BROOKINGS South Dakota State and Augustana will meet on the football field for the first time in 20 years on Saturday.
Former North Central Conference rivals will do battle at 6 p.m. at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium. The last time the two programs met on the gridiron, SDSU was in its first year at the Division I level and the Jackrabbits won 38-9.
SDSU head coach Jimmy Rogers played at SDSU from 2006-09, so he came to Brookings right after the SDSU-Augustana rivalry came to an end. He said hes not totally familiar with what the rivalry was, but thinks it will be a good night for football in the state of South Dakota.
Its hard for me to speak on the rivalry and the history because that was before my time. I know people are passionate about that and Id almost disrespect it with a comment. I think [the amount of success in college football in South Dakota] is awesome. Especially from a guy who didnt grow up here. I think its grown so much, the product has grown so much and theres really good football being played here and really good people out here, Rogers said.
The Vikings went 11-2 last season and won the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. They beat Minnesota State in the first round of the Division II Playoffs before falling to Colorado School of Mines in the second round.
This is a senior-led team and a competitive team, Rogers said. They were outright conference champions last year and I know theyre going to come into this stadium and be excited and have a competitive spirit about them, so its going to take our best to get ready to compete.
Augustana comes into Saturdays game with a 1-0 record as the Vikings beat University of Mary 35-13 in Bismarck last weekend. Augie held U-Mary to just two yards rushing on 26 carries last weekend. The Vikings outgained the Marauders 336-240.
The Vikings played two quarterbacks in their season opener in sophomore Gunnar Hensley and senior Thomas Scholten. Hensley was 14-of-18 with 219 yards and two touchdowns and Scholten went 5-of-10 with 16 yards. Scholten also had 32 yards on eight carries.
Senior Jarod Epperson is the lead tailback for the Vikings. He ran for over 1,000 yards in both 2021 and 2023 and was on pace to rush for over 1,000 yards in 2022 but only played four games due to injury. He ran for 57 yards on 11 carries on Saturday.
I think theyre really good, Rogers said. For one, I think theyre big up front. Especially on the offensive line. Theyre big. They have a really mature running back whos been a three-time all-conference player. Hes been very impressive and theyre receiving core has been impressive. Theyve been rotating and trying to experiment with two quarterbacks and seeing whos going to take the lead. I dont know if thats going to continue or not, but we need to be prepared for both quarterbacks, Rogers said.
The Jacks are coming off of their first win of the season as they pulled away from Incarnate Word on Saturday, 45-24.
Sophomore wide receiver Griffin Wilde backed up his impressive first game with a 10-catch 106-yard performance on Saturday. Wilde caught the 10 passes on 10 targets and for the season he now has 256 yards and three touchdowns.
Rogers said he thought Wilde could have put up these kinds of numbers last year but he was behind the Janke twins. He also said having an offseason to put on some muscle has helped him a ton.
He didnt get the opportunities last year, Rogers said. He was capable last year. I would say more than anything, he worked really hard at changing his body. Last year he was an 18-year-old high school kid coming out and was kind of wide-eyed out there and just competing off of raw talent and not a ton of strength.
We knew what one year in the weight room would do and he worked extremely hard at it and looks really good right now. Hes put together. Hes gained about 20 pounds and looks faster.
SDSU has played three Division II schools over the past decade and the combined score of those games is 138-17. The Jacks opened the season with Western Oregon last year and beat them 45-7.
Rogers doesnt look at Augustana as a step down from the Jackrabbits, though. He believes the Vikings have a lot of talent on their roster and are not far off from a lot of the competition they play in the FCS.
I think some of these guys are no doubt not much different than what we have on our team. Look at some of the guys that weve taken [from Division II]. If you have a great team, you have a great team. If you have great players, they can play at any level, and I believe that. Look at the guys that we have taken from Division II that have stepped up and made impacts in roles for us. They have several guys that can play at this level and theres no doubt about it, Rogers said.
Two weeks ago the Jacks opened the 2024 season with a game at Oklahoma State. Heading into that game SDSU was two-touchdown underdogs and not many people gave them a chance. Heading into this weekend the Jackrabbits will be heavily favored and Rogers said just because SDSUs role has switched doesnt mean the Jacks can prepare differently.
My message to the team [on Monday night] was similar to the message after the Oklahoma State game. Youre really playing yourself at all times. I know nobody wants to hear that, but in that game versus Oklahoma State, we got in our own way. We cant get in our own way with our preparation and our thoughts about playing a team thats a division lower because we heard that talk when we were going to play Oklahoma State, Rogers said.
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