We’re over 10 weeks away from South Dakota State kicking off its 2024 football season, but I figured with the lull in the sports calendar now would be a good time to present the opportunity that will be in front of the Jackrabbits come Aug. 31.

This will be the 21st season in the FCS for the Jacks and since 2004 SDSU has worked its way toward the top of the mountain of the subdivision. SDSU has won back-to-back FCS National Championships and has 12 straight playoff appearances.

After not playing an FBS opponent in a full schedule for the first time since 2017 in 2023, the Jacks will open 2024 with a trip to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys. SDSU last took on an FBS team in 2022 when it opened the season at Iowa and the Jacks battled, but lost, to the Hawkeyes 7-3.

The Jacks have an all-time record of 2-10 against FBS teams. SDSU first topped a team at the next level in 2015 when the Jacks went to Kansas and beat the Jayhawks 41-38. The Jacks second victory came in 2021 when they beat Colorado State 42-23.

The Kansas win was a big win in terms of getting over the hump against FBS competition, but that Jayhawk team finished the season with a 0-12 record so it lost a bit of its luster by the end of the year. SDSU went into the Colorado State game as a two-point favorites and the Jacks took care of business. CSU ended the season with a record of 3-9 and went 2-6 in the Mountain West.

This will be the 12th time that the Jacks will take the field against what was called the power five but will now be a power four conference opponent. Kansas is the lone victory and one game against Iowa State was canceled due to weather.

In the nine losses SDSU has lost by an average of 22.1 points. However, in their past two games against power four teams the Jacks have lost by a combined 11 points. SDSU was right with a Minnesota team that went 11-2 in 2019 but the Gophers came away with a 28-21 victory in the season opener. SDSU’s defense then played great against Iowa in 2022 but the offense couldn’t get out of their own end and gave up two safeties.

Oklahoma State has become a program that is well respected at the power four level as Mike Gundy has led the Cowboys to eight or more wins 13 times in the past 20 years.

Last season OSU went 10-4 and played for the Big 12 Championship but lost to Texas 49-21. In 2021 the Cowboys were literally an inch away from playing in the College Football Playoff as Dezmon Jackson came up just short of a touchdown with 24 seconds left in the Big 12 Championship and OSU lost 21-16 to Baylor. The Cowboys redeemed themselves in the Playstation Fiesta Bowl as they beat Notre Dame 37-35 and finished the season with a 12-2 record.

With the success that the Cowboys have had in recent years, this season opener for the Jacks is a big opportunity to cement themselves as a program that’s not only at the top of the FCS but one that is to be reckoned with throughout all of college football.

I think back to when North Dakota State’s dynasty began. The Bison have beaten FBS teams nine times and six of those victories have come against power four opponents. There was a stretch from 2013-16 where NDSU beat Kansas State, Iowa State and Iowa. The win against Iowa came when the Hawkeyes were ranked No. 13 in the country.

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach ranked the Cowboys at No. 19 in his post-spring FBS Top 25 rankings. A win against a ranked Oklahoma State team on the road to begin the season would shoot the Jacks up the ranks in the college football world.

As of right now SDSU is highly regarded in FCS circles and in the Midwest, but it seems as though they haven’t reached the national exposure that NDSU got to when it was going on its championship run. Beating a ranked FBS team would push the narrative that SDSU would be able to compete at the power four level and spring debates at how the Jacks would do if they ever did make the jump.

Maybe a win like this would stop the nonsense of ESPN putting up San Diego State highlights during a halftime show when previewing an SDSU game. Or announcers and media people across the country calling the SDSU South Dakota or North Dakota State.

Beating the Cowboys certainly won’t be an easy task. They return the FBS leading rusher in Ollie Gordon II and Indiana’s leading rusher Trent Howland also transferred to Stillwater. Their signal caller is seventh-year senior Alan Bowman and they have a solid group of receivers in Brennan Presley, Rashod Owens and De’Zhaun Stribling.

The Jacks could exploit OSU’s defense though as the Cowboys ranked 126th in the FBS in pass defense in 2023, giving up 275 yards per game.

SDSU lost quite a bit of talent from its 2023 roster, but the Jacks still have plenty of talent returning for 2024. Specifically senior quarterback Mark Gronowski, who decided to come back to SDSU for another year in the spring. Having a veteran quarterback like him should give SDSU a chance to come out on top on Aug. 31.

Over the past four seasons the Cowboys hold a record 23-3 at Boone Pickens Stadium. However, they did fall 33-7 to South Alabama in their lone home loss last season, so it’s not as daunting of a task as the numbers would suggest. Mix in the fact that the Jacks have played in intense atmosphere’s before, I don’t think OSU’s home field advantage will scare SDSU.

The past decade for SDSU football has been all about getting over humps. First it was beating North Dakota State. Then it was getting past the quarterfinals of the FCS Playoffs and eventually making it to the National Championship. Finally, it was a National Championship victory and now the Jacks have won the past two FCS titles.

Beating a power four FBS team that isn’t expected to be the worst team in those conferences is the next hump in their way. Aug. 31 in Stillwater is one of the best chances they’ll have to do it and it’s the perfect opportunity to let the college football world know that they are here to stay in the ever changing college football landscape.