Nov. 7—CEDAR FALLS, Iowa. — A few weeks back, South Dakota State was the No. 1 team in the nation, and they rolled into an indoor stadium to play a team that has been successful at home, but not typically against the Jackrabbits.
It did not end well. SDSU was outplayed and upset, 21-10 by North Dakota.
Saturday they were back in the same scenario. Following convincing wins over Murray State and rival South Dakota, the Jacks headed back inside, this time to face a Northern Iowa team they'd dominated in each of the last three meetings. But, like North Dakota, the Panthers were undefeated at home. Like North Dakota, this was essentially a must-win to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Dan Jackson talked in the immediate aftermath of that loss to UND about his team's response. Once the loss went final, it was over. No changing it, no sense in wallowing over it. It happened. For the Jacks to still accomplish their ultimate goal of a national championship, he needed to see his team respond.
By dominating the Panthers in a 41-15 win that makes them 3-0 since the loss in Grand Forks and 8-2 on the year, the Jacks are showing their coach that they took his demands to respond appropriately to heart.
"We knew they were undefeated at home, and it's senior night for them, their last home game of the year," said SDSU quarterback Chase Mason, who threw for 181 yards and two scores. "We put ourselves in their shoes. They'd come in with nothing to lose and nothing to fear."
Most of the Jackrabbit players and coaches will admit that's not how they approached North Dakota and it cost them. But is it possible that will serve the Jacks well in the long run? Both times they won an FCS national championship they went undefeated against FCS teams. That's the preferable path, earning the No. 1 seed, but maybe a humbling loss, a reminder that there are other teams with their eyes on a trip to Nashville, is something this particular SDSU team needed.
Make no mistake, they're still annoyed they lost that game. But it sure seems to have lit a fire under them.
"Definitely," defensive back Myles Green said when that was suggested to him. "You know, we never want to lose, but it comes with the game. After that, we realized that we can never take our foot off the gas no matter who we're going against. Just play us. Everybody do their job. When we do that we usually come out on top. We came out here this week the same way we do every week. Everyone do their 1/11th and we win."
It wasn't quite as explosive as the first three quarters of last week's win over South Dakota, in which the Jacks jumped out to a 28-0 lead and held on to win 31-21, but this was a pretty complete performance against a team that's already beaten a pair of top-five teams in this building this year.
The Jacks outgained the Panthers 467-260, rushing for 259 yards to UNI's 74. Josiah Johnson rushed for 109 yards and two touchdowns (going over 1,000 yards for the season in the process) and James Basinger 102 yards and a 63-yard back-breaking score that made it 38-7 and fully put the game away.
Meanwhile Chase Mason shook off a couple early misfires to show off his arm talent. He threw for 181 yards on 10 completions, hitting explosives to Lofton O'Groske, Jack Smith and Brayden Delahoyde, and touchdowns to each of the latter two.
The Jacks ran the ball well from the jump, but when Mason started hitting his spots downfield the running lanes got even bigger.
"I mean, that was great," Mason said. "Every time you hit on a shot and that's what you practice during the week, it's pretty satisfying when you go out there and do that. So yeah, hitting a couple deep shots was fun."
Perhaps even more important, Mason looked visibly faster on foot. He rushed for 21 yards, picked up one first down on 3rd and long with his feet and evaded the rush to ensure a zero sack day for UNI.
"I was allowed to take my knee brace off this week, and I'd been begging to for awhile," Mason said. "My knee feels great and I felt quick out there. The turf was pretty bouncy, too, so maybe that helped a little."
Mason's statistics remain a little pedestrian, but at some point the nitpicking gets kind of silly. The dude has thrown zero interceptions in FCS games. He might actually have literal ice in his veins. And now he's getting his foot speed back.
With QB1 heating up, the defense dominating and the team as a whole having learned a lesson in that loss to North Dakota, the Jacks are basically right where Jackson hoped they'd be when he stood on the Alerus Center turf three weeks ago trying to make sense of a stunning defeat.
"I knew the work we'd done in the offseason and the connection that we have as a team," Jackson said. "But until you're challenged, you don't really know. And you find out a lot about yourself with some adversity. Guys came back to work. They understood what we needed to do. And really, they're growing each week. I think it's been a lot of fun to see them just get excited about finding their best. So they responded. They stayed together.
"And honestly, I do want to give credit — our coaches have improved drastically as well," Jackson added. "And that's, we're all looking to get better, right? But besides me getting too upset sometimes on the sidelines, which is an area I'll work on, I think our staff and players have gotten better and improved together."
