BROOKINGS – The South Dakota State Jackrabbits have climbed to the top of the Football Championship Subdivision by fighting their way through a tough schedule. The Missouri Valley Football Conference is known for plenty of old-school, smashmouth battles, and the Jackrabbits prevailed through all of them to win their first outright MVFC title in school history.
With the Jacks turning their attention to the playoffs, they find themselves with a different opponent. The first round of the FCS was dominated by high-octane offense and even SDSU head coach John Stiegelmeier, a defensive-minded head coach, was impressed at the number of points on the board.
“I was amazed at how many points were scored in those games,” Stiegelmeier said. “Sometimes, it was by both teams. Does that mean they’re not good defensively? Or that they’re really good offensively? I don’t know that until you face a team.”
Of all the points that were scored, it was Saturday’s opponent that had scored the most. The Delaware Blue Hens ripped through St. Francis (Pa.) in a 56-17 victory last weekend and one of the key reasons was their ability to control the tempo.
The Blue Hens have averaged 72 plays per game this season, which would rank first among MVFC teams. North Dakota (71.5 plays per game) and Southern Illinois (71.3 plays per game) average above 70 plays per game and the Jackrabbits didn’t play Southern Illinois this season.
“We haven’t seen a lot of tempo,” Stiegelmeier admitted. “It’s hard to replicate and practice and that’s the biggest thing. We have our unique methods of doing that.”
In their lone game against a high-tempo team this season, the Jackrabbits gave up a season-high 35 points in a win over North Dakota on Oct. 22. While the Fighting Hawks put up just 365 yards on 78 plays, they also had 291 passing yards against an SDSU defense that averaged under 183.6 passing yards per game.
While UND had plenty of success with its tempo, it also experienced some drawbacks. The Fighting Hawks committed three turnovers in the game, including a pick-six by DyShawn Gales that put SDSU on the board in the first quarter.
Stieglemeier also believes that a high-tempo offense can limit what a team can do offensively, which in turn should help his defense.
“We’ve always felt that a tempo team will not have as many weapons in terms of plays, their benefits or advantages, mastering the tempo part of the game, getting to the line, and so on,” Stiegelmeier explained. “Our job is to give the quarterback a different look all the time so he can’t lock in on one [look].”
For Saturday, that quarterback will be Nolan Henderson. The senior struggled in an FCS Semifinal game during the 2021 spring season, getting sacked a school-record seven times in a 33-3 loss.
Henderson has improved since his last visit to Brookings, throwing for four touchdowns against St. Francis and surpassing Matt Nagy for the school’s record for passing touchdowns in a season with 32.
“He’s surely better…because of his age, his decision-making, and the weapons he has to deliver the ball around,” Stiegelmeier said of Henderson. “I doubt very much that we’re going to have seven sacks in this game because I think that’s a unique situation – especially when you’re playing playoff football – but we hope to get some pressure on him. I know that our defensive coaches are very impressed with him specifically in what he does with the ball.”
It also that Henderson has several weapons to throw to. Chandler Harvin caught three touchdowns in the win over St. Francis and Thyrick Pitts has been a consistent target, catching a pass in 42 straight games.
While Stiegelmeier wouldn’t name the team, he said he believes Harvin and Pitts are part of a skill position group that rivals some of the best in the MVFC.
“You’re just talking about pure athletic ability,” Stiegelmeier said. “Then they have the grit and the skill to make the play because you can run around fast and jump high and drop the ball, but these guys make plays. Then they have a great quarterback to deliver to the open guy and not throw it into coverage and stuff. It’s a good recipe for their offense.”
Even if the Jackrabbits can contain Delaware’s pass rush, they’ll have to deal with the running game. Kyron Cumby led the way for the Blue Hens, running for 111 yards on an afternoon where Delaware racked up 283 yards on the ground.
With Marcus Yams, Quincy Watson and Khory Spruill also mixing in, the Blue Hens use a different look than the Jackrabbits have seen in the MVFC.
“They’re not a heavy-set team,” Stiegelmeier said. “They can do it, but they’re not a two tight end, three tight end type of team…They spread out and they’re up-tempo. So you better be in your gap and you better do your job or they’ll get yards. They’re good in every phase of their offense so the tempo thing is surely an advantage for them because that’s what they do.”
When everything is working at its peak, the Blue Hens can do what they did on Saturday. In addition to their 56 points, they racked up 586 yards of total offense. The Jackrabbits could neutralize this if they take advantage of their opportunities to create turnovers – Delaware had three against St. Francis – but their best chance is to slow the game down themselves with a controlled pace on offense.
Delaware’s defense doesn’t match the high-speed style of their offensive counterparts, but they have enough to frustrate their opponents. Johnny Buchanan had a game-high 15 tackles in a win over the Red Flash and is part of a rushing defense that is active but has allowed 138.1 yards per game. With Delaware’s passing defense allowing 138.3 passing yards per game, Stiegelmeier recalled the similarities between the Blue Hens and Northern Iowa.
In a Nov. 5 matchup with the Panthers, the Jackrabbits jumped out to a 28-14 lead early in the third quarter but the UNI defense did just enough to get them back into the game and tie it at 28-28. Although SDSU wound up winning the game, it took 427 yards of total offense over 71 plays.
“You’re not going to get a bunch of 15-yard plays [via] run or pass,” Stiegelmeier said. “I think that’s probably the biggest thing and it’s not like we’ve been a big play team this year. Northern Iowa is a very similar type of defense and very aggressive and we had to be patient and take advantage of the opportunities we had.”
Stigelmeier added that the Blue Hens coaching staff led by head coach Ryan Carty, has also contributed toward their success on defense.
“I see 11 guys that are very well coached,” Stiegelmeier said. “I see a [defensive] line that plays with unbelievable leverage in terms of taking on blocks. I see core linebackers…that will hit you and get off blocks. Their secondary has a lot of variety back there. But they do it, they play it and they play it well.”
The Blue Hens were able to use their offense to breeze past their first-round matchup but the Jackrabbits are a different task. Although Stiegelmeier noted that offense ruled the first week of the tournament, it will be about which defense will have the opportunity to slow the game down.
“It’s a bit concerning but I believe in our defense,” Stieglemeier said. “If you’re going to get to Frisco, you’re not going to just outscore people. You have got to play some good defense.”
