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South Dakota State University Athletics
Jackrabbits kick off new era Thursday at Iowa State
8/25/2008 1:00:00 AM | Football
After a breakthrough 2007 season, the South Dakota State University football team opens play in 2008 by traveling to Iowa State for a nationally televised game Thursday night.
Kickoff is set for 7:08 p.m. at Jack Trice Stadium on the Iowa State University campus in Ames. Television coverage will begin at 7 p.m. on Fox College Sports Central, with the broadcast team of Dan McLaughlin and Richard Baldinger. Fox College Sports Central is available through Mediacom and Midcontinent Communications sports packages among major South Dakota cable providers, as well as through DirecTV (Channel 617).
The Jackrabbits, who are ranked 19th in the preseason poll conducted by the Sports Network and 20th in Football Championship Subdivision Coaches' Poll, ended the 2007 campaign with a 7-4 overall record. SDSU capped 2007 by winning its first conference title in 44 years, reeling off seven wins in its last eight games, including all four league games, to win the Great West Football Conference title with a 4-0 mark.
SDSU, however, has moved to the Missouri Valley Football Conference (formerly the Gateway Football Conference) for the 2008 season, bringing the league's roster to nine teams.
Iowa State posted a 3-9 overall record under first-year coach Gene Chizik in 2007. The Cyclones were 2-6 in conference games, finishing in a tie for fifth place in the Big 12 Conference North Division.
PLAYING UP: Thursday's game will mark the first time the Jackrabbits have played a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision opponent since a 45-29 loss at Wyoming in the 1984 season finale. The last time SDSU played an opponent from a higher division was in 1993, when the Jackrabbits ? then competing as an NCAA Division II program ? dropped a 52-48 thriller at I-AA (now FCS) Montana in the season opener.
THE SERIES: South Dakota State and Iowa State have met two other times on the gridiron, but Thursday's matchup will be the first in 54 years.
Iowa State holds a 2-0 lead in the series, winning the initial meeting, 57-19, during the 1952 season. Two seasons later, in 1954, the Jackrabbits fell in their season opener, to the Cyclones, 34-6. SDSU would go on to earn a share of the North Central Conference title under coach Ralph Ginn in 1954.
ONLINE COVERAGE: Audio and video coverage of Thursday's game is scheduled to be available via subscription service at GoJacks.com, the official website of SDSU athletics. Monthly subscriptions for the Jackrabbit Extra, which includes live audio and video streaming are available for $9.95 per month or $99.95 for an entire year of coverage. An audio-only subscription also is available for $4.95 per month, with programming consisting only of live radio broadcasts.
A league-wide package is available for purchase at www.valley-football.org.
Local radio coverage Thursday evening begins on WNAX 570 AM at 5:30 p.m., with an expanded pre-game show. Steve Imming returns to call the play-by-play and Jerry Oster will once again provide color commentary.
Video streaming is slated to begin at 6:45 p.m. via a feed from Iowa State.
In all, nine of the Jackrabbits' 12 games this season are scheduled to be available via streaming video on the Jackrabbit Extra:
? Aug. 28 at Iowa State
? Sept. 6 Youngstown State
? Sept. 13 Western Illinois
? Oct. 4 McNeese State
? Oct. 18 Cal Poly
? Oct. 25 at Indiana State
? Nov. 1 Missouri State
? Nov. 8 Illinois State
? Nov. 22 North Dakota State
SEASON OPENERS: The Jackrabbits have historically started the season strong during coach John Steigelmeier's tenure as head coach, winning eight of 11 previous openers.
However, the Jackrabbits have lost two season openers in a row and three of their last four since moving to the FCS ranks, including a 29-26, four-overtime game at Western Illinois in 2007. The game against Western Illinois was the longest game in school history.
NON-TRADITIONAL START: Under Coach Stig, SDSU has opened the season two other times with a Thursday-night game.
In the 1999 season opener at Grand Valley State (Mich.), the Jackrabbits claimed a 35-20 victory in Grand Rapids, Mich. NCAA Divsion II All-American Josh Ranek rushed 32 times for 205 yards and a touchdown in the victory.
The other Thursday opener came last season at Western Illinois.
