Fort Collins, Colorado — Three and a half months after making an appearance in the Football Championship Subdivision national title game, the South Dakota State football team returns to action by opening the 2021 season with a nationally televised game at Colorado State.
Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. Mountain Time (8 p.m. Central) Friday at Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins, Colorado. Television coverage will be available on FS1.
The Jackrabbits posted an 8-2 record during a 2020-21 season that was moved to the spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic. SDSU won a share of the Missouri Valley Football Conference title and claimed the league’s automatic bid to the FCS playoffs after compiling a 5-1 mark during the regular season.
SDSU also was awarded the top seed in 16-team playoff field and won three home games before falling to Sam Houston on a late touchdown, 23-21, in the FCS national championship game in Frisco, Texas. It marked the Jackrabbits’ first-ever appearance in a football national championship contest.
Colorado State, meanwhile, was limited to four games last fall. The Rams turned in a 1-3 record against Mountain West Conference opponents, notching their only victory in their lone home game, a 34-24 win over rival Wyoming.
Friday’s game will mark the third meeting on the gridiron between South Dakota State and Colorado State, and the first in 55 years.
The two programs last met on Sept. 24, 1966, at SDSU’s Coughlin-Alumni Stadium, with Colorado State pulling away for a 45-14 victory. CSU scored two early touchdowns before the Jackrabbits pulled to within 13-7 late in the first quarter on a 75-yard touchdown run by Tod Macik. The Rams countered by tallying the next 26 points, with the Jackrabbits scoring their final touchdown of the day on a 17-yard pass from Pat Durkin to Terry Sorensen.
Colorado State won the first-ever meeting between the two teams a year earlier, Nov. 6, 1965, in Fort Collins, with the Rams winning 52-20.
South Dakota State will face a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent for the 11th time since moving to the Division I ranks. The Jackrabbits have compiled a 1-9 record against FBS foes, starting with a 44-17 setback at Iowa State in the 2008 season opener.
The Jackrabbits last played an FBS foe in the 2019 season opener at Minnesota, falling to the Golden Gophers, 28-21.
SDSU’s lone win against an FBS opponent was a 41-38 win at Kansas in the 2015 season opener.
