2020 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team

The 2020 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team represented South Dakota State University in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by 24th-year head coach John Stiegelmeier and played their home games at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium in Brookings, South Dakota as members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

2020 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football
MVFC co-champion
ConferenceMissouri Valley Football Conference
Ranking
STATSNo. 2
FCS CoachesNo. 2
2020 record8–2 (5–1 MVFC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorJason Eck (5th overall season)
Co-defensive coordinatorBrian Bergstrom (4th overall season)
Co-defensive coordinatorJimmy Rogers (8th overall season)
Home stadiumDana J. Dykhouse Stadium
(Capacity: 19,340)
2020 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
No. 2 South Dakota State +^  5 –1   8 –2  
No. 12 Missouri State +^  5 –1   5 –5  
No. 7 North Dakota ^  4 –1   5 –2  
No. 6 North Dakota State ^  5 –2   7 –3  
No. 14 Southern Illinois ^  3 –3   6 –4  
Northern Iowa  3 –4   3 –4  
South Dakota  1 –3   1 –3  
Illinois State†  1 –3   1 –3  
Western Illinois†  1 –5   1 –5  
Youngstown State  1 –6   1 –6  
  • + – Conference co-champions
  • ^ – FCS playoff participant
  • Note: Indiana State opted out of the spring season.
    † – Illinois State and Western Illinois opted out of the remainder of the spring season on March 21 and April 5, 2021, respectively.
Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season
Main article: 2019 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team

The Jackrabbits finished the 2019 season 8–5, 5–3 in MVFC play to finish in a three-way tie for third place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where, after a first round bye, they lost in the second round to Northern Iowa.

Preseason

On May 27, 2020 HERO Sports ranked the Jackrabbits 2nd in their Top 25 poll for the 2020 season. This is SDSU's highest ranking in a preseason poll.

Schedule

South Dakota State had games scheduled against Butler, Nebraska, and Tarleton State, which were later canceled before the start of the 2020 season.[1][2][3]

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
February 19 7:00 p.m. at No. 3 Northern Iowa No. 5
ESPN+ W 24–20 2,137
February 27 12:00 p.m. at No. 14 North Dakota No. 3
ESPN+ L 17–28 3,638
March 6 2:00 p.m. Western Illinois No. 8
ESPN+ W 45–10 2,347
March 13 2:00 p.m. Youngstown State No. 8
  • Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium
  • Brookings, SD
ESPN+ W 19–17 2,653
March 20 12:00 p.m. at No. 5 Southern Illinois No. 6
ESPN+ W 44–3 2,400
March 27 2:00 p.m. Illinois State No. 4
  • Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium
  • Brookings, SD
ESPN+ Canceled[lower-alpha 1]
April 10 2:00 p.m. South Dakota No. 4
  • Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium
  • Brookings, SD (rivalry)
ESPN+ Canceled
April 17 2:30 p.m. at No. 2 North Dakota State No. 4
ESPN+ W 27–17 8,762
April 24 3:00 p.m. Holy Cross No. 2
ESPN3 W 31–3 2,996
May 2 8:00 p.m. No. 14 Southern Illinois No. 2
ESPN2 W 31–26
May 8 11:00 a.m. No. 5 Delaware No. 2
ESPN W 33–3
May 16 1:00 p.m. No. 4 Sam Houston State No. 2
ABC L 21–23 7,840

[4]

  1. On March 21, 2021, Illinois State announced that it would opt-out of the remainder of the 2021 spring season due to safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

References
  1. Myerberg, Paul. "Big Ten football reduces season schedule to only conference games, maybe setting stage for others to follow". USA TODAY. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  2. Kelley, Kevin (27 July 2020). "Pioneer Football League to play conference-only football schedule in 2020". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  3. "Tarleton State Postpones Football Season Until Spring". NBC DFW. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  4. "2020 South Dakota State Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
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