BROOKINGS — Many South Dakota State fans consider last January’s victory over North Dakota State as the game they became No. 1. But the game where the Jackrabbits truly took off may have happened three months prior when they defeated NDSU 23-21 in the annual Dakota Marker game at the Fargodome.

The win helped SDSU earn the No. 1 ranking for the first time but that means nothing more than a notch in the left-hand column to a majority of the players on the team. Instead, the game marked a turning point where the Jacks found a consistent approach that has not only helped them become the best team in the country but also stay at the top of a wild FCS.

“Having success consistently matters [and] giving your best consistently matters,” SDSU head coach Jimmy Rogers said. “That’s what we’re aiming for. …That’s really our focus right now, making it about us and how we need to get better and then attacking our opponent and using it to our advantage.”

When looking back on that game, there were several areas where the Jacks found a measure of consistency. One of the key spots was in the first half where SDSU stumbled out of the gate. The offensive line committed five false start penalties in the first half and allowed touchdowns on NDSU’s first three drives before falling into a 21-7 deficit.

“We knew in that first half that we really didn’t play our best football,” SDSU offensive lineman Garret Greenfield recalled. “We were doing things that were uncharacteristic of us. We were making mistakes and we found ourselves in a hole.”

Linebacker Adam Bock also admitted that the Jacks made some uncharacteristic mistakes in the first half but leaned on their consistent approach to get them back into the game.

“They kind of threw the ball on us a bit,” Bock said. “Coming out of halftime we just had to keep playing our style of football and just stay consistent.”

Bock and the SDSU defense were the biggest beneficiaries of their mindset, holding the Bison without a point for the rest of the game. While Bock recorded a team-high seven tackles, he had plenty of help as Isaiah Stalbird had six tackles and Graham Spalding had five tackles including a 0.5 tackle for loss.

The group effort took on a new meaning the following week when Bock left a victory over North Dakota with a broken foot and the SDSU defense didn’t miss a beat with Jason Freeman, Saiveon Williamson and Payton Shafer stepping into bigger roles.

“There are all these stats about how many different starters we’ve had on defense and every single guy just steps in and does their part,” Bock said. “There’s no drop off at all when people step up. Just the depth and believing on every single guy that steps on the field has been huge for us.”

While the defense did its part so did the offensive line. The group had been in flux at the beginning of the season and took the first month of the season to band together. With Gus Miller adapting at center and transfer John O’Brian at right tackle, the Jacks used the second half to come together as a unit.

“I think the best part of that whole thing was that in the locker room…nobody panicked,” Greenfield said. “Nobody pointed fingers and they all came together. It was really good energy, positive energy all around. Everybody just knew coming in the second half we had to just tighten up some things and quit doing things that were uncharacteristic of us. It was one play of a time and see what happens.”

The attitude permeated through the rest of the offense even as Isaiah Davis went out with a shoulder injury. Amar Johnson stepped in and established his legend of tormenting the Bison running 12 times for 89 yards and a 16-yard touchdown run that helped close the gap to 21-17 with 3:03 remaining in the third quarter and open things up for Mark Gronowski and the passing game.

“The run game is one of the biggest parts of our offense and it really allows us to open up the pass,” Gronowski said. “It allowed us to have a lot of deep shots and that’s why we’re allowed to be so efficient. Just having those guys like [Davis], Amar [Johnson] and Angel [Johnson] to make plays for us in the run game, it makes the safeties have to come down and it allows our other playmakers to make plays.”

The Jacks offense made just enough of them to construct a pair of key drives in the fourth quarter that led to 38-yard and 18-yard field goals by Hunter Dustman to make it a 23-21 lead with 3:49 left in the fourth quarter.

With one last stop by the defense, the Jacks had completed the comeback and became the No. 1 team in the country and had established the resilience that led them to a national title.

“Just battling through that adversity and coming back to win that game was a huge thing for us as a team and our offense especially,” Gronowski said. “If we just be us and play our game there’s nobody else that can beat us as long as we just keep doing things that don’t put ourselves behind the sticks. I feel like that just kind of boosted us throughout the rest of the year and allowed us to have a really meshed team that is one team together.”