What you need to know about Stetson ahead of Saturday

BROOKINGS – It took until early May for South Dakota State football to find its season-opening opponent, but they did, and now, we’re days away from the Jackrabbits taking on Stetson.

Stetson is a Pioneer League school, which is a conference that has non-scholarship teams like Drake and St. Thomas. Stetson is certainly not an FCS power as the Hatters have not had a winning record since 2019. 

In 2025, the Hatters had a record of 3-9. They were 3-3 at the midway point of the season but then lost their final six games. Stetson began last season with a 31-21 loss to Webber International, an NAIA school.

Stetson was ranked 368th in ESPN’s Bill Connelly’s SP+ rankings, which ranks all 771 college teams in the country. That was the seventh-worst ranking for an FCS team and comparatively, the Jackrabbits are ranked 103rd, which is second-best in the FCS.

SDSU will take on Northwestern of the FBS and the Big Ten in week two of the 2026 season. Most fans would look at the season opener as a tune-up for the most high profile game of the season for the Jacks, but SDSU head coach Dan Jackson looks at it as one of the 12 games on the schedule, while also acknowledging he’d like to get some backups into the game.

“We get 12 guaranteed opportunities, and I hope to be able to play everybody on our roster that suits up every single one of those times. So it's up to us to play well, to be able to do that. We're suiting guys up for a reason. They all have a role. They all have value on the team, and so yeah, I mean, I'd love to play everybody, but that's no different this week than it is every single week,” Jackson said.

Mike Jasper is in his second season at head coach for the Hatters. He was the head coach at his alma mater Bethel University (Tenn.) for three seasons before taking over for Stetson.

Stetson was near the middle of the pack in the yards they gave up per game in 2025, but they ranked 119th in the FCS in scoring defense, giving up just over 39 points per game. The Hatters gave up 388.2 yards per game in 2025, which ranked 74th in the FCS. Stetson was 69th in pass yards given up per game (219.7) and was 80th in rush yards given up per game (170.5).

The Stetson offense ranked in the bottom 25 of the FCS in scoring as the Hatters averaged 18.8 points per game in 2025. They were 102nd in total offense, averaging 311.8 yards per game. Stetson had a decent run game last season as they were 53rd in yards per game on the ground (161). However, the Hatters struggled to throw the ball, ranking 120th in passing last year (150.8).

Jackson said he thinks Stetson will look a lot better on Saturday than they did in 2025.

“When you look at snaps played from a year ago, there are a lot of returners, and they were young players a year ago that have developed offensively. I think they're going to do some two and three back sets, and maybe a little bit of some option football and some things that way, you know, not true with it, but just trying to get you to use all 11 players with the quarterback being involved as a run threat. So I think you're going to see a big improvement in the team that we're watching film on from a year ago,” Jackson said.

The Hatters had four quarterbacks play in 2025 and the two who played the most snaps are back for 2026. That’s Kael Alexander and Chris Stephenson. Each quarterback played in seven games last season and Alexander is more of the passer. He threw for 954 yards with eight touchdowns and five interceptions last season.

Stephenson is the top returning rusher for the Hatters with 467 yards and five touchdowns in 2025. He also threw for 454 yards with two touchdowns and four interceptions.

Jackson said you have to prepare for everything when going up against two quarterbacks, but you don’t want to overprepare this early in the season.

“You just prepare for it all and you don’t over prepare in a week zero matchup because a lot can change from an identity and schematic standpoint. I think the coaches have done a good job of being able to narrow it down to the important things that we expect to see, and then just continually reinforce our rules and do our job and apply that,” Jackson said.

Stephenson is the only top-five rusher for Stetson in 2025 that returned for 2026. The Hatters do return their top receiver in Dylan Redmond, but he was one of seven players to have more than 100 yards receiving in 2025. He had 341 yards and four touchdowns last season.

Stetson has not won a road game since Oct. 7, 2023. The Hatters have lost their last 13 games on the road. 

Saturday’s game is close to selling out and the Jackrabbits have a record of 66-10 at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium since it opened in 2016. Jackson said sellouts are close to being the norm in Brookings and that’s what changed since he was an assistant coach at SDSU in the 2010’s.

“It’ll be a sellout, I believe in our fan base. And where it's changed is that that's the expectation and that's the standard. You know, a sellout used to be a once a year type of thing in a stadium that didn't seat as many people. … The biggest thing is that we expect a sellout every week. Selling out our stadium is critical to our success and our advancement in the future is being able to say that we sell out every single week,” Jackson said.