Football is back, and expectations are as high as ever for the Jackrabbits.
South Dakota State, ranked fourth in the STATS poll and sixth in the Coaches poll, opens the season playing host to the Duquesne Dukes of the Northeast Conference on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.
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Football is back, and expectations are as high as ever for the Jackrabbits.
South Dakota State, ranked fourth in the STATS poll and sixth in the Coaches poll, opens the season playing host to the Duquesne Dukes of the Northeast Conference on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.
The Jackrabbits earned a share of the Missouri Valley Football Conference title for the first time a year ago. They finished 9-4 – the seventh nine-win season in school history and fourth in five years.
SDSU advanced to the FCS Playoffs for the sixth time overall, and fifth consecutively. The Jackrabbits earned a bye for the first time and then beat Villanova 10-7 at home in the second round to make their debut in the quarterfinals.
Duquesne is coming off an 8-3 season that included a 45-10 season-opening loss at Youngstown State. The Dukes tied for first in the league standings with St. Francis (Pa.), but the Red Flash won the regular-season meeting 14-10 to win the tiebreaker for an automatic bid to the postseason.
Duquesne returns 13 position starters – five on offense and eight on defense.
The Dukes have three options to replace four-year starting quarterback Dillon Buechel – Boise State graduate transfer Tommy Stuart, redshirt sophomore Brett Brumbaugh and true freshman Alex Smith.
“They’re really good on defense; last year they were ranked, I think, 10th,” said SDSU coach John Stiegelmeier, whose team is 44-22 since 2012. “They’ve got the Freshman of the Year (last season) at running back. They have a graduate transfer for a quarterback. So even though he’s new, he’s a veteran guy.
“They’re a really good football team. They have a really good football tradition. Coach (Jerry) Schmitt has done a really good job there; a really good job.”
The Dukes surrendered 24.8 points and 315 yards per contest in 2016.
All-American offense
The Jackrabbits averaged 33.2 points and 437.5 yards per game last season, and return a majority of their weapons.
MVFC Offensive Player of the Year Taryn Christion is entering his junior season.
The quarterback posted single-season school-record marks of 3,714 passing yards (also an MVFC record), 4,049 yards of total offense (second in MVFC history) and 30 touchdowns.
Christion ran for 335 yards and six TDs.
He threw nine interceptions.
“We’ve had a good camp and our guys have worked hard. They’re ready to play, I’ll say that,” Stiegelmeier said. “We’re really healthy on offense; I can’t think of one guy that has been held back. So we’re in good shape. I think we’re going to pick up where we left off last year.”
Senior tight end Dallas Goedert tied the MVFC record and broke the SDSU mark with 92 receptions a year ago. He totaled 1,293 yards and 11 scores.
Wide receiver Jake Wieneke’s name is all over the MVFC record book as he enters his final season.
Last season, he had 78 catches for 1,316 yards and 16 TDs.
Senior Brady Mengarelli and junior Isaac Wallace had 754 and 519 yards, respectively, to lead the ground attack last year. They both had four end zone visits.
All-American center Jacob Ohnesorge has started 39 consecutive games.
Chase Vinatieri went 11-of-17 on field goals and 56-of-56 on PAT kicks as a freshman.
SDSU defense
“We have a lot of young players that we’re going to play, especially in the front seven,” Stiegelmeier said. “We have two freshmen defensive linemen we’re going to pull redshirts on. We have two true freshmen linebackers we’re going to pull redshirts on.
“I mean, you’re playing at a pretty high level of football with true freshmen. They’re going to play hard, but the game’s not going to slow down for them for a while.”
Junior defensive tackle Blake Whitsell suffered a career-ending injury, while redshirt-freshman Kyle Tuttle was lost for the year. Stiegelmeier said both players were potential starters.
Super Sophomores
Duquesne running back A.J. Hines and SDSU linebacker Christian Rozeboom finished 1-2 in voting for the Jerry Rice Award a year ago. They were separated by a single vote.
Hines totaled 1,291 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground while adding 15 receptions for 200 yards and a score.
Rozeboom notched a team-high 132 tackles, including three sacks, and intercepted a pair of passes.
