There was a singular thought on the minds of South Dakota State University’s football team players and coaches entering the offseason: Repeat.
The Jackrabbits were coming off the greatest season in school history, culminating in the program’s first national championship, and with a loaded group of sixth-year seniors back for one last hurrah, SDSU would come into the season as heavy favorites.
When longtime head coach John Stiegelmeier announced his retirement following the first championship, the pressure would be on first-year head coach Jimmy Rogers to guide the Jacks to back-to-back titles. Rogers, a longtime assistant coach and a former player, made no qualms about his teams’ expectations from his first day.
“We made a statement in the 2022 season,” Rogers said at his introductory press conference. “That statement is now the standard.”
A repeat of “the greatest season in school history” wasn’t just wishful thinking, it was the expectation. Anything less than a championship would be seen as a failure.
No pressure.
Regular season perfection
Hype built throughout the summer and many — smartly — sorted out their “Frisco plans” well before the season’s opening kickoff. Riding a 14-game win streak, SDSU stormed through the regular season relatively unchallenged (aside from maybe an early home game in September). After retaining the Dakota Marker and routing the school from Vermillion, the Jacks turned the calendar riding a 25-game win streak.
As dominant as the regular season was for the Jacks, the postseason was even more so. In the first three games, SDSU allowed exactly 12 total points and just a single touchdown, to Villanova, in the quarterfinals. A 59-0 route of Albany secured the Jacks’ return trip to Frisco. Not bad for a defense devoid of a single first team all-American.
“We’ve been called the ‘no-name’ defense, which we take as a compliment,” said Jesse Bobbit ’17, SDSU’s defensive coordinator. “At the end of the day, we’re the ‘a lot of names defense.'”
A familiar foe
In the FCS championship game, SDSU would line up against the second-seeded University of Montana Grizzlies. While Rogers didn’t have a preference for who the Jacks played, it was fitting his first appearance (as head coach) in the national championship game would come against Montana, a program that Rogers, and SDSU, had a significant history with.
In 2006, when Rogers was just another freshman from Arizona, SDSU traveled to Missoula for the second game of the season. It would be Rogers’ first Division I football game, ending in a loss. Four years later, with Rogers now the team’s captain, SDSU would make its first FCS playoff appearance against none other than top-seeded Montana. SDSU would lose, 61-48, in a heartbreaking final game as a player for Rogers.
Flashforward to January 2024, when Rogers was asked about that final game in the pregame press conference.
In his first year as head coach, Jimmy Rogers ’10/ MS ’12 was honored as the nation’s top FCS coach with the Eddie Robinson Award. Rogers, who led his alma mater to a 15-0 record and a consecutive national championship, joins John Stiegelmeier ’79 as the only Jackrabbits head coaches to win the award.
“It sticks with me,” Rogers said. “That was my last game I ever played, Montana was the first Division I game I ever played (in 2006), and we went back there four years later, from a freshman to a senior, and we should have won that football game, but we lost it.
“That moment — I’ll never forget, honestly,” Rogers added.
With motivation aplenty, the Jacks marched down the field on their opening possession to take a 7-0 lead. On the following drive, Montana reached SDSU’s one-yard line, only to be denied on fourth down by senior linebacker Adam Bock, another “no-name” defender. In hindsight, Bock’s individual effort was the game’s pivotal moment.
SDSU took a 7-3 lead into half before the crowd of 19,512 got a chance to watch The Pride of the Dakotas Marching Band work its magic one last time.
After a flurry of turnovers and touchdowns, SDSU took a 23-3 lead into the game’s final quarter. Rogers glanced at the scoreboard. He had been in this position before vs. Montana. During his final game as a player — the ’09 playoff game — SDSU had led by as much as 27 points in the second half. Rogers gave the scoreboard one more look before turning his attention back to the field.
But the nerves wouldn’t be necessary as there would be no repeat of ’09 in ’24. SDSU was the bigger, faster and more physical football team throughout the entire year, and the Jacks put the exclamation point on their perfect season in the second half. A surrender punt by the Grizzlies midway through the fourth quarter was all the Jackrabbits faithful needed to see. In the a blink of eye, Rogers was soaked in blue Powerade, a sea of blue and yellow were storming the field at Toyota Stadium, and the Jacks were the kings of FCS football once again.
For the players and coaches, the win was bittersweet. On one hand, they had done the seemingly impossible: topped the greatest season in school history with an even greater season. On the other hand, it was the last time the tight core of players, most of whom had been together nearly every day since 2018, would play together. Senior running back Isaiah Davis, a key piece of SDSU’s budding dynasty, summarized the team’s emotions.
“I want to celebrate, but it’s hard to because I’m disappointed that I won’t be out there anymore,” Davis said. “It’s just emotional, man.
“It’s the little things, like going to lift, going to meetings, it’s all going to end,” Davis added. “I cherished them while I could. I have memories for life, I got friendships for a lifetime, and I got blessed with a special group of guys.”
Changes coming
In the current age of college football, with Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals, conference realignment madness and the transfer portal, changes are likely afoot for the program. But thoughts of next season and Oklahoma State (SDSU’s opponent to start the ’24 season) will have to wait until the snow melts, because for now, as Rogers said himself, it’s time to enjoy the greatest two-year run in SDSU football history.
“I’m proud of this football team. I’m proud to go back-to-back. I’m proud to do it with these guys,” Rogers said in the post-game press conference. “And I’m blessed to be the head coach at South Dakota State.”
Addison DeHaven
