When South Dakota State takes the field on Jan. 7 it will be looking to win its 29th-straight game and its second straight national championship. The Jackrabbits have been the most dominant team in the FCS during this run and its starting to look like their biggest enemy might be themselves.
There havent been many teams that have given the Jacks issues this season. SDSU has outscored opponents 537-136 this season which averages out to 29.6 points per game. The Jacks have scored 65 touchdowns on offense this season and have only given up 15 touchdowns on defense.
Just three of SDSUs 14 wins this season have come by 11 points or less. One of them came in the quarterfinals when the Jacks beat Villanova 23-12. After the game Villanova head coach Mike Ferrante was asked what it was going to take to prevent SDSU from going back-to-back and this was his answer.
Thats a good question, Farrante said. They wear you down. Theyre very physical. They play hard up front. We were defending the run well for a while and they just wore us down in the end. So, I dont know. For someone to beat these guys you may have to have the ball bounce your way a few times. You know, create some turnovers and dont have any of your own. Dont have drive stopping penalties. You just have to play a really clean game because theyre pretty consistent in what they do in all three phases.
Thats easier said than done. SDSU is sixth in the country in turnover margin this season as the Jacks have 26 takeaways and 11 giveaways. The Jacks have lost the turnover battle just twice this season and both times it was 1-0. They flat out dont beat themselves.
They dont make mistakes once they get inside the red zone either as theyve scored on 52 of their 54 trips to the red zone. 43 of those trips have resulted in touchdowns.
The Jacks shutout their other two opponents in the playoffs as they beat Mercer 41-0 in the second round and UAlbany 59-0 in the semifinals. UAlbany head coach Greg Gattuso said SDSU is one of the best teams hes gone up against.
Theyre a good football team. A great football team. One of the best Ive seen. It was a good old fashioned whooping all the way around, Gattuso said.
It wasnt just the playoffs where the Jackrabbits flexed their muscles and had opponents wondering if they could ever get to their level. In back-to-back weeks SDSU took down its two biggest rivals in South Dakota and North Dakota State handedly. The Jacks went down to Vermillion and beat USD 37-3 and followed that up with a 33-16 win over NDSU in Brookings.
Now former NDSU head coach Matt Entz said after the loss to the Jackrabbits that the biggest thing he noticed this year was the amount of experience and returning starters for SDSU.
Theyre a good football team and you can tell theyve played together for a long time. They have great continuity and have great confidence in what theyre doing. Feels like weve played the same names for a damn long time right now. Theyre well coached and they had a really good recruiting class that year because it feels like everyone comes from that 2017 or 2018 class. Its a lot of veterans and guys who have played a lot of football and are well-coached, Entz said.
SDSU will be playing Montana in Frisco and the Grizzlies beat NDSU in the semifinals. Montana head coach Bobby Hauck has the same impressions on SDSU as Entz.
You win the national championship and then you have that many starters back, its probably a really good deal. Continuity [is big] and having a bunch of starters back, theres a reason why theyre undefeated right now. Theyre good. Theyre a complete team and theyre good everywhere, Hauck said.
Both coaches are not wrong as the Jacks returned 20 of their 22 starters from last years national championship team. Theyll be going up against a Montana team who hasnt played for a national championship since 2009.
With that experience and the dominance that SDSU has shown, I go back to the Jacks biggest enemy being themselves. SDSU head coach Jimmy Rogers and his players have said the whole season that theyve done a good job of blocking the outside noise and focusing on themselves.
Focusing on themselves includes avoiding turnovers in their own territory and penalties that kill drives. Which theyve done a great job of avoiding all season long.
If they can do that heading to Frisco, theres no reason that another national championship trophy shouldnt be coming home with them on the plane back to Brookings.
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