Jackrabbits turn focus to Drake

Saturday, September 14

Brookings, S.D.

1 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Drake

Buy Tickets

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia Sports Media

9/11/2019 1:39:00 PM | Football

GAME 3: Drake (0-2) at #3/3 South Dakota State (1-1)

When	Saturday, Sept. 14 \| 1 p.m. Central	Order Tickets
Where	Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium \| Brookings, South Dakota
TV	Midco Sports Network \| ESPN + \| Jackrabbits All-Access
Radio	J ackrabbits All-Access (free audio) \| Jackrabbit Sports Network
Live Stats	GoJacksLive.com
Game Notes	SDSU \| Drake \| Missouri Valley Football Conference
Social Media	Twitter \| Facebook \| #LastPlay

The South Dakota State University football continues its month-long homestand Saturday afternoon, hosting Drake in nonconference action.

Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium. The game will be televised on Midco Sports Network and ESPN+.

The Jackrabbits, ranked third in both the STATS FCS media poll and by the FCS?coaches this week, enter Saturday's contest 1-1 overall. SDSU began its string of four consecutive home games with a 38-3 win over Long Island University on Sept. 7.

Drake, meanwhile, is in search of its first victory of the season under first-year head coach Todd Stepsis. The Bulldogs are 0-2 after a 46-7 season-opening loss at North Dakota on Aug. 31, followed by a 10-7 home setback against Truman State last week.

Saturday's game will be played in support of Samaritan's Feet. South Dakota State head coach John Stiegelmeier and his wife, Laurie, have pledged a match up to $2,000 for the non-profit organization, which distributes shoes to people in need.

Stiegelmeier was honored this past spring as a Barefoot Coach of the Year by Samaritan's Feet and the Jackrabbits assisted with a shoe distribution in Sioux Falls in August.

Both teams' coaching staffs will go through pre-game warmups barefoot on Saturday to further raise awareness.

THE SERIES: Saturday's game marks the 13th overall meeting and third time in four seasons that SDSU and Drake have met on the gridiron.

Drake holds an 8-4 advantage in the series which dates back to 1945, but the Jackrabbits have won the last three matchups, starting with a 20-3 SDSU road victory in 1983.

The two squads played the inaugural game at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium on Sept. 10, 2016, with SDSU recording a 56-28 victory on its new home field.

SDSU and Drake met again in Brookings on Sept. 16, 2017, with the Jackrabbits rolling to a 51-10 Beef Bowl victory. SDSU scored on all five of its first-half offensive possessions and capped a 41-point first half with a 95-yard kickoff return for touchdown by Cade Johnson.

Isaac Wallace scored on a pair of 1-yard runs, while All-Americans Jake Wieneke and Dallas Goedert each caught touchdown passes from Taryn Christion. Christion added a rushing touchdown of his own in the first half.

HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE: South Dakota State carries a 12-game home winning streak into Saturday's game and has compiled a 21-2 mark at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium since the facility opened in 2016.

The current streak began Nov. 4, 2017, with a 33-21 victory over North Dakota State and includes three Football Championship Subdivision playoff games.

SDSU's last home loss was a 38-18 Hobo Day setback against Northern Iowa on Oct. 14, 2017.

RABBITS RANKED: The South Dakota State University football team matched its highest-ever ranking in a preseason poll by checking in at No. 3 in the initial STATS FCS media poll of the 2019 season.

The Jackrabbits also were ranked fourth in the preseason coaches' poll conducted by the American Football Coaches Association.

After the first two weeks of action, the Jackrabbits have maintained their No. 3 ranking in the STATS FCS media poll, while moving up one spot to third in the coaches' poll.

SDSU has now appeared in the top 25 of 95 consecutive media polls dating back to October 2012.

ELITE COMPANY: South Dakota State is one of only two Football Championship Subdivision programs to reach the playoffs each of the last seven seasons. North Dakota State holds the longest active streak with nine consecutive trips to the playoffs.

