2015 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team

The 2015 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team represented South Dakota State University in the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by 18th-year head coach John Stiegelmeier and played their home games at Coughlin–Alumni Stadium. They were a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 8–4, 5–3 in MVFC play to finish in a three way tie for third place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS playoffs where they lost in the first round to Montana.

2015 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football
FCS Playoffs First Round, L 17–24 vs. Montana
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 15
FCS Coaches	No. 16
2015 record	8–4 (5–3 MVFC)
Head coach	John Stiegelmeier (19th season)
Offensive coordinator	Eric Eidsness
Defensive coordinator	Clint Brown
Home stadium	Coughlin–Alumni Stadium (Capacity: 17,000)

2015 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 1 North Dakota State +^		7	–	1					13	–	2
No. 5 Illinois State +^		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 8 Northern Iowa ^		5	–	3					9	–	5
No. 15 South Dakota State ^		5	–	3					8	–	4
Western Illinois ^		5	–	3					7	–	6
Indiana State		3	–	5					5	–	6
Youngstown State		3	–	5					5	–	6
South Dakota		3	–	5					5	–	6
Southern Illinois		2	–	6					3	–	8
Missouri State		0	–	8					1	–	10
+ – Conference co-champions ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 5	11:00 AM	at Kansas*	No. 16	Memorial Stadium Lawrence, KS	FSN	W 41–38	30,144
September 12	6:00 PM	Southern Utah*	No. 9	Coughlin–Alumni Stadium Brookings, SD	ESPN3	W 55–10	13,423
September 26	5:00 PM	Robert Morris*	No. 6	Coughlin–Alumni Stadium Brookings, SD	Midco/ESPN3	W 34–10	12,153
October 3	6:00 PM	No. 3 North Dakota State	No. 5	Coughlin–Alumni Stadium Brookings, SD (Dakota Marker)	Midco/ESPN3	L 7–28	17,348
October 10	6:00 PM	No. 19 Indiana State	No. 8	Coughlin–Alumni Stadium Brookings, SD	Midco/ESPN3	W 24–7	9,347
October 17	3:00 PM	at No. 11 Youngstown State	No. 7	Stambaugh Stadium Youngstown, OH	MVC TV/ESPN3	W 38–8	14,974
October 24	2:00 PM	No. 22 Northern Iowa	No. 6	Coughlin–Alumni Stadium Brookings, SD	Midco/ESPN3	L 7–10	16,042
October 31	2:00 PM	at Missouri State	No. 14	Plaster Sports Complex Springfield, MO	MVC TV/ESPN3	W 39–0	3,729
November 7	2:00 PM	No. 2 Illinois State	No. 11	Coughlin–Alumni Stadium Brookings, SD	Midco/ESPN3	W 25–20	9,081
November 14	2:00 PM	at South Dakota	No. 5	DakotaDome Vermillion, SD (South Dakota Showdown Series)	Midco/ESPN3	W 30–23	10,345
November 21	1:00 PM	at Western Illinois	No. 5	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	ESPN3	L 24–30 ^2OT	1,853
November 28	2:00 PM	at No. 16 Montana*	No. 10	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (FCS Playoffs First Round)	ESPN3	L 17–24	14,575
*Non-conference game Rankings from STATS FCS Poll released prior to game Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

[1]

Game summaries

@ Kansas

	1	2	3	4	Total
#16 Jackrabbits	17	14	3	7	41
Jayhawks	7	7	14	10	38

See also: 2015 Kansas Jayhawks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–2	2012	KU, 31–17

Southern Utah

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	7	0	0	3	10
#9 Jackrabbits	3	24	7	21	55

See also: 2015 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
5–1	2014	SDSU, 26–6

Robert Morris

	1	2	3	4	Total
Colonials	0	10	0	0	10
#6 Jackrabbits	7	13	7	7	34

See also: 2015 Robert Morris Colonials football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First Meeting

North Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#3 Bison	7	14	7	0	28
#5 Jackrabbits	0	0	7	0	7

See also: 2015 North Dakota State Bison football team and Dakota Marker

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
40–58–5	2014, FCS 2nd Round Playoffs	NDSU, 27–24

Indiana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#19 Sycamores	0	0	7	0	7
#8 Jackrabbits	0	14	0	10	24

See also: 2015 Indiana State Sycamores football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
5–2	2014	SDSU, 32–17

@ Youngstown State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#7 Jackrabbbits	7	10	7	14	38
#11 Penguins	2	3	3	0	8

See also: 2015 Youngstown State Penguins football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
10–6	2014	YSU, 30–27

Northern Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
#22 Panthers	0	3	7	0	10
#6 Jackrabbits	0	0	7	0	7

See also: 2015 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
19–28–2	2014	SDSU, 31–28

@ Missouri State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#14 Jackrabbits	10	12	10	7	39
Bears	0	0	0	0	0

See also: 2015 Missouri State Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
6–1	2014	SDSU, 32–28

Illinois State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#2 Redbirds	7	0	7	6	20
#11 Jackrabbits	0	13	6	6	25

See also: 2015 Illinois State Redbirds football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–3	2014	ILST, 45–10

@ South Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
#5 Jackrabbits	3	7	0	20	30
Coyotes	7	0	13	3	23

See also: 2015 South Dakota Coyotes football team and South Dakota–South Dakota State football rivalry

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
51–52–7	2014	SDSU, 37–14

@ Western Illinois

	1	2	3	4	OT	2OT	Total
#5 Jackrabbbits	0	10	0	7	7	0	24
Leathernecks	3	0	7	7	7	6	30

See also: 2015 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
8–4	2014	SDSU, 59–24

FCS Playoffs

First Round–@ Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
#10 Jackrabbits	0	0	10	7	17
#16 Grizzlies	7	17	0	0	24

See also: 2015 Montana Grizzlies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–7	2009 FCS Playoffs	MONT, 61–48

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	16	9 (8)	7 (8)	6 (6)	5 (6)	8	7	6	14	11	5	5	10–T	15
Coaches	15	10 (1)	8 (2)	7 (1)	7 (1)	9	7	6	13	11	5	5	12	16

References

1. "Schedule". South Dakota State University Department of Athletics. Archived from the original on 2015-09-17. Retrieved April 23, 2015.