For the second straight year, the road to Frisco will run through Brookings

BROOKINGS — For the second straight year, South Dakota State was named the No. 1 seed in this year's Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

The Jackrabbits earning the top seed wasn't much of a surprise. SDSU is coming off the first undefeated regular season in school history and won the Missouri Valley Football Conference title outright for the second straight year. But the real suspense occurred throughout the rest of the bracket as several teams vied for the top seeds.

Montana earned the No. 2 overall seed while South Dakota was third and Idaho was fourth. The rest of the top eight seeds, who will get a bye in the first round included No. 5 Albany, No. 6 Montana State, No. 7 Furman and No. 8 Villanova.

By being the top seed, the Jackrabbits will host second-round, quarterfinal and semifinal games at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium beginning with a second-round matchup against the winner of Gardner-Webb and Mercer on Dec. 2.

The FCS championship game will take place on Jan. 7 in Frisco, Texas.