100 FCS WINS: South Dakota State recorded its 100th win as a Football Championship Subdivision program with a 62-30 victory at Missouri State on Oct. 21, 2017. Since moving to the FCS ranks at the start of the 2004 season, the Jackrabbits have posted a 119-68 overall record (.636 winning percentage).

SDSU has turned in a winning record in 13 of 15 full seasons and has compiled a 61-27 mark (.688 winning percentage) in Missouri Valley Football Conference games.

CAPTAINS: Leading the Jackrabbit football team on the field and in the locker room are six captains:

Adam Anderson, Sr., wide receiver, Orlando, Fla.;
Logan Backhaus, Jr., linebacker, Spirit Lake, Iowa;
Ryan Earith, Sr., defensive end, Papillion, Neb.;
Evan Greeneway, Sr., offensive lineman, Yankton, S.D.;
Christian Rozeboom, Sr., linebacker, Sioux Center, Iowa, and
Luke Sellers, Sr., fullback, Papillion, Neb.

Rozeboom is in his third season as a captain, joining Austin Sumner (2012-14) and Jacob Ohnesorge (2015-17) as the only other three-time captains in program history. All five other captains are in their first seasons in the role.

VALLEY PREVIEW: For the third year in a row, South Dakota State has been picked to finish second in the Missouri Valley Football Conference race.

The Jackrabbits finished second behind league and Football Championship Subdivision champion North Dakota State, which garnered 32 of 40 first-place votes from a panel that included head coaches, sports information and media members who regularly cover the 10-team league. The Bison tallied 392 points, followed by SDSU with 348 points and four first-place votes. Illinois State (3) and Indiana State also received first-place votes to finish third and fourth in the preseason poll with respective point totals of 289 and 279 points.

Rounding out the top five was Northern Iowa with 266 points.

NDSU has now been tabbed as the preseason favorite eight consecutive seasons and has won eight straight league titles — sharing the title four times, including with the Jackrabbits in 2016.

A pre-season favorite has claimed the league crown 21 times (in 33 previous polls). Valley Football is celebrating its 35th season in 2019.

SDSU has met or exceeded expectations from the preseason poll nine of its first 11 seasons as a member of the MVFC, including recording runner-up finishes each of the last two years.

In 2018, three MVFC teams earned selection to the NCAA Division I Championship, SDSU and North Dakota State advanced to the playoff semifinals, and NDSU won its seventh national championship in eight years. The Jackrabbits have qualified for the FCS playoffs each of the last seven seasons.

Counting last year, an MVFC member has reached the FCS semifinals 23 times in the past 23 seasons (and 26 times overall), and the MVFC has had two semifinal teams in four of the past five seasons.

In addition, eight Jackrabbit players, including five first-team selections, were named to the 2019 MVFC Preseason Team.

Senior linebacker Christian Rozeboom led the SDSU honorees. A three-time first-team all-MVFC pick from Sioux Center, Iowa, Rozeboom registered team highs of 105 tackles and 10.5 tackles for loss in 2018. He also forced three fumbles and intercepted a pair of passes.

Joining Rozeboom on the defensive unit was defensive end Ryan Earith. A senior from Papillion, Nebraska, Earith posted a team-best 5.5 sacks and added nine tackles for loss en route to receiving second-team all-MVFC accolades in 2018.

On the offensive end, sophomore running back Pierre Strong, Jr. and junior wide receiver Cade Johnson received first-team preseason recognition. Strong gained a team-best 1,116 rushing yards on only 117 carries — an average of 9.5 yards per attempt — and scored 11 touchdowns in being named MVFC Freshman of the Year last season.

Johnson led the league with 1,332 receiving yards — on 67 receptions — and share the lead among Football Championship Subdivision players with a school-record 17 touchdown catches in 2018. He also has excelled on special teams, leading the team each of the past two seasons in kickoff return yards, including an average of 27.2 yards per attempt in 2018.

