Brian Kimmes

The favorite week of the year for SDSU students is almost here – Hobo Week. With all the events and festivities going on throughout the week, it is easy to forget that Hobo Week is really about a football game.

“Hobo Day for us is the game. The players are not able to be involved in other activities. Unless we win the game, the other activities don’t mean much,” said Head Coach John Stiegelmeier.

The Hobo Week celebration culminates on Saturday afternoon with the game against Missouri-Rolla. The Jacks take on the Miners at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium at 2 p.m. The Miners are an independent Division-II team.

The Hobo Day 5k run and parade kick off Hobo Day. Before the game, official tailgating begins at 11:30 a.m., while many fans start the unofficial tailgating before then.

The Jacks face a tough Miners squad. They come to Brookings sporting a 5-2 record. They defeated Southwest Oklahoma last week, 20-9. The Miners have a high powered offense, averaging almost 30 points per game and almost 400 yards of total offense a game.

“Their offense is probably their strength,” Steigelmeier said.

The Miners are led by a strong passing game, averaging 263.3 yards per game. Quarterback Evan Gray leads the Miners’ passing attack. Stiegelmeier said Gray “is a very good quarterback. He can throw the heck out of the ball, if given an opportunity.”

Gray has thrown for 17 touchdowns and only five interceptions this season. The Miners have three strong receivers: Phil Shin, Ashton Gronewold and Brandon Landry. Combined, they average more than 200 yards receiving per game, and have caught 15 of Gray’s 17 touchdown passes.

The passing attack is complimented by a ground game that averages 129.7 yards a game. Keenan Miller leads the attack, averaging 85.4 yards per game. Miller ran for 142 yards last week.

The Jacks had a bye week last week, giving them two weeks to prepare for the game. The team is also coming off a big win versus UC-Davis.

“We gained a ton of momentum, especially going into a bye week. It was tremendous medicine for us,” Steigelmeier said.

The team took advantage of the bye week to work on fundamentals and get some rest. The players had Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. Stiegelmeier said he hopes “they comeback refreshed.”

Hobo Day is a big day for the players.

“With all the excitement and effort put into Hobo Day, the players get more excited. Football is brought to the forefront more this week,” Steigelmeier said.

#1.884946:2293378895.jpg:midnight02_tc.jpg:The men’s and women’s basketball teams kicked off their season at “Midnight Minus Two” on Friday night. Look in upcoming issues for previews on both teams.:Ty Carlson