Jackrabbits focused heading into final stretch

With two weeks left in the season, South Dakota State seems to be hitting its stride in the final month of the season.

SDSU dominated South Dakota for three quarters on the final day of October and followed that with a 41-15 win over Northern Iowa, who had not lost at home this season. Not only did the Jacks beat the Panthers, but they did it thoroughly as UNI never really threatened SDSU in the game and the Jacks had a 24-8 advantage in the second half.

It was the third-straight week that the Jacks put up over 400 yards of offense and held their opponent to 260 yards or less on defense.

Specifically on offense, Chase Mason has started to get things going in the passing game. We know that the rushing offense is always going to be there for SDSU, but the passing game struggled in the middle part of the season. Part of that was Mason being injured, but some of it was the receivers not being on the same page with the quarterback and struggling with drops.

SDSU has thrown for over 200 yards in three-straight games and Chase Mason has completed 62% of his passes in those wins.

Explosive plays are always a key for the offense and SDSU has been hitting them over the past two weeks. In the past two games, the Jackrabbits have had 18 plays that have gone for 15 yards or more. On Saturday, SDSU had 10 plays that went for over 20 yards.

Dan Jackson said on Tuesday that his team has been working on hitting more big plays, especially in the pass game, and he thinks the quarterbacks and wide receivers have done a better job at taking advantage when the Jacks have the upper hand.

“We’ve spent a lot of time practicing those things, and when you can run the ball, you’re going to get some advantageous looks. I think we’re having confidence in our wide receivers and quarterbacks to be able to take advantage of those shots down the field. … Now, we’re choosing to throw [the long passes], and guys are becoming better route runners, and our quarterbacks are throwing those footballs better, and we’re a little more in sync,” Jackson said.

SDSU’s defense has been great all season. The Jacks are fifth in the FCS in scoring defense at 16.2 points per game and they’re sixth in total defense at 287.4 yards per game. SDSU is 18th in opponent third down conversion percentage at 34.1% and opponents are 8-of-19 on fourth down this season.

SDSU’s defensive line and linebackers have gotten after the quarterback over the past three weeks with 10 sacks. In the previous seven games the Jacks had a total of 10 sacks.

The Jacks are eighth in the FCS in rush defense, giving up 104.7 yards per game. They have not given up over 100 yards in the past three games and against USD, the Coyotes had only 19 yards of rushing.

Despite all of those numbers, Jackson said his defense still has room to grow.

“We’ve been very consistent defensively. But I will say that we need to tackle much better on the whole for us to be the best defense we can be and we need to create more takeaways. … I’m looking forward to seeing where the defense can go because I believe there’s more in there for this group. I understand that they’re rated high and ranked high in certain areas, but there’s more room in there,” Jackson said.

SDSU will be heavy favorites in its final two games of the regular season. The Jacks will go up against Southern Illinois on the road this upcoming Saturday and then they will wrap up the regular season with a home game against Southern Illinois on Nov. 21. 

SIU will enter Saturday’s game with an overall record of 5-5 and the Salukis are 3-3 in conference play. Indiana State is one of two teams in the Valley who have not won a conference game, although that will change when ISU plays the other winless team, Murray State, this upcoming weekend.

The FCS Playoff Committee released their top 10 teams last week and SDSU was fourth. However, the team right ahead of them, Stephen F. Austin, lost on Saturday. The other two teams ahead of them are No. 1 Montana State (9-1) and No. 2 Tarleton State (10-0).

Should the Jacks win out, SDSU has a case to be the top seed even though the Jackrabbits have a worse record (8-2) than both MSU and TSU. According to Redshirt Sports, SDSU has the No. 1 ranked strength of record, which is a metric that measures how impressive a team’s win-loss record is given the difficulty of the schedule they’ve played.

Despite the Bobcats struggling a little bit in Big Sky Conference play, them and the Texans each have a trump card over SDSU, having beaten an FBS team this season. However, beating a 3-6 Nevada team and a 2-7 Bowling Green team isn’t that impressive, and the Jackrabbits were right in the game against a Northwestern team that is 6-3.

Montana State will finish the season at Northern Colorado and at home against Montana. The Bobcats final game against the Grizzlies, known as the Brawl of the Wild, is normally a highly contested matchup, but with it being at Montana State, it’s hard to see Montana pulling the upset.

Tarleton State plays at West Florida and at North Alabama to finish the season. West Florida is 4-4 and North Alabama is 6-4. It’s hard to believe that the Texans will slip up in the final two weeks.

SDSU will likely have to put its faith in the committee's hands for a top-two seed and home field advantage until the National Championship. Jackson said on Tuesday that his team is focused and understands what’s at stake as they close out the regular season.

“We’re highly focused,” Jackson said. “The guys clearly know what’s at stake every week and every day, and we’re finding ways for guys to continue to improve. I think it’s really cool that our guys are starting to see the reason behind what we’ve done since last January was really for this moment. 

“You know, the next couple of months. That’s why we structure the year the way that we do. I think it’s starting to become clear to them that we’re in a very good spot, and they’re out there playing for the right reasons and they want to make the most out of every day together.”