South Dakota
South Dakota State running back Pierre Strong Jr. poised to be first Jackrabbit drafted since 2019
BROOKINGS, S.D. — With the NFL Draft set to happen April 28-30 in Las Vegas, South Dakota State working again Pierre Sturdy Jr. has hopes of changing into the primary Jackrabbit to listen to their identify known as since 2019 and simply the third since 2010.
Throughout his 4 seasons in Brookings, the Little Rock, Arkansas, native developed into the newest gem in a proud lineage of SDSU rushers. Alongside the way in which, he established himself not solely as one of many prime ball carriers within the Soccer Championship Subdivision, however the whole school soccer panorama.
Within the fall 2021 season, the 5-foot-11, 207-pound Sturdy turned 240 carries into an FCS-best 1,686 yards, discovering the endzone 18 instances. For his profession, the two-time AP All-American rolled to 4,527 dashing yards and accounted for 49 touchdowns (40 dashing, six passing and three receiving).
All that manufacturing is anticipated to culminate in Las Vegas, with Sturdy, who ran a 4.37-second 40-yard sprint on the NFL Mix in early March, garnering curiosity from draft specialists and groups alike.
In an look on NFL cornerback Richard Sherman’s podcast, USA Right now NFL editor Doug Farrar gave Sturdy a praise with a comparability to LeSean McCoy. McCoy was a six-time Professional Bowler who amassed 15,000 profession yards from scrimmage between 2009 and 2020, most notably for the Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Payments.
So perhaps a extra apt comparability at this stage is one supplied by Bleacher Report, which affords 2021 rookie Elijah Mitchell — almost a 1,000-yard rusher for the San Francisco 49ers final season in simply 11 video games — as a peer to Sturdy, who the outlet tasks as a fourth-round decide. Professional Soccer Focus additionally charges Sturdy as a fourth-rounder, inserting him one hundred and thirty fifth on the service’s draft board.
Even nonetheless, maybe Sturdy’s most glowing overview among the many prime draft gurus comes from ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. In an April 18 column, Kiper recognized his “favourite prospects” at each place, which recognized gamers the longtime analyst “likes greater than most.”
Kiper picked out Sturdy among the many working backs, lauding him for an early-season efficiency towards Colorado State (13 carries, 138 yards and two touchdowns) that helped begin Sturdy’s rise via the ranks as an “under-the-radar” prospect.
Wrote Kiper: “Sturdy is basically good at most every little thing. He has nice steadiness via the opening, can maintain his personal in move safety and was sturdy for the Jackrabbits.”
As for Kiper’s projection, it falls consistent with different specialists and providers.
“Sturdy goes to be drafted late on Day 2 (rounds 2-3) or early on Day 3 (rounds 4-7), and I actually suppose he could possibly be a steal,” Kiper wrote. “He has an opportunity to be a starter within the NFL in the correct state of affairs and given slightly time to regulate.”
Placing these Pierre Sturdy Jr clips on the timeline so that you perceive why Mike McDaniel is inevitably going to be obsessive about him. pic.twitter.com/geBENTYwwq
— Brett Kollmann (@BrettKollmann) March 9, 2022
Cornerback Jordan Brown was the final SDSU participant to be drafted, making stops with the Las Vegas Raiders, Washington Soccer Staff and Jacksonville Jaguars after being chosen by the Cincinnati Bengals within the seventh spherical, 223rd general. He’s at the moment a free agent.
However the 12 months earlier than Brown, tight finish and Britton, South Dakota, native Dallas Goedert was picked within the second spherical, forty ninth general, by the then-defending champion Philadephia Eagles.
Goedert has since established himself as one of many NFL’s greatest tight ends placing up a career-high 830 yards receiving and 4 scores on 56 catches in 2021. The 27-year-old’s efforts earned a four-year, $57 million contract extension in November 2021, which makes Goedert the third-highest paid at his place when it comes to annual worth ($14.25 million), solely behind perennial all-pro abilities George Kittle and Travis Kelce.
The primary spherical of the 2022 NFL Draft will get underway at 7 p.m. Thursday, with the second and third rounds beginning at 6 p.m. Friday and the fourth via seventh rounds starting at 11 a.m. Saturday. Dwell tv protection of the whole draft will be discovered on ESPN.
