BROOKINGS – For the first time since South Dakota State moved to the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), the playoff path to the National Championship will go through Brookings in December.
SDSU is the No. 1 seed in the FCS Playoffs and will begin its path to a first-ever National Championship on Saturday with a matchup with Delaware in the second round. SDSU has had the No. 1 seed one other time in its program history and it was in the spring of 2021 due to COVID, so the games were played in late April and early March.
The Jackrabbits have never had a top-two seed during a fall season, which means that SDSU will host every playoff game up until the National Championship. The temperature on Saturday at 2 p.m. when the Jackrabbits and Blue Hens kick things off is expected to be 21 degrees and it is supposed to feel like 10 degrees due to a 10 mph wind.
SDSU senior offensive lineman Mason McCormick said he’s excited to have teams come and play in Brookings in December because not a lot of team are ready for how cold it actually is.
“I feel like a lot of people around here have lived here for so long and [the cold] is kind of part of it. We’ve been waiting for this moment to get a top seed. I think it’ll be an edge for us. I think it means the world [to have the playoffs in Brookings]. A lot of teams, I don’t think they’re going to be ready to come out here in the cold. Hopefully we can come out and execute and not think about the cold and just execute,” McCormick said.
The Jackrabbits are 9-1 in FCS Playoff games in Brookings. SDSU’s lone loss came in 2019 when the Jacks fell to Northern Iowa, 13-10, in the second round. The Jacks won all three of their home games in the COVID season, which was the only other time they had the No. 1 seed.
“We’re excited,” said SDSU senior defensive lineman Reece Winkelman Our fans especially deserve it. We had [home field advantage] in the spring season and when you have to go through Brookings it’s different atmosphere. IT’s a lot more fun when we’re winning in front of your home crowd. … Seeing our fans and how they’ve turned out all season, they deserve it this year.”
Despite SDSU’s impressive record at home in the playoffs, the Jacks have not had the great crowds that they had been hoping for when they built the new Dana. J. Dykhouse Stadium in 2016.
In the first season in the new stadium, SDSU hosted Villanova in a second round game and 6,154 people attended and the Jacks were the No. 8 seed that year. In 2017, SDSU was the No. 5 seed and hosted Northern Iowa in the second round and attendance was 7,518. The temperature that day was 54 degrees, so you can’t blame the weather. In the next round, SDSU hosted New Hampshire and the attendance was 5,583.
SDSU has failed to meet half capacity in every playoff game since it opened DJDS. The Jacks may have done it when they were the No. 1 seed, but there were restrictions due to COVID.
The Jacks had a record setting year in attendance as every game, but one was a top-10 crowd in DJDS history. SDSU averaged 15,561 fans per game and had over 15,000 people in attendance in all of the games except the finale against Illinois State on Nov. 12. That day was very cold and only 8,160 people showed up.
It will be interesting to see the type of support SDSU gets in December and SDSU head coach John Stiegelmeier said he thinks the city of Brookings and the SDSU fan base are ready to fully embrace a December playoff run.
“I don’t know about attendance numbers, but interest in the program surely has increased exponentially and that should relate to or translate to better attendance. I can’t go anywhere [without getting support], and I’m just the coach, I don’t do anything. I can’t go anywhere. I went to vote [on Nov. 7] and a guy said ‘good luck,’ and I don’t even know him. People are excited about SDSU football and that’s what you aspire for your program,” Stiegelmeier said.
