News/Commentary

South Dakota State Goes Back-to-Back

January 7, 2024 by CollegeFootballPoll.com Staff

Jimmy Rogers keeps South Dakota State on top with a natty in his first season after John Stiegelmeier did it in his 26th. The Jackrabbits downed Montana 23-3 in Frisco, Texas on Sunday (January 7) for the programs' 29th straight win. 

SDSU outscored four playoff opponents by a cumulative 146-12 and allowed just 1 TD as the Jacks eliminated Mercer 41-0, Villanova 23-12, UAlbany 59-0 and the Griz 23-3.

In the process, South Dakota State becomes just the 5th program to finish a season with a record of 15-0 or better.

Only North Dakota State has posted longer winning streaks in the FCS with runs of 33 games and 39 games.

An announced crowd of 19,512 was on-hand, the same as last season's sellout tally.

South Dakota State scored first on Isaiah Davis' 6-yard run with 8:08 to go in the first quarter. Montana scored its only points on a Nick Ramos 30-yard field goal with 10:51 to go in the first half.

The Jackrabbits pushed their advantage to 14-3 on quarterback Mark Gronowski's 10-yard run with 7:11 left in the 3rd, and following a 3-and-out by the Griz, they padded their lead on a 23-yard TD pass from Gronowski to Jadon Janke with 2:36 remaining in the 3rd.

On Montana's very next play, QB Clifton McDowell was sacked by Cade Terveer, forcing a fumble that was recovered by Ryan Van Marel. The Griz kept SDSU out of the end zone but Hunter Dustman kicked a 32-yard field goal with 56 seconds left in the 3rd to provide the final points of the game.

 

First Round (Non-seeded Teams)

All games played November 25. Home team in CAPS
Chattanooga 24, AUSTIN PEAY 21
DELAWARE 36, Lafayette 34
NORTH DAKOTA STATE 66, Drake 3
YOUNGSTOWN STATE 40, Duquesne 7
MERCER 17, Gardner-Webb 7
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 35, Nicholls State 0
RICHMOND 49, NC Central 27
Sacramento State 42, NORTH DAKOTA 35

Bracket (2nd Round through Final)

Home team in BOLD

12/2 12/8-9 12/15-16 C'ship (Frisco)
(1/7, 2 PM)
Mercer 0
1 SDSU 41		      
  1 SDSU 23
8 Villanova 12		    
Youngstown 28
8 Villanova 45		      
    1 SDSU 59
5 Albany 0
(Friday)		  
Richmond 13
5 Albany 41		      
  5 Albany 30
4 Idaho 22		    
Southern Ill. 17
4 Idaho 20 (OT)
      
      1 SDSU 23
2 Montana 3
Sacramento St. 24
3 South Dakota 34		      
  3 South Dakota 17
NDSU 45		    
NDSU 35 (OT)
6 Montana State 34		      
    NDSU 29
2 Montana 31 (OT)
(Saturday)		  
Chattanooga 7
7 Furman 26		      
  7 Furman 28
2 Montana 35 (OT)		    
Delaware 19
2 Montana 49
      

FBS vs. FCS

This season had 117 of the 133 FBS schools facing one FCS opponent, and Army played two such games for a total of 118 FBS-FCS matchups.

Of the 16 FBS schools that did NOT play a FCS program, 7 were in the B1G (Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Purdue, Wisconsin). 6 more are evenly split between the Big 12 (Houston, Oklahoma, Texas) and Pac-12 (Colorado, USC, Washington). The other three were Liberty (CUSA) , UTSA (American), and Virginia Tech (ACC).

The FBS programs were 114-4 this year against the FCS schools. Over-all, the FBS is a collective 1,800-152 (.922) since we began tracking this in 2003.

Here are the FCS wins in 2023, so far:
September 9: Idaho 33, Nevada 6
September 9: Southern Illinois 14, Northern Illinois 12
September 9: Fordham 40, Buffalo 37
September 16: Sacramento State 30, Stanford 23

Streaks - Current FCS Longest

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE - Won 29 straight over-all, 18 straight conference games, 8 straight road games.
Last: The #1 seed Jackrabbits posted a 23-3 win over the #2 seed Montana for the national championship in Frisco, Texas on Sunday, January 7.
Next: 2024 season opener

MONTANA STATE - Had won 26 straight home games.
Last: The # 6 seed lost 35-34 in OT at home to North Dakota State
Next: 2024 season opener

FLORIDA A&M - Won 20 straight home games
Last: 30-26 win over Howard in Celebration Bowl in Atlanta on Saturday, December 16.
Next: 2024 season opener

WESTERN ILLINOIS - Lost 24 straight over-all, 18 straight conference games, and 11 straight home games.
Last: 48-6 home loss vs. South Dakota in season finale on Saturday, November 18.
Next: 2024 season opener

CAL POLY - Lost 16 straight true road games.
Last: 48-21 home loss to Weber State in season finale on Saturday, November 18.
Next: 2024 season opener