South Dakota State vs. North Dakota State: Game preview, how to watch, kickoff time

North Dakota State (8-0, 5-0) at South Dakota State (6-2, 3-2)

WHEN/WHERE: 2 p.m. Saturday at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium

TV: Midco Sports

ONLINE: Midco Sports Plus

RADIO: WNAX-AM 570; Jackrabbit radio affiliates

COACHES: NDSU - Matt Entz (3rd year, 31-3); SDSU - John Stiegelmeier (25th year, 180-109)

SERIES: NDSU leads 63-43-5 all-time; 10-7 in the Dakota Marker Series

LAST TIME: SDSU won 27-17 in Fargo in the spring

LAST WEEK: NDSU beat Indiana State 44-2; SDSU beat Youngstown State 47-16

RANKINGS: NDSU is ranked No. 2 in FCS; SDSU is No. 12

KEY PLAYERS: NDSU - QB Cam Miller (336 yards, 6 TDs), RB Kobe Johnson (380 yards, 1 TD), RB Dominic Gonnella (344 yards, 2 TDs), WR Christian Watson (26 rec., 506 yards, 6 TDs), LB Jasir Cox (33 tackles, 3 INT, 1 sack), DT Eli Mostaert (25 tackles, 5.5 sacks), LB Jackson Hankey (50 tackles, 1 sack), S Dawson Weber (23 tackles, 2 INT); SDSU - RB Pierre Strong (986 yards, 12 TDs), QB Chris Oladokun (1,834 yards, 16 TDs), WR Jaxon Janke (32 rec., 550 yards, 2 TDs), TE Tucker Kraft (40 rec., 501 yards, 4 TDs), LB Adam Bock (61 tackles, 1 INT), LB Graham Spalding (30 tackles, 2 INT), DE Reece Winkelman (20 tackles, 4.5 sacks), LB Logan Backhaus (22 tackles)

Preview: SDSU seeking first conference home win in defense of rivalry trophy

Coming off a spring season in which they went all the way to the FCS national championship and came a play away from winning, South Dakota State entered the fall with higher-than-ever expectations. Anything short of getting back to Frisco for another shot at the title will be disappointing.

If their two Missouri Valley Football Conference home games are any indication, that pressure hasn’t been easy for the Jackrabbits to handle. Though SDSU opened the season with an impressive 42-23 win over Colorado State and opened conference play with a 44-0 win at Indiana State, they’re 0-2 at home within the conference. They lost 42-41 in overtime to Southern Illinois after blowing a 20-0 lead, then fell flat on Hobo Day in a 26-17 loss to Northern Iowa.

To be fair, those are two very good teams the Jacks lost to at home. To be blunt, avoiding a third straight home loss will be difficult.

About NDSI: After faltering in the spring, North Dakota State back on top

It’s Dakota Marker week, as the Jacks play host to their rivals to the north, the Bison of North Dakota State. The eight-time national champions are 8-0, 5-0 in league play and hungry to bring the Dakota Marker trophy back to Fargo after their 27-17 home loss to SDSU in the spring.

If they get it, the Bison move one step closer to locking up a top-two seed and home field advantage through the playoffs, while also putting the Jacks further in danger of missing the playoffs altogether.

History of the Dakota Marker: North Dakota State leads South Dakota State 10-7

SDSU, meanwhile, can vault themselves right back into the playoff seed conversation with a win, not to mention rid themselves of the nagging narrative that they suddenly can’t win a big one at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.

The Jacks bounced back from the loss to UNI last week by routing Youngstown State in Ohio. They’ve been outstanding on the road (where, outside of the opener, the opponents haven’t been as strong). So what’s the deal at home?

SDSU: As leading receiver, Tucker Kraft is latest tight end star

“To be honest, I really don’t know,” said tight end Tucker Kraft. “We’ve played two really good teams at home but we’re a really good team, too. A lot of times we’ve missed out on opportunities to move the ball down the field. Whether it’s mental errors or missed assignments, it just revolves around every guy doing their job. When they don’t, it can be tough to get the ball rolling.”

To their credit, the Jacks aren’t pretending it’s a fluke or a non-issue. It’s a problem they’re trying to solve.

“We’ve talked about it,” said quarterback Chris Oladokun. “I talked to the offense last week and said I thought we were playing a little tentative at times. You look back at some of those road games, like Colorado State, and we were playing free and loose, having fun. I think we sort of fell into the trap of expectations, and that caused us to play tight. We have to go out there and not worry about records or the rankings and just have fun and play our game. There are things we can do about it, but it can create anxiety in some guys if we harp on it too much. So we’ve just been preaching staying together and playing harder than the man across from us. If we do that we’ll like the outcome.”

More: South Dakota State must solve homefield woes to keep Dakota Marker in Brookings: Zimmer

If the Bison didn’t quite look like themselves in the spring, when they went 7-3, they look a lot more like the Bison of old this fall. They average 261 rushing yards per game, and their passing attack has been better since Cam Miller replaced Virginia Tech transfer Quincy Patterson at quarterback. Miller, who replaced Iowa State transfer Zeb Noland in the spring, went 7-of-9 for 112 yards and two touchdowns to lead a comeback win over Missouri State, then last week in his first start of the year went 10-of-14 for 179 yards and three touchdown passes against Indiana State. NDSU coach Matt Entz says the Bison haven’t decided on a starter for this week.

It’s on defense where the Bison have really excelled, holding opponents to a mere 8.1 points per game. They have 31 sacks, allow only 75 rushing yards per game and have stopped teams on third down almost 80 percent of the time.

Then again, SDSU outrushed NDSU 305-97 in the spring.

“I don’t know if you remember last year but they didn’t allow just eight points against us,” Kraft said. “We ran it down their throats. That’s our plan. They have a good defense, everyone knows that. But we’re gonna do the things we do well.”

More: Oklahoma State transfer Landon Wolf staying upbeat despite season-ending injury with SDSU football

Fighting words, but Kraft isn’t wrong, and Entz admitted as much. The spring season was weird and haphazard, but it wasn’t that long ago. The Bison coach said they’ll study that game and the ones from this season to prepare a plan for their rivals.

“We’ll have a good blend of both,” Entz said. “We’ll go back in the spring and see where we weren’t very good. What do you do – you take advantage of what people aren’t good at. And there was plenty we weren’t very good at when we played them in the spring.”

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: How to watch South Dakota State vs. North Dakota State football