Week 12 leftovers: Jacks prevail, head to postseason

Here are some final notes from South Dakota State's 37-14 victory over South Dakota in the regular-season finale, and some early notes on the Jackrabbits upcoming playoff game at Montana State:

The Jackrabbits are among a group of six teams to make the FCS playoffs in each of the last three years. The others: North Dakota State, Coastal Carolina, Sam Houston State, Eastern Washington and New Hampshire.
SDSU has reached the postseason four times in the last six years compared to a total of one bid during its lengthy NCAA Division II era.

Jacks coach John Stiegelmeier said that senior receiver Jason Schneider is probable for this week despite getting dinged in the shoulder and the arm on separate plays against USD. He's also expecting linebacker Dallas Brown to play through the aggravation of an existing shoulder injury.
On a related note, shoulder injuries have become incredibly common at SDSU. (Or everywhere?)

Records update: SDSU senior quarterback Austin Sumner broke the 9,000-yard mark for his career on Saturday by putting up 395 in a little more than three quarters of action. Nobody else in Jacks history has reached 7,000.
Freshman receiver Jake Wieneke has moved up to second in FCS history for receiving yards by a freshman at 1,318 and is three yards shy of the top spot in the FCS this season. He's also one touchdown shy of the Missouri Valley Football Conference mark for a season (15).

Did USD kicker Miles Bergner really miss that second-quarter attempt? This end zone view casts quite a bit of doubt on that.

Coyotes defensive end Sean Bredl was ejected for committing a flagrant unsportsmanlike penalty in the first quarter; he dropped a knee to the head/neck of SDSU offensive lineman Nick Carr when Carr was on on the ground. That was the third ejection in two games at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium, following a pair in last week's game against Western Illinois.

A few logistical details from the world's largest pillow fight: It took SDSU workers 10 hours to put cases on all of the brand new pillows ... Marketing director Sam Doerr showed up at 6 a.m. in order to start putting pillows on seats before the gates opened to the public ... Participants were required to sign liability waivers and provide proof of identity.

SDSU has the opportunity to purchase up to 500 tickets for the game Saturday, according to ticket manager Christi Williams. Both schools will begin selling tickets (at $30 each) at 9 a.m. today.

After the playoff bracket came out, fans took to social media to rejoice or lament about selections or pairings by the playoff committee. One of the easiest targets: five-loss Indiana State getting arguably the most friendly draw of the five Valley teams that qualified.
Now that the Jacks have become something akin to postseason regulars, have they gotten used to stuff like that in a tournament that gives automatic berths to teams from lesser leagues and accepts bids to host games?
"I don't get used to it because you compete and you want it to be based on your rankings, your credibility, your ability," Stiegelmeier said. "You want to fit in that way. You don't want it to be a financial thing or a location thing. I'm reminded every year that's what it is."

The Jacks on Sunday landed their 12th verbal for 2015: Suburban Chicago cornerback Torian Lewis. He's 6-foot, 175 pounds and fits in line with the longer defensive backs that SDSU has been targeting of late. Lewis also played offense in high school, leading his team Thornton Fractional South in rushing (590 yards) and receiving (270 yards) in addition to interceptions (5). He said that he could end up playing both ways as his college career progresses.
Lewis took his official visit over the weekend, and was impressed by the fan support at the game and in the community.

Terry Vandrovec also posts regular updates on his Twitter page.