State-U rivalry game among several national television dates for SDSU & USD football

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – The Rushmore State’s biggest rivalry will have it’s biggest stage ever this October.

ESPN announced their television schedule and, as part of a new deal with the Missouri Valley Football Conference to televise two of the league’s games nationally each season on one of their linear networks, October 26th’s game between South Dakota and South Dakota State from Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium in Brookings will be nationally televised.

Kickoff time and which ESPN channel will carry the game will be announced at a later date.

Dating back to 1889, the oldest State-U rivalry game in the United States will have it’s 117th meeting this year with SDSU looking to win their third straight in the series. In what was a battle of top five ranked teams in the FCS last year the top-ranked Jackrabbits, who went on to win their second straight FCS National Championship, rolled to victory at fourth-ranked South Dakota 37-3 on October 28th.

In fact both teams will be getting some additional exposure across the country this fall. We thought SDSU’s game at Oklahoma State might get moved or nationally televised but as of now it’s still set for Saturday, August 31st, and can be streamed on ESPN Plus and Big 12 now. In addition to the USD game, the Dakota Marker game the week prior against North Dakota State in Fargo will also be televised on an ESPN network. The Jacks have won five straight games against the Bison including their 2022 FCS National Championship Game meeting in Frisco, Texas. In their most recent meeting on November 4th, 2023, SDSU whipped NDSU 33-19 to hoist the Dakota Marker for the fourth straight time (the trophy was not in play during the National Championship).

The Coyotes will also get a second nationally televised game with their September 7th game at Wisconsin set for FS 1. That’s also the only game with a known kickoff time at 2:30 central. The rest will be announced later.

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