8 things to know about UND football's next opponent South Dakota State

GRAND FORKS — The UND football program will try to snap out of a two-game road losing skid by returning to the Alerus Center to face the two-time defending national champions South Dakota State.

Here are eight things you need to know about the Jackrabbits.

Two former UND players are on South Dakota State’s roster in offensive tackle Sam Hagen and wide receiver Marcus Preston.

Preston, a senior, caught 29 passes for 285 yards across his first three seasons of college football at UND.

The Kansas native has never become a major factor in Brookings. He has one catch this season for 4 yards – a touchdown against Youngstown State on Oct. 12.

Hagen, a Fordville, N.D., native, transferred to SDSU after the 2023 season as UND lost its offensive line coach (Joe Pawlak to Montana) and offensive coordinator (Danny Freund to SDSU) in the offseason.

Hagen has been slotted as the starter for the Jacks all season, although he missed a few games with an injury in the middle of the season. He’s expected to play against his old team on Saturday.

The Jackrabbits will have two coaches with UND backgrounds in the Alerus Center this weekend.

Former UND quarterback and assistant coach Danny Freund now shares offensive coordinator duties for SDSU, while former UND running backs coach Robbie Rouse is a running backs coach for the Jacks.

After leaving UND, Rouse spent one season at Cal Poly before joining SDSU in 2023.

As a player, Freund was 16-6 as a two-year starter for the then-Fighting Sioux, finishing his career as the program’s most accurate passer (68.9 percent). He threw for 5,239 yards and 47 touchdowns.

Freund coached running backs (2011-12), quarterbacks (2013), wide receivers (2014-18) and was then elevated to offensive coordinator following the 2018 season.

Freund spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons with the associate head coach label.

South Dakota State head coach Jimmy Rogers paid a compliment to UND wide receiver Bo Belquist during a weekly press conference in Brookings.

“I think they have arguably the best wide receiver in FCS football in Bo Belquist,” Rogers said. “He should be an All-American the way he competes and plays.”

Belquist, a fifth-year senior who became UND’s all-time receptions leader earlier this season, has 48 catches for 754 yards and nine touchdowns this season.

South Dakota State quarterback Mark Gronowski is beating teams with his arms and legs – a trait that hurt UND in the latest back-to-back road losses.

Gronowski enters the weekend with his hand in 114 career touchdowns: 82 passing, 31 rushing and one receiving.

In 2023 in Brookings against UND, Gronowski threw for 167 yards and a touchdown and ran for a touchdown.

In 2022 at UND, Gronowski threw for 197 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for two touchdowns.

In a loss at UND in the spring of 2021, Gronowski threw for 309 yards and two touchdowns and was intercepted twice – the only two-interception game of the season.

South Dakota State has become an NFL pipeline in recent years with six former Jacks on opening day NFL rosters in 2024, led by tight ends Dallas Goedert of the Philadelphia Eagles and Tucker Kraft of the Green Bay Packers.

SDSU had two players selected in the 2024 NFL Draft with Mason McCormick taken in the fourth round by the Pittsburgh Steelers and Isaiah Davis taken in the fifth round by the New York Jets.

Davis has returned seven kickoffs for 179 yards this season. He has four carries for 18 yards.

UND enters the weekend coming off back-to-back losses and Rogers knows that could create a desperate opponent.

“They need this win, and they know that,” Rogers said. “We have to play with a certain edge. It’s a tough environment. We have to be prepared for a 60-minute game.”

The Jackrabbits trailed 14-0 the last time SDSU came to Grand Forks. The Jacks, however, used an interception return for a touchdown to flip momentum in a 38-21 victory.

With Isaiah Davis now in the NFL, SDSU has new opportunities in the backfield and Angel Johnson has emerged as a threat.

Johnson ran for a career-best 132 yards on just seven carries last week in a dominant win over Murray State. He scored on a 67-yard run late in the first quarter.

Of Johnson’s nine career touchdowns, six have covered 50 or more yards, including all three this season.

He scored on a 50-yard touchdown run against UND in 2023.

South Dakota State’s 2023 standout wide receivers – Jadon and Jaxon Janke – have graduated, opening the door for a breakout season for sophomore Griffin Wilde.

Wilde had seven catches for 150 yards in the season opener at Oklahoma State.

Wilde had 10 catches the following week against Incarnate Word.

For the season, Wilde has 44 receptions for 571 receiving yards.

Wilde has cooled on his torrid start but still had three catches for 78 yards last week against Murray State.