BROOKINGS South Dakota State will be the No. 3 seed in the FCS Playoffs, with the bracket being announced Sunday morning.
After beating Missouri State 45-9 on Saturday, the question coming into Sunday was whether the Jackrabbits would be the No. 2 seed or No. 3 seed in the FCS Playoffs. Montana State was awarded the No. 1 seed as the Bobcats were the only team in the FCS to go undefeated.
SDSU, North Dakota State and South Dakota all shared the Missouri Valley Football Conference regular season title as they all beat each other and everyone was wondering how the committee would seed the three teams who did not lose to any other FCS teams. The committee ended up awarding the Bison the No. 2 seed, the Jacks the No. 3 seed and the Coyotes the No. 4 seed.
I was kind of surprised, said SDSU quarterback Mark Gronowski. I thought we were going to be the two-seed, but I guess that may give us an opportunity to go back up to Fargo and rewrite our story.
SDSU head coach Jimmy Rogers wasnt worried about where his team was going to be seeded when he woke up on Sunday. He said being the No. 3 seed may actually be a good thing because it means the Jacks may have a chance to avenge their only loss of the season, which was to NDSU on Oct. 19 in Fargo.
I knew that we were going to be two or three and honestly, deep down, I wanted to get the opportunity to go up [to Fargo again]. Thats just who I am, but Im not the one playing the game, Rogers said.
That potential rematch is a long ways away, though, as both teams need to win two games to get to the semifinals. The Jacks will get a bye next week and will play the winner of No. 14 seeded Montana and Tennessee State on Dec. 7. If Montana is the one that comes out on top it would be a rematch of last years national championship, which SDSU won 23-3.
The No. 6 seed is Incarnate Word. If UIW and SDSU won their second round games, it would set up a rematch of the second game of the season in which the Jackrabbits won 45-24.
I think it shook out the best way for us, said SDSU senior linebacker Graham Spalding. Yeah, were focused on Tennessee State or Montana, but naturally we know what could be ahead of us and were looking forward to it. I think the bracket shakes out for a reason every year and they put us in certain positions every year. Everyone can kind of see that. Honestly, I think they want to give us the toughest road with all of the rematches and I think were ready for it. I want all of the rematches.
With all of these rematches looming, it may get difficult for the Jacks to stay focused on whats right in front of them, but Gronowski said his team will take it week by week.
We have to be focused on whats in front of us first. Montana or Tennessee State. Whoever wins that game, were expecting Montana, but whoever it is we have to win that game and then we have to win the next and eventually well get there. We just have to focus on whats ahead of us and go 1-0 every week and it will come up for us, Gronowski said.
SDSU is looking to become the third school in FCS history to win three-straight national championships. North Dakota State has done it twice in the past 13 years and Appalachian State did it from 2005-07.
The Jackrabbits rolled to the title last season as they outscored their opponents 146-15 in their four playoff games. SDSU was dubbed one of the best teams in FCS history last year and the Jacks lost a lot of talent from that team. However, Gronowski said this group of seniors has the chance to become the best senior class in school history.
After we won the first one, Rogers became the head coach and he had the saying that the statement is the standard. It was a big quote and now its on all of our shirts because we liked it so much. But then we ended up raising the bar last year and now we want to raise the bar again and go for that three-peat. So, were always making sure that were making a statement and that that statement is the standard, Gronowski said.
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