TRANSITION OVER: The NCAA Division I Management Council Administrative Committee, acting on behalf of the DI Management Council, announced in late June that South Dakota State University has met the requirements to become an active member of NCAA Division I, starting at the beginning of the 2008-09 academic year.
Previously a member of Division II, SDSU successfully completed the five-year process of moving its athletics programs to comply with Division I membership requirements. Requirements include compliance with Division I rules for the final four years, meeting minimum financial aid and contest scheduling limits, engaging in a rules compliance review and successfully completing the athletics certification process.
SDSU officials submitted an extensive self-study to the NCAA in the spring of 2007 and a peer-review team completed the information gathering during a visit to the Brookings campus in October 2007.
VALLEY FOOTBALL IN 2008: South Dakota State has been picked to finish sixth out of nine teams as it begins play in the Missouri Valley Football Conference this season, according to a preseason poll conducted by league coaches, media and sports information directors and which was released at the league's media day in July.
Fellow league newcomer North Dakota State was tabbed as the preseason favorite, garnering 13 first-place votes and 289 points. Defending league champion Northern Iowa received the most first-place votes, 15, but ranked second with 275 points. The next three teams were separated by eight points as Youngstown State (Ohio) was third with 209 points, Western Illinois was fourth with 202 points and Southern Illinois fifth at 201.
SDSU led the lower half of the league rankings with 149 points, followed by Missouri State with 105, Illinois State at 104 and Indiana State with 41.
Individually, senior offensive lineman Kevin Robling was the lone Jackrabbit named to the 2008 Missouri Valley Football Conference Preseason Team. A native of Jordan, Minn., Robling started all 11 games at center for SDSU in 2007, earning second-team all-Great West Football Conference honors.
Four other Jackrabbit players received honorable mention recognition on the preseason team: senior quarterback Ryan Berry, senior defensive lineman Eric Schroeder, junior defensive end Danny Batten and junior linebacker Jimmy Rogers.
Among national publications, SDSU was picked to finish third in Valley Football by Lindy's Sports Annuals, while The Sporting News also tabbed the Jacks to finish sixth.
RABBITS RANKED: For the second year in a row, South Dakota State appears in the preseason national rankings for the Football Championship Subdivision.
The Jackrabbits are ranked 19th in the Sports Network poll and 20th in the poll conducted by the Football Championship Subdivision coaches. Last season, the rankings were reversed as SDSU was 19th in the preseason coaches' poll and 20th in the Sports Network poll.
DIFFICULT DOZEN: For the first time in the 111-year history of Jackrabbit football, SDSU will play a regular season slate consisting of 12 games.
As it has throughout its move to the Football Championship Subdivision, SDSU will again play a challenging schedule. Seven of the Jackrabbits' opponents are ranked in at least one preseason poll, including five other Missouri Valley Football Conference members in the Sports Network top 25. Among the ranked opposition, only Western Illinois is rated lower than the Jackrabbits: North Dakota State is ranked second, followed by Northern Iowa in the third spot, No. 11 Southern Illinois, Youngstown State (Ohio) at No. 12 and Western Illinois at No. 25. Two non-conference opponents, 10th-ranked McNeese State and 14th-ranked Cal Poly, also appear in the preseason poll.
The Jackrabbits will play four of their ranked opponents at home, starting with games against Youngstown State in the Cereal Bowl on Sept. 6 and Western Illinois in the Sept. 13 Beef Bowl. The matchup with McNeese State is scheduled for the Hobo Day game on Oct. 4, with the game against Cal Poly set for Oct. 18.
Three-time defending national champion Appalachian State (N.C.) was nearly a unanimous selection for the No. 1 spot. James Madison (Va.) and North Dakota State were the only other squads to receive first-place votes.
In the previous four seasons at the FCS level, SDSU has squared off against ranked opponents 18 times and holds a 5-13 record.
CAPTAINS: Leading the Jackrabbit football team on the field and in the locker room are four senior captains:
? Ryan Berry, quarterback, Watertown, S.D.;
? Brock Campbell, defensive back, Cherokee, Iowa;
? Kevin Robling, offensive lineman, Jordan, Minn.;
? Eric Schroeder, defensive tackle, Stewartville, Minn.