![](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/np-logo.png)
South Dakota
Videos: Gundy, Players Recap Win against South Dakota State
![Videos: Gundy, Players Recap Win against South Dakota State Videos: Gundy, Players Recap Win against South Dakota State](https://pistolsfiringblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/53962121679_afc402ad55_k-1000x600.jpg)
STILLWATER — The Oklahoma State football team beat South Dakota State 44-20 on Saturday to start the season 1-0. After the game, Mike Gundy, Ollie Gordon, Alan Bowman, De’Zhaun Stribling, Collin Oliver, Korie Black and Trey Rucker met with reporters to recap the game.
South Dakota
South Dakota State vs. No. 17 Oklahoma State live stream (8/31/24): Watch college football, Week 1 online
![South Dakota State vs. No. 17 Oklahoma State live stream (8/31/24): Watch college football, Week 1 online South Dakota State vs. No. 17 Oklahoma State live stream (8/31/24): Watch college football, Week 1 online](https://www.nj.com/resizer/v2/P2NH7TDAORCA3K2CFKZ3D37LHE.jpg?auth=27a73779c5e6defa1fa563e3ee42ddc0fe62687da0c8b6ecc5664751c4c0c4a2&width=1280&quality=90)
The South Dakota State Jackrabbits face the No. 17 Oklahoma State Cowboys on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024 (8/31/24) at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Fans can watch the game with a subscription to ESPN+.
Here’s what you need to know:
What: NCAA Football, Week 1
Who: South Dakota State vs. Oklahoma State
When: Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024 (8/31/24)
Where: Boone Pickens Stadium
Time: 2 p.m. ET
TV: N/A
Channel finder: Verizon Fios, AT&T U-verse, Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice,Cox,DIRECTV, Dish, Hulu, fuboTV, Sling.
Live stream: ESPN+
***
Here’s a college football story from the Associated Press:
Y’all ain’t played nobody!
It might as well be college football’s slogan. Debates about strength of schedule are part of the fabric of the sport, like marching bands, cheerleaders and tailgating.
With the size of the College Football Playoff tripling in size from four teams to 12 this season — including seven at-large bids — expect the arguments over the relative difficulty of teams’ schedules to increase exponentially.
The posturing and politicking has already begun.
“This is the NFL of college football in my mind,” Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said during Big Ten media days. At Southeastern Conference media days, the NFL was also invoked when the topic steered to schedules.
“As coaches we want to play the best. People forget that when you’ve spent time in the NFL, every week was like that,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “So when Texas and Oklahoma came into the conference, every schedule was going to get harder.”
The debates aren’t just about which conferences are the best. With super-sized conferences of 16-18 teams, the differences in strength of schedule within leagues can be significant.
The CFP selection committee uses a strength-of-schedule rating provided by SportSource Analytics that includes components such as wins and losses, scoring differential and game location.
Balancing who you played with how you played will be harder than ever.
“There’s a weight on the committee that’s new. I want to see how the committee processes that,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said during spring meetings. “And my encouragement is that this, ‘Well, we have an undefeated team so they’re in’ is not the standard. It never was the standard. Obviously, that stirred up controversy last year.”
Toughest schedules in the Power Four
There are dozens of data-based rating systems to measure the relative strength of college football teams, and all have some type of schedule-rating component.
The AP took three systems — ESPN’s SP+, FEI and KFord Ratings — and averaged their strength of schedule rankings for all 134 Bowl Subdivision teams to determine where each Power Four team’s schedule ranks nationally (all games, not just conference games, are factored in).
Using those projections, SEC teams on average will be facing the toughest schedules this season.
The average strength-of-schedule ranking among the 16 SEC teams is 11.2, from Florida (a unanimous No. 1 among all three systems) to Missouri at 36.7.
Half the teams in the SEC have schedules with an average national ranking of 10 or better, including No. 1 Georgia at 3.7. No. 11 Missouri is the only SEC team with an average schedule-strength ranking below 25.3.
Rating the rest
The Big Ten, now including Southern California, UCLA, Oregon and Washington, is next with an average strength-of-schedule ranking of 26.9 among its 18 teams.
Purdue’s 7.7 average ranking is the highest followed by No. 23 USC at 9. Big Ten favorite No. 2 Ohio State’s average is 34. No. 3 Oregon’s is 26.7.