The special teams unit was represented by junior long snapper Bradey Sorenson.

Also honored on the MVFC Preseason Team were honorable mention selections Evan Greeneway at offensive tackle, Luke Sellers at fullback and Chase Vinatieri at kicker. All three are entering their senior seasons.

PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS: A Football Championship Subdivision-best five players from South Dakota State were honored on the STATS FCS Preseason All-America Team.

Leading the Jackrabbit contingent was junior long snapper Bradey Sorenson as a first-team honoree. A Yankton native, Sorenson was perfect on all 149 of his snaps (56 punts, 21 field goal attempts and 72 extra-point tries) during the 2018 season, allowing SDSU to rank in the top 10 nationally for punt return defense and net punting.

Also from the special teams unit, senior kicker Chase Vinatieri was a third-team selection. Vinatieri led the team in 2018 with 114 points, including making 14-of-21 field goal attempts that was highlighted by a school-record-tying 57-yarder. The Sioux Falls native broke his own single-season school record with 66 extra points (in 71 attempts).

Two of SDSU's top offensive playmakers — wide receiver Cade Johnson and running back Pierre Strong, Jr. — were second-team honorees. A junior from Papillion, Nebraska, Johnson established a Jackrabbit single-season record with 17 touchdown catches as part of a 67-reception, 1,332-yard season in 2018. His four touchdown receptions in the Sept. 8 season opener against Montana State tied a single-game school record.

Johnson also appears on the initial watch list for the STATS FCS Walter Payton Award, which is presented annually to the top offensive player in the FCS ranks.

A sophomore from Little Rock, Arkansas, Strong emerged in the second half of the season to finish with team bests of 1,116 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns. He averaged 9.5 yards per, hitting the 1,000-yard mark on his 100th attempt of the season. Strong was honored as the Missouri Valley Football Conference Freshman of the Year in 2018.

The lone defensive honoree for the Jackrabbits was senior linebacker Christian Rozeboom, who also earned second-team recognition. The Sioux Center, Iowa, native tallied a team-best 105 tackles during the 2018 season, including 10.5 tackles for loss, while adding two interceptions and a fumble recovery. Rozeboom reached double figures in tackles five times.

In addition, Rozeboom has been named to the initial watch list for the STATS FCS Buck Buchanan Award, which is awarded annually to the subdivision's top defender.

TWO GAMES, TWO FIRST STARTS: South Dakota State has started two different quarterbacks in its first two games of the 2019 season.

Redshirt freshman J'Bore Gibbs made his collegiate debut in the Aug. 29 season opener at Minnesota, becoming the first Jackrabbit other than Taryn Christion to start a game at quarterback since 2015.

Gibbs completed 13-of-26 passes for 193 yards and added 16 rushing yards on seven carries. He led SDSU on back-to-back scoring drives in the third quarter for a 21-20 lead, including a 13-yard touchdown pass to tight end Zach Heins.

Gibbs sat out the Sept. 7 home opener against Long Island, giving way to junior Kanin Nelson. In his first career start, Nelson completed 6-of-8 passes for 108 yards and a touchdown. He also scored the Jackrabbits' first touchdown on a 2-yard run in the first quarter.

MORE IMPRESSIVE DEBUTS: Freshman defensive end Quinton Hicks made the most of his limited action in the Jackrabbits' Sept. 7 home opener against Long Island. The Wichita, Kansas, native led the SDSU defense with two tackles for loss, including a strip sack late in the second quarter that he also recovered that led to a touchdown and 21-3 halftime lead.

Hicks, who was one of about 15 players to make their Jackrabbit debuts in the game, finished the night with three total tackles.

JOHNSON NEARS RECEIVING TOP 10: Junior wide receiver Cade Johnson is in line to move into the SDSU top 10 for career receiving yards in his next game. Johnson enters Saturday's contest with 1,809 career receiving yards, 24 away from passing Glen Fox (1,832 yards from 2006-09) for 10th place in program history.

