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 | |
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MVFC co-champion | |
FCS Championship Game, L 21–23 vs. Sam Houston State | |
Conference | Missouri Valley Football Conference |
Ranking | |
STATS | No. 2 |
FCS Coaches | No. 2 |
2020 record | 8–2 (5–1 MVFC) |
Head coach |
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Offensive coordinator | Jason Eck (5th overall season) |
Co-defensive coordinator | Brian Bergstrom (4th overall season) |
Co-defensive coordinator | Jimmy Rogers (8th overall season) |
Home stadium | Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium (Capacity: 19,340) |
2020 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Previous season
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]
Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance | ||
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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 |
| 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 | |||
| | | No. 4 |
| | Canceled[lower-alpha 1] | |||
| | | No. 4 |
| | 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 | ||
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- 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
- 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.
- Kelley, Kevin (27 July 2020). "Pioneer Football League to play conference-only football schedule in 2020". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
- "Tarleton State Postpones Football Season Until Spring". NBC DFW. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
- "2020 South Dakota State Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved November 28, 2020.