The ACC and Big 12 are about the same. The 17-team ACC has an average strength of schedule ranking of 49.9. The 16-team Big 12′s average ranking is 47.3.
Assessing strength of schedule
Straight up rankings can be deceiving. How to quantify the difference between facing the sixth-ranked schedule and 26th?
Brian Fremeau, the creator of FEI, does it three ways, asking three questions: How many games would an elite team lose facing a particular schedule? How many would a good team lose? How many would an average team lose?
AP used FEI’s strength of schedule ratings based on good teams in its composite rankings, since good teams are going to be the ones in the CFP race.
Based on FEI projections, the difference between playing Georgia’s schedule (rated 3.4 among the hardest in the nation) and Ohio State (34) is about one more loss for a good team against the Bulldogs’ slate. The difference between Alabama’s schedule and Big 12 favorite Utah’s is about two losses for a good team against the Tide’s.
If these schedule strength projections held — they will change throughout the season — it would then be reasonable to compare an 11-1 Utah to a 9-3 Alabama.
Reasonable to compare doesn’t necessarily mean the one with the tougher schedule should automatically be ranked higher.
“I don’t judge a team on its schedule. I judge a team on how it performs against a schedule, or my system does. And that is a little more of a nuanced take then, ‘Well, we played a tougher set of opponents than you did, therefore, we’re better,’” Fremeau said. “There’s a bit of a balancing act between the two.”
Intraconference debates
The SEC and Big Ten are both bigger and division-less for the first time. That necessitated new tiebreaker procedures to determine which teams qualify for conference title games featuring the top two teams in the standings.
Within the guidelines is an acknowledgment that the rigor of conference schedules will vary when teams are playing barely half the league. After head-to-head and record vs. common opponents are used to break ties, both leagues go to results that favor the team that fared better against the better conference opponents they play.
The ACC, a year ahead of the the SEC and Big Ten in abandoning divisions, has a similar nod within its tiebreakers to strength of schedule.
ACC Associate Commissioner Michael Strickland said the conference used 10 years of data that measures the success of its football teams to help create a new schedule rotation that would be competitively balanced. But the ACC also to had weigh travel now that Stanford, California and SMU are members, as well as protecting some traditional annual rivalries.
The ACC’s fourth two-team tiebreaker is combined winning percentage of conference opponents.
“Our head football coaches suggested that we insert that during our review process,” Strickland said.
The CFP choices
The CFP field announced Dec. 8 will be comprised of the five highest-ranked conference champions, regardless of league, and seven at-large selections. There is no limit to the number of at-large bids a conference can receive.
The most interesting comparisons for the CFP selection committee might end up being between the many conference rivals that do not play each other in the regular season.
What to do with a 10-2 Missouri and a 9-3 Alabama (composite strength-of-schedule ranking, 9.3)? Or Iowa (37) at 10-2 and Michigan (16) at 9-3? Over in the ACC, what would happen while assessing a 10-2 Virginia Tech (68) and a 9-3 Florida State (30.3)?
“Especially when we’re picking (seven) teams now, we’re looking at the loss column with a bit more scrutiny,” Fremeau said. “They’re going to be debating teams like that with a one or possibly two-game difference in record, but a comparable difference in expected schedule rating and they’re going to have that debate about which one they value more.”
(The Associated Press contributed to this report)
Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with asubscription.
South Dakota
Obituary for Corry Francis Baragar at Kirk Funeral Home & Cremation Services
-
Connecticut1 week ago
Oxford church provides sanctuary during Sunday's damaging storm
-
Technology1 week ago
Breakthrough robo-glove gives you superhuman grip
-
Politics1 week ago
2024 showdown: What happens next in the Kamala Harris-Donald Trump face-off
-
News1 week ago
Who Are Kamala Harris’s 1.5 Million New Donors?
-
Politics1 week ago
Trump taunted over speculated RFK Jr endorsement: 'Weird as hell'
-
Politics1 week ago
Vivek Ramaswamy sounds off on potential RFK Jr. role in a Trump administration
-
World6 days ago
Portugal coast hit by 5.3 magnitude earthquake
-
Politics1 week ago
House GOP demands elite universities counteract 'dangerous' anti-Israel protests in the fall semester