The Papillion, Nebraska, native leads the team with nine receptions for 159 yards through two games.

Johnson already ranks in a tie with Jason Schneider (2011-14) for sixth place in career touchdown receptions with 20. Johnson set a new Jackrabbit single-season record with 17 touchdown receptions in 2018.

VINATIERI APPROACHES SCORING RECORD: Senior Chase Vinatieri has moved to within 17 points of setting a new Jackrabbit career standard for most points via kicking. Vinatieri enters the weekend with 305 kicking points, trailing the record of 321 set by Parker Douglass from 2004-07. Vinatieri has made 39 field goals and has tallied 188 extra-points in his four-year career.

Vinatieri's career scoring total is actually 321 points as he has scored a pair of rushing touchdowns on fake field goal attempts. He put together consecutive 100-point seasons as a sophomore and junior with respective totals of 103 and 114 points.

Prior to Douglass setting the career kick scoring record, Chase Vinatieri's uncle, Adam, held the record with 195 points from 1991-94. Adam Vinatieri has since gone on to set the NFL career scoring record with 2,600 points while playing for the New England Patriots (1996-2005) and Indianapolis Colts (2006-present).

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: South Dakota State's Christian Rozeboom and Jaxon Janke were among the Missouri Valley Football Conference's players of the week for their performances in the Jackrabbits' 38-3 victory over Long Island on Sept. 7.

A senior linebacker from Sioux Center, Iowa, Rozeboom recorded a team-high eight tackles, forced a fumble and intercepted a pass in earning Defensive Player of the Week honors. His interception in the third quarter came in the middle of the Jackrabbits scoring 14 points in a 19-second span. As a team, the Jackrabbits held LIU out of the end zone and limited the Sharks to only 123 yards of total offense and eight first downs.

Janke, a redshirt freshman from Madison, received Special Teams Player of the Week recognition. He swung the momentum firmly in South Dakota State's favor by returning a punt 77 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter to start a streak of 31 unanswered points. Janke, whose touchdown pushed the lead to 14-3, finished the game with four punt returns for 111 yards, becoming the first SDSU player in the Division I era (since 2004) to record more than 100 punt return yards in a contest.

ROZEBOOM NEARS TACKLE MARK: Reigning Missouri Valley Football Conference Defensive Player of the Week Christian Rozeboom is poised to move up a spot on the SDSU career tackles chart in Saturday's game.

A senior, Rozeboom enters the week with 383 career tackles, 10 behind J.D. Alexander (393 tackles from 1971-74) for third place in Jackrabbit history.

Rozeboom leads the team with 19 tackles so far this season and has recorded 10 or more stops in 20 of 42 career games.

Greg Osmundson (1986-89) is the career leader with 435 tackles, followed by T.J. Lally (2012-15) with 415 tackles.

GETTING DEFENSIVE: South Dakota State limited Long Island University to 123 yards of total offense and only eight first downs in a 38-3 victory on Sept. 7. That was the lowest yardage total surrendered by the Jackrabbits since giving up only 90 yards to Indiana State on Sept. 19, 2009. The eight LIU first downs were the fewest by an opponent since the 2018 home opener, when Montana State managed only six first downs against the SDSU defense.

The Jackrabbits currently rank second in the MVFC and fifth nationally in total defense by allowing 215.5 yards per game through the first two weeks of the season.

BLOCK THAT KICK: The Jackrabbits were strong on special teams throughout the 2018 season, ranking third in the Football Championship Subdivision with eight blocked kicks.

Seven Wilson led the way with three blocked kicks, including a pair of blocked punts in the FCS playoff opener against Duquesne. Krockett Krolikowski was credited with a pair of blocked kicks.

JACKRABBIT BLOODLINES: Several South Dakota State football players have have strong family ties to South Dakota State Athletics.

