2019 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team

2019 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football
NCAA Division Second Round, L 10–13 vs. Northern Iowa
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 10
FCS Coaches	No. 12
Record	8–5 (5–3 MVFC)
Head coach	John Stiegelmeier (23rd season)
Offensive coordinator	Jason Eck (1st season)
Co-defensive coordinator	Brian Bergstrom (1st season)
Co-defensive coordinator	Jimmy Rogers (1st season)
Home stadium	Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium

2019 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 1 North Dakota State $^		8	–	0					16	–	0
No. 5 Northern Iowa ^		6	–	2					10	–	5
No. 7 Illinois State ^		5	–	3					10	–	5
No. 10 South Dakota State ^		5	–	3					8	–	5
Southern Illinois		5	–	3					7	–	5
South Dakota		4	–	4					5	–	7
Indiana State		3	–	5					5	–	7
Youngstown State		2	–	6					6	–	6
Missouri State		1	–	7					1	–	10
Western Illinois		1	–	7					1	–	11
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2019 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team represented South Dakota State University as a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) during the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. Led by 23rd-year head coach John Stiegelmeier, the Jackrabbits compiled an overall record of 8–5 with a mark of 5–3 in conference play, placing in a three-way tie for third in the MVFC. South Dakota State received an at-large bid to the NCAA Division I Football Championship playoffs, where, after a first round bye, the Jackrabbits lost to Northern Iowa in the second round. The team played home games on campus at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium in Brookings, South Dakota.

Preseason

MVFC poll

In the MVFC preseason poll released on July 29, 2019, the Jackrabbits were predicted to finish in second place.

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	North Dakota State	392 (32)
2	South Dakota State	348 (4)
3	Illinois State	289 (3)
4	Indiana State	279 (1)
5	Northern Iowa	266
6	South Dakota	176
7	Youngstown State	153
8	Western Illinois	128
9	Southern Illinois	89
10	Missouri State	80

Preseason All–MVFC team

The Jackrabbits had five players selected to the preseason all-MVFC team.

Offense

Pierre Strong Jr. – RB

Cade Johnson – WR

Bradey Sorenson – LS

Defense

Ryan Earith – DL

Christian Rozeboom – LB

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 29	9:00 p.m.	at Minnesota*	No. 3	TCF Bank Stadium Minneapolis, MN	FS1	L 21–28	49,112
September 7	6:00 p.m.	LIU*	No. 3	Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium Brookings, SD	ESPN3	W 38–3	10,153
September 14	1:00 p.m.	Drake*	No. 3	Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium Brookings, SD	Midco	W 38–10	11,565
September 21	7:00 p.m.	Southern Utah*	No. 3	Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium Brookings, SD	Midco	W 43–7	14,269
October 5	2:00 p.m.	Southern Illinois	No. 3	Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium Brookings, SD	ESPN+	W 28–10	13,776
October 12	5:00 p.m.	at No. 19 Youngstown State	No. 3	Stambaugh Stadium Youngstown, OH	ESPN+	W 38–28	12,381
October 19	12:00 p.m.	at Indiana State	No. 3	Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN3	W 42–23	4,642
October 26	2:00 p.m.	No. 1 North Dakota State	No. 3	Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium Brookings, SD (Dakota Marker, College GameDay)	ESPN+, Midco	L 16–23	19,371
November 2	2:00 p.m.	at Missouri State	No. 4	Robert W. Plaster Stadium Springfield, MO	ESPN3	W 35–14	5,108
November 9	2:00 p.m.	No. 11 Illinois State	No. 4	Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium Brookings, SD	ESPN+	L 18–27	7,211
November 16	2:00 p.m.	No. 4 Northern Iowa	No. 8	Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium Brookings, SD	ESPN3	W 38–7	7,317
November 23	2:00 p.m.	at South Dakota	No. 5	DakotaDome Vermillion, SD (rivalry)	ESPN+, Midco	L 21–24	5,405
December 7	1:00 p.m.	No. 6 Northern Iowa*	No. 10	Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium Brookings, SD (NCAA Division I Second Round)	ESPN3	L 10–13	4,102
*Non-conference game Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Game summaries

At Minnesota

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 3 Jackrabbits	0	7	14	0	21
Golden Gophers	0	13	7	8	28

See also: 2019 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team

LIU

	1	2	3	4	Total
Sharks	0	3	0	0	3
No. 3 Jackrabbits	7	14	14	3	38

See also: 2019 LIU Sharks football team

Drake

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	0	3	0	7	10
No. 3 Jackrabbits	10	7	14	7	38

See also: 2019 Drake Bulldogs football team

Southern Utah

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	0	7	0	0	7
No. 3 Jackrabbits	7	14	15	7	43

See also: 2019 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team

Southern Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Salukis	3	7	0	0	10
No. 3 Jackrabbits	6	3	12	7	28

See also: 2019 Southern Illinois Salukis football team

At Youngstown State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 3 Jackrabbits	3	0	13	22	38
No. 19 Penguins	7	7	7	7	28

See also: 2019 Youngstown State Penguins football team

At Indiana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 3 Jackrabbits	7	28	0	7	42
Sycamores	7	3	7	6	23

See also: 2019 Indiana State Sycamores football team

North Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 1 Bison	0	3	13	7	23
No. 3 Jackrabbits	6	0	3	7	16

See also: 2019 North Dakota State Bison football team

At Missouri State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Jackrabbits	6	8	7	14	35
Bears	0	0	0	14	14

See also: 2019 Missouri State Bears football team

Illinois State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 11 Redbirds	7	3	3	14	27
No. 4 Jackrabbits	3	8	7	0	18

See also: 2019 Illinois State Redbirds football team

Northern Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Panthers	0	0	7	0	7
No. 8 Jackrabbits	0	7	10	21	38

See also: 2019 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

At South Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 5 Jackrabbits	7	0	7	7	21
Coyotes	0	10	14	0	24

See also: 2019 South Dakota Coyotes football team

FCS Playoffs

The Jackrabbits entered the postseason tournament as the number seven seed, with a first-round bye.

Northern Iowa–Second Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 6 Panthers	0	3	7	3	13
No. 10 Jackrabbits	10	0	0	0	10

See also: 2019 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Final
STATS FCS	3 (1)	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	8	5	10	10
Coaches	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	5	4	9	5	12	12