No. 1 South Dakota State football vs Drake at Target Field preview: Who has the edge?
South Dakota State football coach Jimmy Rogers couldn’t help but laugh.
He was just asked when he walks the Target Field bases, if he would stand at home plate and imagine a bases-loaded, walk-off homerun swing before his team’s matchup against Drake on Saturday.
“I don’t know if I’m going to do that,” Rogers said through his smile. “But I grew up playing baseball. I love baseball … Honestly, I contemplated playing baseball over football.”
Saturday’s setting for the Jackrabbits' game against Drake will be a unique one. It will be only the third college football game to ever take place within Target Field’s gates and while that comes with a certain level of reasonable excitement, Rogers made it clear the team has only one goal this weekend.
More: 3 takeaways from No. 1 Jackrabbits back-and-forth thriller over No. 3 Montana State
“We’re excited to be at Target Field, to see some of those things,” Rogers said in his weekly media availability. “But at the end of the day, we need to win a football game, that’s why we’re going down there. We’re not going down there to be sightseers.”
Here’s the tale of the tape between the two teams.
SDSU (2-0) vs Drake (0-2)
When: Saturday, 2:30 p.m.
Where: Target Field, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
TV/Radio: Midco Sports, ESPN+/ Jackrabbit Sports Network
What’s at stake: Drake hasn’t had a winning season since before the COVID pandemic, and they’re still looking for their first win of the season after falling to NAIA champions Northwestern (Iowa) on a last-second overtime touchdown last week.
That being said, they do have some talent, especially at the line of scrimmage. Defensive lineman Finn Claypool, offensive lineman Jimmy Poremba and fullback Eli Stewart were all named to the Preseason All-Pioneer Football League Team. The Bulldogs have also added a few former Jackrabbits to their coaching staff in defensive backs coach C.J. Butt, who was on the 2021 South Dakota State coaching staff, and assistant defensive backs coach Sean Hupke, who was on SDSU’s staff in 2022. Rogers acknowledged that’ll present a unique challenge with the knowledge Butt and Hupke have of their defense – but this should be another big win for the Jackrabbits. The main thing to look out for will be what players will break out in the final game before conference play begins against South Dakota on Sept. 30.
Who’s better: South Dakota State is the better team and it’s not close. The Bulldogs were projected by coaches around the Pioneer Football League to finish eighth in the conference’s preseason poll. That’s where they’ve finished in each season since 2019 when they went 6-5 overall, 6-2 in the conference and finished second in the league standings.
More: SDSU football: 3 takeaways from the Jackrabbits dominant 45-7 win over Western Oregon
Matchup to watch: The Jackrabbits run defense struggled noticeably at times last week while containing Montana State's quarterback duo of Tommy Mellott and Sean Chambers. They were outrushed by the Bobcats 118-26 in the first half.
They’re not facing the same level of physicality and speed this week from the Drake backfield – the most the Bulldogs have rushed for this season is 107 yards against North Dakota –- but that’ll be something to keep an eye on. Most of Drake’s offensive success has come from their passing game. Bulldogs quarterback Luke Bailey completed 24 of his 32 passing attempts for 253 yards and two touchdowns against Northwestern (Iowa) last Saturday. The matchup to watch will be the Bulldogs' passing game against a dangerous Jackrabbits secondary.
More: SDSU football head coach talks taking over for a legend, expectations for next season
SDSU wins if: There’s no lingering injuries that extend into conference play. They should be able to get ahead early and give key players rest ahead of a competitive conference schedule.
Prediction: SDSU 55, Drake 7. We anticipate a lot of great performances across the Jackrabbits' roster.
Jonathan Fernandez covers high school and college sports for the Argus Leader. Contact him at jfernandez1@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JFERN31
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: No. 1 SDSU vs Drake at Target Field preview: Who has the edge?
