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Sep. 25—BROOKINGS — South Dakota State enters their bye week and Missouri Valley Football Conference play with a 3-1 record, and despite all the talk of the Jackrabbits going down to Stillwater to beat Oklahoma State, 3-1 was always the most likely scenario.
SDSU followed the 44-20 loss to the Cowboys with wins over Incarnate Word, Augustana and Southeastern Louisiana, and that has been enough to keep them in the top spot in the FCS Top 25 poll.
Considering the two-time defending national champions entered the season on a 29-game winning streak and were barely tested throughout an historically dominant 2023 campaign, it’s hard to feel totally satisfied with SDSU’s play so far. They let the Division II Vikings hang around a little too long. It took them awhile to heat up in the home opener against Incarnate Word, and even in last week’s 41-0 rout of Southeastern Louisiana, a non-existent passing game was hard not to notice.
The bye comes at an ideal time for SDSU, not just to prepare for Missouri Valley Football Conference play, but also to give the Jacks an extra week to get healthy — several key players have missed time throughout non-conference play.
Coach Jimmy Rogers did not hold his weekly press conference Tuesday so we’ll have to wait for an update on the status of starters Sam Hagen, Ethan Vibert, Tucker Large and Cale Reeder, among others.
But the Jacks should be at least somewhat healthier on Oct. 5 when they travel to the UNI-Dome to face Northern Iowa.
Here’s an assessment of things through four games, report-card style:
Offense
The Jacks are averaging 32 points and 423 yards per game, so giving them too harsh of a grade here would feel disingenuous.
SDSU’s running game has been excellent, averaging 6.5 yards per carry and 232 yards per game, with Amar Johnson looking fully capable (as expected) of assuming…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/matt-zimmer-south-dakota-state-234700046.html
Author : The Daily Republic, Mitchell, S.D.
Publish date : 2024-09-25 23:47:00
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