Brookings Bobcats
Sophomore Mikey Daniel is the team’s No. 3 running back.
He ran 11 times for 81 yards and a touchdown last year, before missing the final four games due to a shoulder injury.
“He is a really good football player. He’s done a really good job,” Stiegelmeier said.
Six-foot-5, 280-pound freshman Eddie Miller will likely have his redshirt pulled, and he’ll get some time on the offensive line.
“So he’s done a really good job,” Stiegelmeier noted.
Redshirt-freshman Preston Tetzlaff, a linebacker, suffered a season-ending injury.
“He wasn’t going to start, but he was going to play a ton of special teams,” Stiegelmeier added.
Jake Wieneke update
The senior is the school and MVFC record-holder for career receiving yards (4,117) and touchdown receptions (43). He ranks 11th and tied for 11th, respectively, in the two categories in the FCS annals.
Wieneke needs three receptions to break Josh Davis’ career school record of 225. He ranks fifth in MVFC history in receptions.
Year G Rec. Yards TD Y/R R/G Y/G TD/G
2014 14 73 1,404 *16 19.23 5.21 100.29 1.14
2015 12 72 +1,472 11 20.44 6.00 122.67 0.92
2016 13 78 1,316 *16 16.87 6.00 101.23 1.23
TOT. 39 223 *4,192 *43 18.80 5.72 107.49 1.10
*School and MVFC record +MVFC record
SDSU CAREER
Receptions
MVFC CAREER
Receptions
FCS CAREER
Receiving yards
Receptions
…
T30. Brian Forster (TE), Rhode Island, 1983-85, 87 – 245
T30. Carl Morris, Harvard, 1999-2002 – 245
T30. Michael Caputo, Saint Francis (Pa.), 2003-06 – 245
Touchdown receptions
T4. Jerry Rice, Mississippi Valley State, 1981-84 – 50
T4. John Matthews, San Diego, 2005-08 – 50
T4. Ramses Barden, Cal Poly, 2005-08 – 50
T8. Rennie Benn, Lehigh, 1982-85 – 44
T8. Jerome Simpson, Coastal Carolina, 2004-07 – 44
T8. Aaron Mellette, Elon, 2009-12 – 44
T11. Tyson Poots, Southern Utah, 2007-10 – 43
T11. Jake Wieneke, South Dakota State, 2014-present – 43
Missouri Valley
Football Conference
WEEK 1
Thursday, Aug. 31
No. 25/— Western Illinois at Tennessee Tech (0-0, 0-0 OVC), Cookesville, Tenn., 6 p.m.
Eastern Illinois (0-0, 0-0 OVC; RV) at Indiana State, Terre Haute, Ind., 6 p.m.
Duquesne (0-0, 0-0 Northeast; RV) at No. 4/6 South Dakota State, Brookings, 7 p.m. [Dairy Drive]
Saturday, Sept. 2
Missouri State at Mizzou (FBS; 0-0, 0-0 SEC East), Columbia, Mo., 11 a.m.
No. 9/8 Youngstown State at Pittsburgh (FBS; 0-0, 0-0 ACC Coastal; RV), Pittsburgh, Pa., noon
Mississippi Valley State (0-0, 0-0 SWAC East) at No. 2/2 North Dakota State, Fargo, N.D., 2:30 p.m.
South Dakota at Drake (0-0, 0-0 Pioneer), Des Moines, Iowa, 6 p.m.
Butler (0-0, 0-0 Pioneer) at No. 20/18 Illinois State, Normal, Ill., 6:30 p.m.
No. 18/20 Northern Iowa at Iowa State (FBS; 0-0, 0-0 Big 12), Ames, Iowa, 7 p.m.
Open: Southern Illinois
Notable games
Thursday, Aug. 31
No. 8/10 North Dakota (0-0, 0-0 Big Sky) at Utah (FBS; 0-0, 0-0 Pac-12 South; RV), Salt Lake City, Utah, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 2
Montana State (0-0, 0-0 Big Sky; RV) at No. 24 Washington State (FBS; 0-0, 0-0 Pac-12 North), Pullman, Wash., 9:30 p.m.
