SDSU territory. But after the play, Miller made a bow-and-arrow gesture toward the SDSU sideline, and was flagged for taunting.
Taunting penalty changed the game
Instead of 1st and goal at the 6-yard line, where NDSU would very likely have gone up 28-7, or at least 24-7, the ball was moved back to the 21-yard line by the penalty. Two plays later, NDSU brought in their other quarterback, Cole Payton, and he threw an interception on a gimmick play. The Bison never scored again.
Miller, who finished the game 17-of-22 passing for 227 yards and three total touchdowns, was humble when asked what he needs to do different this time for a different result.
“Not beating myself,” he said. “Last time we played them everyone knows what happened. So trying to play smarter and celebrating with my teammates and not the other team.”
For SDSU, there are lessons from the first half as well. While the Bison may have caught them off-guard with their commitment to the pass, the Jacks didn’t feel like they had the necessary energy to start the game, especially on defense.
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“You can’t come out as slow as we did,” said Jacks defensive end Reece Winkelman. “Most of these matchups have been one-play games. You can’t come out flat, especially in the national championship against the Bison who are 9-0 (in national championships).”
Of course, things changed dramatically after the Bison turnover. The Jacks opened the second half with a Hunter Dustman field goal to make it 21-10. The teams traded stops, and then SDSU cut it to four on a 10-play, 73-yard drive that ended with a 16-yard Amar Johnson touchdown run.
The Jacks had success moving the ball, but struggled to finish off drives. Dustman was called upon twice more in the fourth quarter, which included an 18-yard field goal to put them ahead 23-21. On that play, coach John Stiegelmeier chose the chip shot instead of going for the touchdown on 4th down from the 1-yard line.
Jacks defense dominated second half
That’s how much confidence he had in his defense. With 3:49 to play, Stiegelmeier trusted them to not even allow a field goal, and they rewarded that trust. The Bison had no points and 59 yards in the second half.
“We got out of sorts a little bit offensively late in the game,” Bison coach Matt Entz said.
That was in part thanks to adjustments made by SDSU’s defense, which Miller took note of.
“They changed some stuff up against us,” Miller said. “They did a good job, just played really hard on the D-line. We didn’t create a lot of space and on that last drive I didn’t do a very good job of trusting my reads and making the right choice on where to go with the football. We all played a part in not finishing that game.”
Isaiah Davis ran for 114 yards in the game for SDSU and Johnson 89. Mark Gronowski threw for a modest 152 yards but was an efficient 16-of-21. The Jacks didn’t turn the ball over, and one of the most important sequences of the game came when Gronowski fumbled and SDSU guard Mason McCormick managed to wrestle the ball away from the Bison defender who’d landed right on it.
McCormick noted that while SDSU won, the Bison held them to 23 points, their lowest total against an FCS opponent on the season. NDSU may have lost that day, but they did plenty of good things on both sides of the ball.
“If I was a coach I would feel pretty confident in what they can do,” McCormick said of the Bison.
From the Jacks standpoint, the second half of their last meeting with NDSU was outstanding. They relish the chance to show they can do that for a full 60 minutes, particularly the first 15.
“We came out sluggish and the crowd kind of got to us in the beginning,” Gronowski said of the win in October. “After that game we really tried to focus on starting games fast, not being slow to start and being able to make adjustments. They know our offense and defense but we know theirs as well. It’s nice to have a team that you know so you can gameplan with what’s been successful.”
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota State, NDSU hope to learn from prior matchup
