Gopher Football
About South Dakota State
South Dakota State is located in Brookings, South Dakota, and competed in Division II until 2004 when they made the move to Division I. Their first game against an FBS opponent was last year, when they went to Iowa State and lost 44-17. They were only out-gained 388-350, but six turnovers did them in.
This season South Dakota State has gotten off to a good start. Their only two losses were at Cal-Poly (21-14), and then last weekend to the #2 ranked team in FCS, Southern Illinois (34-15). Before last week’s loss the Jackrabbits were ranked #9 in FCS, but after the loss they slipped to #12.
The Jackrabbits have 11 native Minnesotans on their roster, including the QB who will start tomorrow, freshman Thomas O’Brien from Winona. O’Brien will be making only his fourth start of his career, but so far he is 3-0 and has played well. They are pretty balanced on offense, rushing the ball 313 times for 1232 yards, while throwing the ball 177/273 times for 1984 yards. Their main weapon on the ground is Kyle Minett. A Ruthton, MN native, Minett is a 5’10″ 205 lb junior who has rushed 193 times for 947 yards and 12 TDs.
South Dakota State’s strength is their defense. Before last week the Jackrabbits ranked #1 in FCS in scoring defense and currently stand at 6th, allowing 14 points per game. Their best player on defense is defensive end Danny Batten, a senior who is considered a possible NFL draft pick next spring. He is third on the team in tackles with 61, and leads the team in sacks with five and tackles for loss with 12.5. The Rabbits top tackler is another Minnesota native, junior linebacker Derek Domino. The Spring Lake Park native leads the team in tackles with 73, and has 6 tackles for loss and 4 pass breakups.
For more details on SDSU, check out Doogie’s interview with the Jackrabbits beat reporter for the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, Terry Vandrovec: http://www.gopherhole.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1113
Gopher Update
The Gophers are coming off this game needing to rebound from their most disappointing loss of the season, a 35-32 upset against Illinois. Many of the things that have haunted them all year came back to bite them in this game: an inconsistent running game, a few bad throws by Adam Weber, and porous third down defense. Health-wise the Gophers should be in pretty good shape. It was reported that center Jeff Tow-Arnett has made a fast recovery from his leg injury earlier in the season, and might make an appearance in this game. That would be a nice touch on senior day.
Keys to the game
1. Take control of the game early – The last thing you want to happen in a game like this is to give the opposition hope. Ideally what the Gophers can do is to get a big lead, so they can work on trying to fix some of the things that they have been struggling with, and then maybe mixing in some young players to get them more experience. The last thing the Gophers want is to lose this game; the second-last would be to be fighting for a win well into the fourth quarter.
2. Tackle well – With a good RB and a freshman starting at QB, expect SDSU to try and run the ball. The Gophers should be able to control this if they tackle well. If SDSU does pass they’ll probably be short routes to help give the freshman QB confidence and to keep it simple. Again, if the Gophers tackle well on short passing routes it will work to their favor.
3. Just play their game – Even though South Dakota State is a tough team, if they Gophers play to their capability they should win the game. The Gophers obviously have a talent, size and speed advantage, so as long as the Gophers don’t hurt themselves with things like dropped passes, penalties and turnovers they should be just fine.
What will happen
In a game like this you never know what to expect. When you look at it on paper there is no reason to expect SDSU to be in this game, but over the past few years we’ve seen that the difference between FBS And FCS teams seems to be shrinking, and close games are becoming more and more common. So while I don’t think the game will be over by the end of the first quarter, I think that the Gophers should be able to be more and more in control of the game as it wears on. Even though this week will probably be the weakest home field advantage of the year, I think the Gophers should win comfortably.
Prediction: Minnesota 35 ““ South Dakota State 14