BROOKINGS — Just two weeks ago, it felt like the South Dakota State Jackrabbits were on the verge of figuring things out.

A team with new pieces on both sides of the ball, the Jackrabbits looked clunky in the first half playing against 12th-ranked Incarnate Word. But as the game progressed, SDSU started to get rolling and a 45-24 victory figured to be a springboard to better things.

But last Saturday’s game had a different feel. The 24-3 victory over Augustana looked dominant to someone who didn’t watch the game but the mistakes were plentiful.

The win didn’t hold up to the standard that the Jacks have been touting in the wake of back-to-back national championships and the confidence that things would work themselves out was replaced with a new feeling — urgency.

“We didn’t execute in so many ways,” SDSU head coach Jimmy Rogers said. “We look at the stats there are some things that are positive, but in the end, when you have three turnovers and you have nine penalties and have as much penalty yardage as they do in total offense when you play better teams — a team at [the FCS level] with the speed and the size and the physicality, you’re going to pay for those and we’ve got to learn.”

Saturday’s transgressions began the moment the game started. Kolton Tilford fumbled the opening kickoff and virtually gifted three points to the Vikings from the jump. Had it not been for a pair of false start penalties, the Jacks could have been down 7-0.

The opening drive saw move SDSU into Augustana territory, but the Vikings stopped the Jacks on a 3rd-and-7 before a defensive holding penalty gave the Jacks new life and Mark Gronowski scored on a nine-yard touchdown run on the following play.

Like the second half against Incarnate Word, you expected SDSU to shake off their slow start and show the dominant side they’ve displayed over the past two seasons. Instead, there were more miscues.

Gronowski and Grahm Goering had a cross-up downfield that led to an interception. Colby Humphrey responded with a juggling interception later in the first quarter, but the decision to run across the field to celebrate with the student section drew the ire of Rogers when he returned to the sideline.

“There’s natural excitement in making plays, but it doesn’t need to be in that ‘Look at me,’ type of style,” Rogers said. “There’s a way to do it and you can do it on the sidelines, but get off the field because depending on the crew … I wouldn’t be shocked if this crew [threw the flag.]”

The miscues continued as the Jacks racked up nine penalties for 110 yards. Of those penalties, five gave the Vikings a first down and represented what Rogers called a lack of execution.

“There’s still some stuff out there,” Rogers said of his defense. “There’s some big plays in there. There’s a lack of tackling in there. There are some bad face masks just because we’re unwilling to get in there and make a play so we’re reaching and grabbing. There’s so many things we can learn from.”

The Jacks eventually calmed down and made enough plays to win the game. But there were still little things that could have made it more decisive.

SDSU was stopped on a 4th-and-3 on their first drive in the third quarter. Another drive at the beginning of the fourth quarter gave Augustana the ball on their 40-yard line. Even an interception by Gronowski in the fourth quarter threw cold water on the chance to end the game on a positive not and left Rogers giving his team a “realistic” message after the game.

“This is a different football team. There’s different people everywhere,” Rogers admitted. “They’re going to go through the growing pains. They are going to make mistakes. They just can’t get comfortable with the mistakes … and say ‘Such is life’ and move on to the next week. They have to take it internally and digest it and make sure that we don’t make these same mistakes twice.”

To Rogers’ point, mistakes could be the difference between a win and a loss in the MVFC. One of the biggest momentum shifts over the past two years saw North Dakota State quarterback Cam Miller flagged for a “bow-and-arrow” taunt toward the SDSU bench in a game in October 2022.

The Bison led that game 21-7 at the time of the penalty and had a chance to put the Jacks on the ropes with the ball at the six-yard line. The infraction placed the ball at the SDSU 21 and two plays later Colby Huerter intercepted Miller to keep NDSU off the board.

The play proved pivotal as SDSU came back to win that game 23-21 but it also shifted the balance of power in the MVFC and helped SDSU win its first national title.

Even a trip to Carbondale last October showed what execution can do. The Jacks led an upset-minded Southern Illinois team 14-7 with 12:07 left in the fourth quarter before they took 9:18 off the clock and set up a 44-yard field goal by Hunter Dustman that put the game out of reach.

The 17-7 victory would be the closest any team would come to upsetting the Jacks, who spent the rest of the season dominating their opponents on the way to another national championship.

It’s the type of execution that SDSU needs to make a similar run this year. One week ago, it felt like a matter of when, not if the Jackrabbits would find that form. But after Saturday’s game, Rogers made it clear that the answer needs to be now.