Fullback Turner Blasius' father, Justin, was an NCAA Division II national wrestling champion in 1994.
Senior kicker Chase Vinatieri is the nephew of former Jackrabbit and NFL?career scoring leader Adam Vinatieri, currently of the Indianapolis Colts. Chase Vinatieri made 13-of-14 field goal attempts during the 2017 season to lead the nation in field goal percentage (.929). He shares the SDSU record for longest field goal at 57 yards, a feat he accomplished in a game last season at Northern Iowa.
Senior wide receiver Jacob Brown is the younger brother of Jordan Brown, who was an All-America selection in 2018 and who was selected in the seventh round of the 2019 National Football League draft by the Cincinnati Bengals.
Identical twins Jadon and Jaxon Janke are redshirt freshman wide receivers for the Jackrabbits this season.

JACKS IN THE PROS: At the start of the 2019 football season, two former South Dakota State standouts were on the opening day rosters of National Football League teams, continuing the Jackrabbits' long tradition of developing players into pro prospects.

Headlining the list is Adam Vinatieri of the Indianapolis Colts. Vinatieri became the NFL career scoring leader during the 2018 season — his 23rd in the league. His career totals include 583-of-693 on field goal attempts, 84.1 percent, and 2,604 career points. He also holds the career field goals record and ranks second in career extra points with 853.

Currently the oldest player in the NFL at age 46, Vinatieri now holds the all-time NFL record with 21 100-point seasons. In all, he holds 15 NFL records.

Vinatieri has earned a reputation as one the most consistent and clutch kickers in the NFL. After two Pro Bowl selections (2002, 2004), he left New England following the 2005 season as the team's career scoring leader with 1,058 points. In 2015, he became the first player in NFL to score 1,000 points for two different teams.

Where Vinatieri has truly excelled is in the postseason. He holds the distinction of being the only kicker in NFL history to play in five different Super Bowl games, and made a field goal in four of those contests. He kicked last-second game-winning field goals in Super Bowl XXXVI against St. Louis and Super Bowl XXXVIII versus Carolina, as well as a game-tying 45-yard field goal in a snowstorm versus Oakland in the 2001 AFC?Playoffs. In 32 postseason games, Vinatieri's totals include 56-of-69 on field goals, and he shares the NFL?single-game postseason record with five field goals — a feat he has accomplished twice. Vinatieri's field goal totals also are NFL postseason records, as are his 238 points.

In his second year with the Philadelphia Eagles is tight end Dallas Goedert. A two-time All-American, Goedert became the first Jackrabbit selected in the NFL Draft in eight years as he was a second-round pick by the defending Super Bowl champions in 2018. Goedert played in all 16 games for the Eagles in his rookie season, collecting 33 receptions for 334 yards with four touchdowns.

Five other former Jackrabbits were in training camps this summer with NFL teams, but were later released. Notable in that group were a pair of veterans, running back Zach Zenner and offensive lineman Bryan Witzmann.

During a highly decoarated career at SDSU from 2011-14, Zenner became the first player in the history of Division I football to rush for 2,000 yards in three consecutive seasons. He signed a free agent contract with the Detroit Lions following the 2015 NFL Draft and played in 36 games over four seasons. Zenner finished the 2016 season with a team-best four rushing touchdowns and ranked second on the squad with 334 rushing yards. In 2018, Zenner rejoined the team in November after being released earlier in the season and tallied 265 yards with three touchdowns, posting a career-best 4.8 yards per carry.

A standout for the Jackrabbits from 2010-13, Witzmann was most recently a member of the Cleveland Browns after playing the second half of the 2018 season for the Chicago Bears. Previously with Kansas City, Witzmann earned a starting role with the Chiefs in 2017 — his second year with the team. He also has spent time with Houston, New Orleans, Dallas and Minnesota.

Making his professional debut in 2019 was cornerback Jordan Brown, who was recently released despite being a seventh-round draft choice by the Cincinnati Bengals. Brown's selection marked the first time the Jackrabbits had players drafted in back-to-back seasons since 1975-76.

