The No. 3 ranked Jackrabbits will face off against the No. 14 Montana Grizzlies on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.
This is a rematch of the 2023 FCS National Championship where South Dakota State beat Montana in a dominant 23-3 victory.
Throughout history, the Jackrabbits are 1-7 against the Grizzlies. The last time these two teams battled on the gridiron in Brookings was in 1970 when Montana beat SDSU 24-0.
South Dakota State
Mark Gronowski sits at the helm of this offense, racking up 2,190 passing yards this season. To add, Gronowski has thrown for 17 passing touchdowns and six interceptions, boasting a 61.79% completion percentage. The Illinois native hasn’t thrown an interception in five games.
Sophomore Griffin Wilde has made a big impact on this team after becoming a starter. Wilde has amounted to 900 receiving yards and eight receiving touchdowns on 56 catches. Wilde leads the team in all three statistics.
With 24 receptions this season, Grahm Goering has been a solid second option for the Jacks. Goering has tallied 346 receiving yards and four touchdowns through nine games. Tight end Davin Stoffel, a redshirt freshman out of Wisconsin is averaging 12.08 yards per reception this season. Stoffel has amounted to 157 yards and a score on 13 catches.
Amar Johnson has racked up 910 yards this season and scored 13 rushing touchdowns, leading the team in both categories.
SDSU’s rushing attack has shown to be unstoppable, having five players over 300 yards on the season.
Angel Johnson and Kirby Vorhees have been a great backup duo of tailbacks this season with Angel Johnson rushing for 555 yards and three touchdowns while Vorhees has racked up 499 yards and seven scores.
Adam Bock leads the Jacks with 75 total tackles this season. Bock has also added an interception and a fumble recovery to his name. Fellow linebacker Caleb Francl has the second-most tackles for the Jacks with 64, 31 of those being solo tackles.
Matthew Durrance, Steven Arrell and Tucker Large all have had two interceptions this season while five other Jackrabbits have one of their own.
Montana
Logan Fife leads the Grizz this season after transferring last spring from Fresno State. Fife has racked up 1,890 passing yards, 14 scores and two interceptions on a 63.5% completion percentage.
Similar to their rival Montana State in previous years, Montana has been playing with multiple quarterbacks this season. Keali’I Ah Yat has thrown for 890 yards and five scores this year while 134 yards.
Junior Bergen and Keelan White have both cracked the five-century mark in receiving yards this season. The duo has also scored three touchdowns a piece.
Bergen, a name feared by punters and kickers has been a force to be reckoned with on special teams. The senior has scored three return touchdowns this season with two of them coming in the first round of the FCS playoffs against Tennessee State.
“Junior Bergen is dynamite,” said SDSU head coach Jimmy Rogers. “We got to make sure we do a good job of containing him and not letting him change the football game.”
On the ground, Eli Gillman has rushed for 1,092 yards and 15 rushing touchdowns on 157 carries. Nick Ostmo has seen a plethora of carries this season too with 124. Otsmo has amounted to 769 yards and three touchdowns.
“This is a really good football team,” said Rogers. “They got a lot of great skill players on the perimeter, they do a really good job of dispersing the football.”
With 103 tackles on the season, Ryan Tirrell leads Montana. Jaxon Lee (84 tackles) and Riley Wilson (80 tackles) follow behind.
TJ Rauch has picked off the pigskin four times this season to contribute to Montana’s 13 total.
