South Dakota State football: Breaking down the race for FCS football's top seed
While there are two weeks left in college football’s FCS regular season, South Dakota State has just one game left, Saturday in Brookings against Illinois State, and the immediate stakes are abundantly clear.
Win, and sole possession of the Missouri Valley Football Conference title is theirs.
But after that it gets a little tricky.
The Jackrabbits are the No. 1 team in the Top 25 poll and have been ever since they knocked off North Dakota State. So the assumption is they would be the No. 1 seed should they complete the season unbeaten against FCS opponents. But there are some other factors in play.
Sacramento State is No. 2, and they’re undefeated not just in the FCS but overall. The Hornets are 9-0, which includes a win over Colorado State of the FBS (yes, the same FBS team the Jacks beat last year). And their last three wins have been their most impressive, as they’ve taken down Montana, Idaho and Weber State, all ranked teams, consecutively. The Hornets finish up at Portland State and at home against Cal-Davis.
More:How to watch and what to know about Illinois State at South Dakota State
You could make an argument that Sac State would be more deserving of the top seed with that resume than SDSU (I wouldn’t, but someone could).
Then there’s Montana State, the team that knocked off the Jacks to get to Frisco last year. The Bobcats are 8-1 with two games left, and like SDSU, their only loss came to an FBS team. They don’t have as many quality wins as the Hornets or the Jacks, but if they beat rival Montana in the Brawl of the Wild next Saturday and finish 10-1, they, too, would have a case for the top seed. I mean think about it – you were in the national championship game last year, you go 10-1, undefeated against every FCS opponent with only a loss to Oregon State, and that’s not enough to get a top two seed?
All indications are that SDSU will be at least a two seed if they beat Illinois State, and with road wins at North Dakota State, North Dakota, Northern Iowa and Missouri State, they’re deserving.
Each of the top two seeds get home field advantage throughout the playoffs, so there isn't necessarily a big difference between No. 1 or No. 2.
Except for this: North Dakota State is shaping up to be No. 4. The Bison are 7-2, with their only losses coming to Arizona and the Jacks. They have two difficult games remaining – at Southern Illinois and at home against North Dakota, but assuming they get through them to finish 9-2, they seem unlikely to get passed over, or to leapfrog anyone in front of them if those teams win out.
And in the playoffs, the No. 4 seed would travel to face the No. 1 seed in the seminfinals. You following us yet? If things play out to chalk, the Bison would be coming to Brookings in December for the right to go to Frisco.
Now, given that NDSU has ended SDSU’s season in the playoffs, at the Fargodome, multiple times in punishing ways, there are surely some who would love the opportunity to return the favor and end the Bison’s season at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium, and make the green and gold watch someone else dance to that dumb song about fiddling in Texas.
And the Bison, who blew a 14-point lead in their home loss to SDSU a month ago, would love to exact revenge by ousting the Jacks in a home playoff game to clinch another trip to Frisco.
But I suspect both sides would rather not meet in December. The Bison and Jackrabbits have pretty well established they are the two best programs in what’s left of the FCS level. For years observers have been saying so, and clamoring for a Jacks/Bison championship in Frisco. It still hasn’t happened.
Perhaps this is the year. First, the Jacks must get past an Illinois State team fighting for its own playoff lives. After that, well, maybe SDSU fans should root for Sacramento State to pass them up for the top seed.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota State football: Breaking down the race for FCS top seed