SCHROEDER NAMED PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN: South Dakota State University defensive lineman Eric Schroeder has been named to the Sports Network Preseason All-America Third Team for the Division I Football Championship Subdivision, which was announced on Aug. 22.
A senior from Stewartville, Minn., Schroeder earned second-team all-Great West Football Conference recognition in 2007 after leading the league in tackles for loss with 13 1/2. Entering his third season as a starter, Schroeder also ranked third in the league with 6 1/2 sacks during the 2007 campaign, while tallying 68 total tackles.
HOMECOMING: Thursday's game will mark a homecoming of sorts for 18 members of the Jackrabbit football team who hail from the state of Iowa. Two incoming freshmen, defensive lineman Josiah Fitzsimmons and offensive lineman Alex Olinger, are natives of Ames.
Iowa is the second-most represented state on the SDSU roster, trailing only South Dakota, which has 23 players on the active roster.
BERRY AT THE HELM: Senior Ryan Berry returns for his second full season as the starting quarterback and is the most experienced returning signal-caller in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
In 2007, Berry was efficient as he started all 11 games, completing 60.1 percent (197-of-328) of his passes with 19 touchdowns and only nine interceptions. His 2,132 yards were the ninth-best single-season total in school history.
Berry's record as a starter at SDSU is 8-5. During his redshirt freshman season in 2005, he led the Jackrabbits to a victory in the season finale over Northern Colorado. In his first career start, against Georgia Southern, Berry tied a Jackrabbit single-game record with five touchdowns in a 55-42 loss.
For his career, Berry has passed for 2,917 yards. He stands 803 yards again from tying Mike Law (3,720 yards from 1981-83) for 10th place on the Jackrabbit career charts.
HARRIS MOVING UP: Senior wide receiver JaRon Harris will attempt to crack the SDSU career top-10 charts in a couple different receiving categories this season.
After leading the team with 40 receptions for 664 yards and seven touchdowns in 2007, Harris enters the 2008 campaign with 82 career receptions for 1,275 yards. He needs 30 receptions to tie current NFL tight end Steve Heiden (112 receptions from 1995-98) for 10th place in catches and 306 yards to tie Brock Beran (1,581 yards from 1997-2000) for 10th place in receiving yards.
MINETT LEADS RUNNING GAME: Sophomore Kyle Minett is expected to handle the bulk of the duties at running back for South Dakota State this season.
The Ruthton, Minn., native led the team with an average of 6.2 yards per carry in 2007, and ranked second in yards gained with 476. He was named the Outstanding Player of the Beef Bowl as he racked up 134 yards on 11 carries and added a 40-yard touchdown reception in a 38-3 victory over Texas State.
HOMETOWN CONNECTION: SDSU has used the services of some home-grown talent the past few seasons.
Brookings natives Chris Wagner and Chris Doblar were two of the top three receivers for the Jackrabbits a year ago, but both graduated. Wagner, a tight end, is currently in training camp with the Oakland Raiders.
Four Jackrabbit players who hail from Brookings remain on the SDSU roster: senior defensive back Nash Simet, junior running back Jordan Paula, sophomore running back Tyler Duffy and freshman wide receiver Dan Schmidt.
TOP TACKLERS: The Jackrabbit defense returns five of its top six tacklers from a season ago.
Leading the way are junior linebackers Jimmy Rogers (110 tackles) and Chris Johnson (106 tackles), who were also the top two tacklers in the Great West Football Conference in 2007.
Senior defensive back Brock Campbell and senior defensive lineman Eric Schroeder tied for fourth on the squad with 68 tackles each, while junior defensive end Danny Batten, an honorable mention All-America selection by the Sports Network, added 67 tackles. Schroeder and Batten combined for 15.5 tackles for loss and 11 sacks in 2007.
A LOOK AHEAD: The Jackrabbits will open the home season with their first-ever Missouri Valley Football Conference game on Sept. 6, when they host Youngstown State (Ohio) in the 13th Annual Cereal Bowl.
Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium.
A free football clinic for children in kindergarten through eighth grade will be held in conjunction with the home opener from 2 to 3:30 p.m. on the practice fields east of the stadium. Log on to www.GoJacks.com for more information.
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