In the Sept. 26 edition of the University of South Dakota’s student newspaper, the Volante, Sports Editor Austin Lammers authored a provocative column regarding the Missouri Valley Football Conference schedule.

His article, titled “Good football teams should play good football teams” online, seems to do nothing but point a finger at South Dakota State University and North Dakota State University by citing each school’s recent football matchups and scores.

Lammers argues that Football Champion Subdivision powerhouses are unfairly matched against underperforming FCS or nondivisional schools.

It is hard for NDSU and SDSU to schedule better FCS competition as the teams are ranked No. 1 and No. 4 in the country, respectively.

Let it be noted that USD’s only two wins this season come against Northern Colorado (0-5 this year, 3-7 last year) and MVFC foe Southern Illinois (1-3 this year, 4-7 last year).

Compare that to SDSU’s wins against University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (1-4 this year, 2-9 last year) and Montana State (3-2 this year, 5-6 last year).

Despite SDSU providing “massacres” and “routs,” as the Volante puts it, Lammers fails to note what ESPN 99.1’s Jeff Harkness saw: Coach John Stiegelmeier sending in players as low as fourth-string onto the field.

Harkness’ article even acknowledges that UAPB flew into Brookings with the second-ranked offense in the FCS. It’s no fault of SDSU that UAPB’s defense couldn’t keep up with SDSU’s third and fourth-string offense.

“Two of the second-half scores were on screen passes, while the touchdown runs were the result of missed tackles,” Harkness wrote.

Lammers’ article asks who’s next: “the Mitchell Tech intramural flag football team?”

If good football teams should play good football teams, then USD is next.

His article closes with: “to be the best, you gotta beat the best.”

I suppose that explains why USD hasn’t beat SDSU in football since Bill Clinton was still in office.