Three takeaways from SDSU's blow out win over Stetson

South Dakota State opened the 2026 season on Saturday night and the Jackrabbits made things look easy in a 70-7 win over Stetson at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.

The talent gap made it hard to come away with brash conclusions of how the rest of the season will go, but there were some things that were different from a season ago. Dan Jackson made it a point after the game that he was done with talking about last year’s team, who went 8-5, because a new season had started. But I’m not the head coach, so here are three things that I thought were encouraging for the Jackrabbits on Saturday night and could carry over to the rest of the year.

Explosive Plays

There is obviously a caveat with the competition, but the amount of explosive plays on Saturday night was nice to see after a lack of them in 2025. It began on SDSU’s first play from scrimmage when Chase Mason found Jack Smith on a run-pass option play and Smith took what was about a 10-yard pass through the air 73 yards to the house. It took until the last game of the season for the Jacks to have a pass play go for more than 55 yards last season.

But that wasn’t the only long catch and run for the Jacks on Saturday night. Landon Dulaney caught what was an eight-yard pass through the air and outran the Hatters for a 78-yard touchdown in the second half. SDSU had four other offensive touchdowns that were 20 yards or longer. Corey Blair Jr. had a 52-yard touchdown run, Josh Myers and Ramon McKinney each had 27-yard touchdown runs and Josiah Johnson had a 20-yard run that went for a score.

Being more explosive on offense was one of the things that the Jackrabbits talked a lot about in fall camp leading up to the season. Mason said after the game on Saturday that hitting big plays all comes down to execution.

“It’s just kind of like an execution thing. We had a great game plan and really trusted the coaching staff, and we went out there and executed, from the [starters] that came in, and then when we started getting other guys in, they [were explosive] as well. So it was fun to see that,” Mason said.

Running Game

South Dakota State ran for 393 yards on Saturday night and the Jackrabbits averaged 8.7 yards per carry. James Basinger and Blair each averaged over 13 yards per carry on eight touches apiece. Five SDSU players had runs that went for longer than 20 yards.

Like explosive plays, physicality was something that SDSU talked a lot about in the offseason. Jackson mentioned numerous times that he wants his team to be able to run the ball and stop the run. SDSU certainly did that on Saturday night.

Blair said they’ve talked a lot about physicality and they work on it in practice with running backs coach Deontae Cooper. He was happy to see that translate to the game.

“You know, in practice we have this thing where we give coach [Cooper] 30 yards every time we finish runs because in the game that shows up, and I feel like today that showed up a lot. You know, being [in the running back] unit, we just have to go hard every day. Inside run, everything, we just finished, and we want to do that in everything we do,” Blair said.

Seven running backs got carries on Saturday night and Jackson said it’s a tight position group that makes each other better.

“That room has done a good job of helping one another. They’re very different. I like our running back room because they’re different styles of players, but they’re really close. I mentioned it earlier, but Deontae Cooper has done a phenomenal job with relationships in that room. It has not been easy the last year to mold these guys and get them where they need to be. But they bought in. They went all in, and it’s just a start,” Jackson said.

Special Teams

Special teams were a bit of an issue at times for the Jackrabbits in 2025. Whether it was the kicking game or return game, SDSU struggled in the third phase of the game, and Jackson emphasized that this offseason. 

On Saturday night, the special teams mostly shined. The flashy play of the night was true freshman Alex Uchtman taking a punt back 65 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter, which was the first punt return for a touchdown for the Jacks since Oct. 5, 2024. But the play that got the most traction on social media was a fourth quarter punt from Max Pelham.

Pelham, who was an All-American in 2025 and was named to the FCS Punter of the Year watchlist before the season, booted a career-long 69-yard punt that flipped the field in the final quarter. The game was out of reach, but a punt like that in a close game could completely change the outcome.

Jackson said after the game he would have to look at the film because special teams has so many little components, but he was pleased with how his team performed on Saturday night.

“Max punted well,” Jackson said. “It was fun to see him get a hold of one. That’s awesome. Max does that every day in practice, but it’s always fun for other people to see him boom one. I think the kickoff coverage unit, a lot of guys played there, and it appeared on the iPad that we were winning most of those matchups.

“[Uchtman] on the return, that’s a true freshman punt returner, and he’s the fastest guy on the team. These little devices tell us that he runs 22 miles per hour and he showed it tonight. I’m excited and proud of him. There’s a lot of examples of freshmen and younger players that are going to build upon tonight and use it as confidence.”

New kicker Tristan Alvano did not attempt a field goal on Saturday night, but he was 10-for-10 on extra points. Ryan Harrington kicked off 11 times and had seven touchbacks. His only blunder of the game was when he kicked it out of bounds.

SDSU will play against what is likely the toughest team they’ll face this season next week in Northwestern. Kickoff in Evanston, Ill., is scheduled for 7 p.m. and you can watch the game on Big Ten Network or listen to the game on AM 910 KJJQ.