BROOKINGS Dan Jackson has faced North Dakota State 15 times in his career, but Saturday will be the first time as a head coach.
He lined up against the Bison three times as a Jackrabbit player from 2003-05 and then was an assistant coach for SDSU for 12 meetings from 2012-19.
Jackson played in the first Dakota Marker game in 2004 after the two programs moved to Division I and the Jacks won 24-21 in Brookings. He said no one at that time could have predicted that each school would become FCS powers and be playing on national television 21 years later.
20 years ago I probably wasnt thinking about much and definitely wasnt thinking about the big picture. When Im able to look back on it and when I educated the team some [on Monday], its how cool it is for two universities, who really came together and made a decision together, two universities that really partnered with that transition to move [up to Division I]. To turn this rivalry into what I think is the best rivalry in college football is special. Thats a tribute to the coaches and players of the past and the administration and leadership of the schools that were thinking bigger than I was 20 years ago.
Its been six years since Jackson has had to prepare for the Bison. His final year as an assistant at SDSU was the first year as the NDSU head coach for Matt Entz. Last season, Tim Polasek took over Entz as the leader of the Bison. Jackson said some things have changed in preparation for the Bison with the new coaching staff but you know what youre getting into when you play NDSU.
Theyve changed. They have new coordinators that have North Dakota State ties and coach Polasek. They havent changed from a culture aspect or an effort or physicality standpoint. That part hasnt changed. [Polasek] is a great offensive mind himself, so theres things that you see that youve seen everywhere hes been. I think each coach, whether they are from North Dakota State or not, has their own flavor on things. Theres some slight changes to their scheme, but they are who they are. Theyve changed, no different than we have, Jackson said.
This is the first season as a head coach for Jackson. Polasek was in that spot last season and both coaches had to deal with convincing guys to stay and also adding players in the transfer portal. South Dakota State more than North Dakota State, but Polasek said Jackson did a good job of doing that and credited some of that to the program that SDSU has built.
Theyre just good. Its a good program. I think they did a good job of jumping on some guys in the portal recruiting. They just have in their DNA the want to compete and the want to develop. Its a really well-run program, Polasek said.
Jackson has led his team to a 7-0 record so far this season and SDSU is ranked No. 2 in polls only behind NDSU. As both Polasek and Jackson noted, Jackson has put his own twist on the SDSU tradition and junior defensive tackle Logan Green said his team will be ready to fight for their head coach on Saturday.
[On Monday], we have a lot of new guys, so some of the guys arent as familiar with the rivalry and he explained [the Dakota Marker] a little bit. Everyone, when you come to South Dakota State, you know what this rivalry is, Green said.
This will be the fourth ever No. 1 versus No. 2 matchup in the regular season in FCS history and the previous two were also between SDSU and NDSU. Jackson said this game means a lot to the program, but theres no need to get nervous because its a big opportunity for himself and his team to prove themselves
Games like these have always been fun to me. Theyve always been exciting. Theres zero reason to tense up or tighten up. These are opportunities to elevate. The things that I remember about [Dakota Marker] games is that guys find a way to elevate their game, so you find out a lot about players in these matchups because theyre playing a great opponent and youre playing in a great environment. This game means a lot to us, beyond me, Jackson said.
Leave a Reply