Matt Zimmer: Jacks check all boxes in season opening rout of Stetson

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Aug. 30—BROOKINGS — Dan Jackson has been saying since the end of last season that he wanted to see more explosive plays from his South Dakota State offense after there was a dearth of them in 2025.

As if by request, Chase Mason connected with Jack Smith for a 73-yard touchdown pass on the first play of 2026.

"Couldn't picture it any better," said Mason, who completed 5-of-10 throws for 157 yards in a half-days work.

That set the tone in what ended up a season-opening 70-7 demolition of the Stetson Hatters, a team from the non-scholarship Pioneer League of the FCS, as the Jackrabbits continued to produce explosive plays throughout the night in what amounted to essentially a tune-up before the Jacks head to Chicago next weekend to challenge Northwestern.

SDSU has never defeated a Big Ten team, and for them to entertain thoughts of changing that next Saturday, they needed to be nothing short of completely dominant against the Hatters, and that's precisely what they were.

The Jacks led 21-0 after a quarter, 42-0 at half and 70-7 after three. The only reason SDSU did not surpass their 90-6 rout of Arkansas-Pine Bluff in 2018 for worst blowout in school history is because they chose not to.

Explosive plays? They were aplenty.

Five running backs had runs of 20 yards or more. Corey Blair busted a 52-yard touchdown run. James Basinger had a 48-yard run. Ramon McKinney and Josh Myers each had 27 yard touchdown runs and Josiah Johnson scored from 20 yards out.

Backup quarterback Josh Holst found former Brandon Valley star Landon Dulaney for a 78-yard touchdown pass. Freshman Alex Uchtman returned a punt 65 yards for a score.

When you're a national championship contender facing a non-scholarship team, these are the kinds of big plays you want to see. Yes, the Jacks would've taken a ho-hum 41-13 win over the Hatters, but that wouldn't have been terribly encouraging. Just last year SDSU faced non-scholarship Drake, and merely beat them 37-21. In hindsight, that may have been a harbinger of that team's shortcomings.

On Saturday, the Jacks delivered a performance that wasn't perfect, but seemed devoid of negatives.

They rushed for 393 yards, with Blair and Basinger both eclipsing 100. The defense couldn't quite deliver a shutout but the snaps accrued by inexperienced defenders was more important — SDSU got 87 players into the game overall. The special teams delivered, multiple freshmen contributed, the line play on both offense and defense was excellent and nobody got hurt.

The D-line showed that was missing last year. The linebacking corps showcased its depth. Several players in the secondary made plays.

And perhaps the most exciting thing the Jacks put on display? Speed.

A handful of plays became explosive because Jackrabbits simply ran away from the defense. Jackson said there were 15 players on last year's roster who were clocked running faster than 20-mph. This year there are 47, and it was visible without a stopwatch. The Jacks looked fast and physical in their opener, a far cry from last year's opener when SDSU settled for a 20-3 win over Sacramento State that could've and should've been much more decisive, but wasn't because of unfamiliarity with each other and a lack of team speed.

This year's squad, in year two under Jackson and staff, clearly has better chemistry and comfort with their schemes, as well as simply being faster, stronger and more athletic. Considering SDSU was the only team to beat last year's national champions (Montana State) despite those shortcomings, Saturday's performance seems to suggest SDSU fans should be excited about their squad in 2026.

The Jacks knew when they scheduled the Hatters that they were going to have a sure win to open their schedule, but they secured that win under probably the best set of circumstances they could've hoped for. It was a bloodbath, just as it should've been.

Now the Jacks can turn their attention to pursuing what would be their third FBS win. The Wildcats will surely be ready for them, which always makes it more difficult. SDSU beat Kansas in 2015 and Colorado State in 2021, but were thumped by an underachieving Oklahoma State squad in their last FBS challenge in 2024.

"We don't schedule these power four games to not go compete to win a game," Jackson said. Guys know that, and they're excited about that, and it's gonna be an awesome opportunity to go out there and see where we're at."

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