Other recent Jackrabbits who signed rookie free agent contracts shortly before the start of training camp included quarterback Taryn Christion (Dallas Cowboys) and offensive lineman Tiano Pupungatoa (Minnesota Vikings).

In addition, offensive Jacob Ohnesorge played in the short-lived Alliance of American Football for the Arizona Hotshots, while wide receiver Jake Wieneke is a member of the Montreal Allouettes in the Canadian Football League.

DANA J. DYKHOUSE STADIUM: Jackrabbit football moved into a new home in September of 2016 with the completion of Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.

The stadium, which was constructed in phases on the site of SDSU's previous home field, Coughlin-Alumni Stadium, seats 19,340 spectators and cost $65 million to build. The stadium is being funded through private gifts and long-term revenue streams, including concessions and suite, loge box and ticket sales. Bonds are financing nearly two-thirds of the project's construction, with the remaining dollars coming from private support. Lead gifts totaling $12.5 million from Sioux Falls banker Dana Dykhouse and philanthropist T. Denny Sanford were announced in October 2013.

The stadium officially opened Sept. 8, 2016, featuring a concert by country music superstars Luke Bryan, Little Big Town and Lee Brice as part of the Jacks Bash opening weekend. The first football game was two days later, on Sept. 10, when the Jackrabbits defeated Drake, 56-28.

SDSU has gone on to post a 21-2 record at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium during its first three seasons of operation, including a 4-0 mark in Football Championship Subdivision playoff games. The Jackrabbits went undefeated at home in 2018 with a 7-0 mark and have won 12 games in a row at DJDS.

Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium was designed by Kansas City-based Crawford Architects, with the construction firm JE Dunn serving as the project manager at risk and Henry Carlson Company of Sioux Falls serving as general contractor. The stadium won the 2017 Alliant Build America Award from the Associated General Contractors of America South Dakota Building Chapter.

BIG SKY-MVFC CHALLENGE: For the third year in a row, the Missouri Valley Football Conference and Big Sky Conference have engaged in a challenge series between the two leagues.

The MVFC has captured each of the first two Big Sky-MVFC Challenge Series by a 5-3 margin. The home team won all eight games last year, and seven of the eight games in 2018 featured at least one ranked team (in two of the games, both teams were ranked.) Two playoff matchups last year did not count toward the series.

Ten MVFC-Big Sky matchups are on the slate this year, including one this week. The Big Sky leads this year's series, 2-1.
Aug. 29 - Northern Arizona 37, Missouri State 23
Aug. 31 - #25 Montana 31, South Dakota 17
Sept. 7 - #11 Northern Iowa 34, Southern Utah 14
Sept. 14 - #10 Montana State at Western Illinois
Sept. 21 - Idaho State at Northern Iowa
Sept. 21 - Northern Arizona at Illinois State
Sept. 21 - South Dakota at Northern Colorado
Sept. 21 - UC Davis at North Dakota State
Sept. 21 - Southern Utah at South Dakota State
Sept. 28 - Northern Iowa at Weber State

STIG SHOW: The John Stiegelmeier Radio Show airs each Monday throughout the 2019 football season.

The show is scheduled to air at 6 p.m. on the Jackrabbit Sports Network, originating with flagship station WNAX 570 AM in Yankton. In addition, the weekly show also will be streamed online free of charge at GoJacks.com.

Hosted by Tyler Merriam, the John Stiegelmeier Radio Show will also feature interviews with Jackrabbit student-athletes and assistant coaches. Jackrabbit fans are encouraged to attend the show in person at Cubby's Sports Bar and Grill, 307 Main Ave., in downtown Brookings.

A LOOK AHEAD: The Jackrabbits continue home action by hosting Southern Utah in the 53rd Annual Beef Bowl game next Saturday (Sept. 21).

Kickoff is set for 6 p.m., with a beef barbecue benefiting Animal Science scholarships preceding the game.

-GoJacks.com-