By Andrew Holtan
The Brookings Beacon
BROOKINGS – South Dakota State football is back in action this Saturday after a bye week and the Jackrabbits will head north to take on No. 11 ranked North Dakota.
Top-ranked SDSU (5-1) is expected to get starting quarterback Chase Mason back after he missed the past two games with a knee injury. The Jacks went 2-0 without Mason as Josh Holst led SDSU to victories over Eastern Illinois and Illinois State.
SDSU head coach Dan Jackson said the way Mason handled being injured helped the rest of his team win the two games in his absence.
“I think Chase did an awesome job with handling this [injury],” Jackson said. “He never hung his head. I know he was disappointed, but you could never tell. He stayed positive. He always had a bounce in his step. He’s found ways to improve and be a leader. I just couldn’t be more proud of how he handled it. Which then affects the rest of the team too. I think his positivity allowed the rest of the team to remain confident too.”
While the Jacks will be getting their starting quarterback back on Saturday, the Fighting Hawks (4-2) will likely be without their leader of the offense. Senior Jerry Kaminski injured his ankle in a loss to Northern Iowa this past weekend.
Kaminski is considered one of the best quarterbacks in the FCS and had thrown for 1,626 yards with 19 touchdowns and four interceptions this season.
UND will have a senior come in to replace him as Javance Tupouíata-Johnson will be the new man under center for the Fighting Hawks. Against UNI, Tupouíata-Johnson went 2-for-9 with 29 yards. For the season, he’s played in six games and is 5-for-17 with 94 yards and no touchdowns and two interceptions. He’s run for 99 yards and three touchdowns as well.
Tupouíata-Johnson began his career at San Diego State and spent two seasons with the Aztecs. He did not play in 2023 and in 2024 he played in four games, including one start.
Tupouíata-Johnson came with UND head coach Eric Schmidt, who was the defensive coordinator at San Diego State in 2024. Jackson said the Fighting Hawks’ coaching staff obviously believes in Tupouíata-Johnson and the Jackrabbit defense will have to prepare well, even if there’s not a lot of film on him.
“We need to study their backup. We need to see what he does well, where he struggles. There’s not a lot of film to be able to do that, but he’s there for a reason. I mean, he came from San Diego State and you don’t become a head coach and bring a quarterback with you if you don’t expect him to compete to be your starter. So, I know their coaching staff is going to believe in him. We’re not going to necessarily change a lot schematically, but you can have some variance and some tweaks within your base,” Jackson said.
Both the Fighting Hawks and the Jackrabbits expect Preseason All-American edge rusher Lance Rucker to make his season debut for UND on Saturday. Now in his senior season, the Omaha native had 14.5 sacks, 20 tackles for a loss and 51 tackles in his junior year. On the other side of the defensive line, senior Braden Mohr has racked up 7.5 sacks so far this season.
Rucker joins a defensive unit that is second in the Missouri Valley in total defense, giving up 301.29 yards per game. The Fighting Hawks are sixth in scoring defense in the country, giving up 27.3 points per game.
Jackson said going up against the UND defensive line will be tough and with Rucker back in the lineup, they are as good as anyone.
ìI see a defense that plays really hard and is getting its best player back. I think their defensive line is really impressive. They’re active and disruptive. They’ve got a player with seven and a half sacks, which is pretty amazing to have at this point in the season. When I’ve watched them, and they’re playing, they’re as good as any defense in the country,” Jackson said.
A big reason the Jacks went 2-0 in Mason’s absence was the way they ran the ball. SDSU has the top rushing offense in the FCS so far this season, averaging 291.8 yards per game on the ground. Sophomore Josiah Johnson is sixth in the country in rush yards per game at 113.3 and another sophomore, James Basinger, has come on over the past two games with multiple long touchdown runs.
The SDSU passing game has been spotty at times this season as the Jacks are averaging 211.8 yards per game. Jackson said defenses may try to load up to stop SDSU’s run game the rest of the season and then the Jacks have to take advantage of that through the air.
“At some point, people are going to really load the box and get their safeties up there, or do different blitzes, or have different alignments and bring different personnel to stop the run game. We need to have the right answers, and we need to have them right now and not wait for the game. I think our offensive staff has done a great job of that so far. With Chase back in command of the offense, you could see us open it up more,” Jackson said.
Saturday’s game is scheduled to kickoff at 1 p.m. You can watch the game on Midco Sports or ESPN+. You can listen to the game on AM 910 KJJQ.
