BROOKINGS – South Dakota State’s non-conference schedule continues Saturday when the Drake Bulldogs come to town. 

The Jackrabbits were supposed to travel to Des Moines, Iowa, but the location changed during the offseason. This will be Drake’s third trip to Brookings in the past four years. The Jacks defeated the Bulldogs 56-28 in the inaugural game at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium in 2016 and SDSU won 51-10 in 2017.

The question for SDSU heading into Saturday’s game is the health of starting quarterback J’Bore Gibbs. Gibbs did not play in the Jacks 38-3 win over Long Island after injuring his pinky against Minnesota.

Gibbs practiced this week, but head coach John Stiegelmeier said he is not 100% yet.

“He’s doing ok. He’s not healthy yet. I don’t know if he’s going to paly, but you have to practice  to prepare to be able play,” Stiegelmeier said. 

If he does not start, the Jacks will turn to senior Kanin Nelson for the second straight week. Nelson went 6-for-8 with 108 yards and one touchdown. He also ran for 17 yards and a touchdown. Stiegelmeier said Nelson looked pretty good last week, but missed some throws and should improve with more experience.

Drake enters the contest 0-2 and are coming off of a 10-7 loss against Division II Truman State. Their other loss was against the University of North Dakota, 47-7.

The Bulldogs are led by first year coach Todd Stepsis and have a freshman quarterback in Ian Corwiw. Corwin has 260 yards on the season with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Drew Lauer leads the Bulldogs in rushing with 144 yards. Devin Cates has seven receptions for 92 yards and touchdown on the season.

Stiegelmeier said Drake will give his defense a little bit of trouble because they show a lot of different looks.

“Offensively they do a lot of crazy stuff,” Stiegelmeier said. “Communist football. So you’re adjusting first and then trying to play football. Their mentality is to try to make you make a mistake. Our mentality is to line up and be simple and play football.”

Defensively, Stiegelmeier said Drake is the same as they were the previous two times SDSU played them.

“They are very similar on defense as they have been because their new head coach was their defensive coordinator. They do a nice job on defense. Pretty bland, but they play hard,” Stiegelmeier said.

The Jacks struggled to get their offense going in the first half against Long Island. If it weren’t for a punt return for a touchdown late in the half, SDSU would have only been up 7-3 at halftime.

It was expected that the Jacks would be able to run the ball against Long Island, but that wasn’t the case. SDSU had 186 yards rushing and a lot of it came late in the game. 

Stiegelmeier said he wants his team to get the rushing game going early, but if the passing game is there they won’t be shy about passing the ball.

“With Long Island, it started with J’Bore being down. When you look at team, even though you may run the heck out of the ball, if they give you the pass we’re going to find a way to throw the ball. Game plan wise, we have both prepared. If they stay in their base defense then we’re going to throw the ball,” Stiegelmeier said.

SDSU’s defense has played well in it’s first two games of the season, especially against the run. The Jacks have given up only 184 yards rushing and 2.5 yards per rush.

Senior defensive end Ryan Earith credited the success to the defensive scheme being more simple.

“I think that’s helped a lot,” Earith said. “For me, I’m a older guy so I don’t really need it, but for those younger guys it has helped a lot.”

The Jacks and Bulldogs are scheduled to kick off at 1 p.m. Saturday at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.