BROOKINGS – There’s no doubt about it that the biggest game on South Dakota State’s schedule every year is the Dakota Marker Game against North Dakota State. The two premier teams of the Dakota’s will meet for the 114th time Saturday at 2 p.m. at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium in Brookings.
“Big week, great rivalry,” said SDSU head coach John Stiegelmeier. “A couple of  really good football teams. North Dakota State’s having a great year. Excited to have them come to our place and ideally experience a great crowd and environment. We’re going to try to play our best football.”
NDSU leads the all-time series 63-43-5. The two teams have played for the Dakota Marker Trophy, a three foot replica stone of the 720 7-foot by 10-inch stones that mark the border between North Dakota and South Dakota, since 2004. NDSU holds a 9-7 advantage in Dakota Marker Games, but the Jacks won the last meeting on April 17, 27-17 in Fargo.
Stiegelmeier said NDSU is a lot more experienced than it was in the spring.
“I think [NDSU] was pretty good in the spring. They got a really mature football team. I think they have 26 seniors on their team, so I don’t know about [them being better] this year, but they’re really good and they’re a semester older and more experienced,” Stiegelmeier said.
Since moving to the FCS in 2004, both teams have cemented themselves as powerhouses at this level. NDSU a little more than SDSU as the Bison have gone to 11-straight FCS Playoffs and have won eight National Championships in the past 11 years. The Jacks have gone to the Playoffs in nine-straight seasons and made the National Championship in the spring.
Stiegelmeier said when he looks back at the two teams moving to Division I he did not expect both of them to have this much success.
“… When we met on the border in 2004 and we bonded together to make this move [to FCS] and really share the rivalry and develop a rivalry it changed,” Stiegelmeier said. “I think right now it’s one of the best, if not the best [rivalries] in FCS Football. … I’m not so sure we saw [the success] coming. I know internally our plan changed after a couple years and I think that change impacted our ability to compete.
“I don’t know what happens inside North Dakota State’s program, but I think it’s a credit to a lot of people. From boosters, to presidents, to athletic directors, to a lot of hard working student athletes. I think [SDSU and NDSU] help each other out. I think that’s truly the case. We push each other and I know we love the rivalry and we look forward to this game.”
NDSU will likely make the Playoffs for a 12th-striaght season as the Bison come into Saturday’s matchup undefeated with an overall record of 8-0 and 5-0 in the Missouri Valley. Only two victories have come by less than 10 points for the Bison. NDSU beat at the time No. 10 North Dakota on the road 16-10 on Oct. 2 and then beat No. 17 Missouri State 27-20 on Oct. 23.

One of the things that has propelled the Bison to an undefeated record is a strong defense. NDSU ranks first in scoring defense and third in total defense in the FCS as the Bison give up 8.12 points and 244.4 yards per game.
“The athletes that [NDSU] has on the field [on defense] are good athletes,” Stiegelmeier said. “They’re really good athletes. From the corners, safeties, up front, linebackers. So there are no weaknesses there and they know their scheme and they do their job. So in theory if you run the ball there’s going to be an unblocked player, you don’t get to block them all, and they make plays.
“It’s just a very sound, sound defense and I love how they play defense. I have a respect for how they play defense, I’m a defensive coach by nature. The biggest thing is they do their 1/11th. They do their job.”
On the offensive side of the ball, the Bison are a run-heavy team. NDSU runs the ball on 71% of its plays and has the third-best rushing attack in the country, averaging 260.2 yards per game.
Junior quarterback Quincy Patterson, who transferred from Virginia Tech, leads the Bison in rushing with 498 yards and six touchdowns on 79 attempts. Patterson missed last week’s 44-2 win over Indiana State with a shoulder injury.
Sophomore Cam Miller, who played last year against SDSU, replaced Patterson and went 10-for-14 with 179 yards and three touchdowns. NDSU head coach Matt Entz said it will be a game-time decision for who will start at quarterback for the Bison.
Stiegelmeier said the Jacks are preparing for everything.
“We’re preparing for the gambit, the whole thing. Quarterback run, both quarterbacks can run, obviously Patterson, they run him more. But it’s the same old deal, you have to prepare for everything, and they do a lot, so that’s really a stressor on the defense,” Stiegelmeier said.
North Dakota State’s passing game has not put up big numbers this season. Part of that is due to the success the Bison have had running the ball, but they rank 108th out of 123 teams in passing yards per game, averaging 144.4. The NDSU quarterbacks have a completion percentage of 57.5%.
For SDSU, the Jacks offense got back on track last week with a 47-16 win over Youngstown State to improve to 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the MVFC. The Jacks racked up 553 total yards of offense against the Penguins. Graduate transfer quarterback Chris Oladokun was 16-for-22 with 260 yards, a touchdown, an interception and a fumble.
In the first four games of the season, Oladokun threw for 721 yards, 11 touchdowns and had no interceptions or fumbles. In the past four games, he’s thrown for 1,113 yards and five touchdowns, but has three interceptions and four fumbles.
“I love [Oladokun’s] leadership. I love his comfort level in the offense in terms of knowledge and where he fits in, having not really known anybody in June when he got here. I think he can make all the throws. I think he throws the deep ball as well as anybody the last 10 years at South Dakota State. What else can he do? I don’t know. He’s played above our expectations in a number of games. Really [he can’t] lose track of when we throw the ball, we have to have have a chance. He threw one up at Youngstown that was going to be an interception and you can’t do that, and you can’t do that against a good football team like North Dakota State,” Stiegelmeier said.
The star of the SDSU offense is senior running back Pierre Strong Jr. Strong is third in the FCS in total rushing yards with 986 and has 13 touchdown’s on the year. Last week he jumped into fourth place on the SDSU all-time rushing list. The Jacks will need him to play well if they want to win on Saturday.
The Jacks could get back sophomore running back Isaiah Davis this week, who has missed the past six games with a broken collarbone.
With already two losses, SDSU likely cannot lose another game if it wants to get a top-eight seed in the FCS Playoffs and first round bye. After the Dakota Marker Game, the Jacks head to Vermillion to take on in-state rival South Dakota. They then close the season with a home game against North Dakota.
Stiegelmeier said his team knows what’s at stake, but him and his coaching staff are treating this just like any other week.
“Do they talk about [Playoffs], meaning our players, I have no idea,” Stiegelmeier said. “I’m sure there’s a lot of conversations when you have 120 guys, about what if this, what if that, what do we need to do this week. We, as a coaching staff, do everything to approach every week the same. Yes this is a big week and yes this is for a trophy, a prize trophy, bragging rights, all those things, but if they’ve given me everything they’ve got, what else can I ask.
“It’s kind of cool to be 6-2 and a lot of people would love to be in our situation, but because of our expectations and the history of our program we feel like we’ve fallen short. I feel good about our opportunity this Saturday and we’re going to approach it like every other game.”