Marker win pushes South Dakota State football’s recent run into rare company within Jacks-Bison rivalry

BROOKINGS — It’s getting more and more difficult to find players on the South Dakota State football roster who have lost to North Dakota State.

But for the Jackrabbits, that fact doesn’t make their active five-game winning streak — extended by a 33-16 victory on Saturday afternoon — any less satisfying.

Since the spring season of 2021, SDSU has had the upper hand over its northern rival. The Jackrabbits who made their collegiate debuts that spring are now 5-0 in the series, including a win over the Bison in the FCS National Championship.

“It just feels great to beat that team every single year so far,” said fourth-year junior quarterback Mark Gronowski, a member of that 2020 recruiting class who improved to 4-0 against NDSU as a starter. “It’s a lot of fun.”

It’s a streak that matches SDSU’s longest in the 120-year, 115-game history of the rivalry, the lone prior five-game win streak coming between 1910 and 1917 (no meetings in 1912, 1914 and 1916). Since that stretch more than a century ago — which was part of a nine-game unbeaten run in the series (tie in 1919) — the Jacks hadn’t mustered more than three in a row against NDSU until their current run.

With four of the five victories coming with the Dakota Marker at stake, which occurs in regular-season meetings only since its introduction in 2004, SDSU has leveled the series with the trophy on the line at 10 wins apiece.

“It’s something to take pride in because it’s a privilege to be a part of a great rivalry like this and to play in so many great games against (NDSU),” said sixth-year senior offensive tackle Garret Greenfield. “We’ve just always tried to keep attacking. We lost a couple there, but every year after that, we’ve buckled down, elevated our game and played our style of football to eventually come out on top.”

Yes, NDSU still has the edge in the all-time series with a 63-47-5 record, which includes streaks of seven, eight and 17 wins at various points in history. But SDSU’s recent successes have been cathartic, an exorcism of sorts, as the programs have swapped roles (for the time being, at least).

“Success breeds imitators,” Greenfield said. “To catch them and compete with them, you have to do what they do and try to do it better.”

And that’s what the Jackrabbits have done.

With Greenfield and Gronowski among a plethora of multi-year starters on both sides of the football, the veteran Jackrabbits have spearheaded the shift in fortune against the Bison, which NDSU head coach Matt Entz noted, perhaps even with notes of frustration.

“It feels like we’ve played the same names for a damn long time right now,” Entz lamented. “They’re well-coached and got a great recruiting class that year. There are a lot of veterans who’ve seen and played a lot of football.”

The proverbial snowball has only gained speed in the most recent meetings, as well. Over the past 10 quarters — since SDSU faced a 21-7 halftime deficit last season in the Fargodome — the Jacks have out-scored the Bison 94-37, winning by three scores in back-to-back games. To find the last time SDSU defeated NDSU by that margin before last year, one must venture back to 1961. For consecutive blowouts, it dates back even further to an SDSU three-peat from 1953-55.

And according to SDSU head coach Jimmy Rogers, who was a linebacker for the Jackrabbits’ teams that won three consecutive Dakota Marker games between 2007 and 2009, turning the tables has been no accident given the classes of student-athletes on the leading edge.

“This senior class deserves every bit that they’ve worked their butts off for,” Rogers said. “I’m so proud of them, their leadership, their consistency. When your best players are also your hardest workers, it’s easy to rally behind and have success.”

Dierks covers prep and collegiate athletics across the Mitchell Republic’s coverage region area, focusing on Mitchell High School football and boys basketball and area high school football, volleyball and basketball, as well as Dakota Wesleyan women’s basketball. He was also the lead on the Mitchell Republic Gridiron Spotlight, producing video and providing live play-by-play for the traveling weekly prep football broadcast during its first season in the fall of 2021. Dierks is a Mitchell native who graduated from South Dakota State University with his bachelor’s degree in journalism in May 2020. He joined the Mitchell Republic sports staff in August 2021. He can be reached at ldierks@mitchellrepublic.com and found on Twitter at @LDierksy.