Can South Dakota State reclaim the FCS throne in 2026?

South Dakota State does not need to rediscover how to win. It needs to prove it can do it again after a rare wobble. The Jackrabbits still carry the profile of a national power, but after a 9-5 finish, a 4-4 Missouri Valley Football Conference mark, and a second-round playoff exit in 2025, the question is sharper now: are they built to reclaim the FCS throne, or just good enough to stay in the top tier?

The standard is still championship-level

The recent history is the reason this conversation is even happening. South Dakota State won back-to-back FCS national titles in the 2022 and 2023 seasons, then closed that 2023 run with a 23-3 win over Montana in Frisco, Texas, on Jan. 7, 2024. At the time of that title push, the Jackrabbits had ripped off a 29-game winning streak, which is the kind of number that forces the entire subdivision to recalibrate what “dominant” looks like.

That is why the 2025 postseason miss mattered so much. South Dakota State had reached the FCS semifinals in five straight seasons before that second-round exit, and in the 2020s that level of consistency had become the baseline. A 9-5 season would be a strong year almost anywhere else in the FCS. In Brookings, South Dakota, it reads differently because the program has spent years operating as if semifinal weekend was the floor, not the ceiling.

Dan Jackson’s second year has to turn continuity into control

Dan Jackson enters 2026 in a much more revealing spot than the one he inherited a year ago. He was named the 22nd head coach in South Dakota State history on Dec. 31, 2024, and was formally introduced on Jan. 10, 2025. He returned to a program he had already played and coached for, but the real challenge was always going to be whether he could keep the machine running after taking over a team that had just stacked championships and built a standard most FCS programs spend decades chasing.

Year 2 matters because the transition label starts to fade. South Dakota State is no longer adjusting to a new voice; it is now adjusting to Jackson’s version of what a champion should look like. That is a subtle difference, but in a subdivision where the best teams are separated by one turnover, one third-down stop, or one bad quarter, subtle differences decide playoff brackets.

Jackson also has to prove that the 2025 slip was a course correction, not a trend. The title teams were defined by ruthlessness and precision. The 2025 version was still good, still dangerous, but not as airtight inside the league, and the MVFC does not forgive that kind of opening.

Chase Mason and the supporting cast have to keep the offense from losing its edge

The clearest roster question is quarterback, and ESPN lists Chase Mason among the returning passers. That matters because championship-caliber FCS teams usually have one thing the rest are still trying to find, a quarterback who keeps the offense from shrinking when the stakes rise. If Mason is steady, South Dakota State can stay in the national conversation from September through December. If he is forced into too many obvious passing situations, the margin that once made the Jackrabbits look inevitable starts to disappear.

The roster also shows the names South Dakota State expects to lean on as it sorts out the next phase of the Jackson era: Jon Bell, Jack Henry, Luke Marble, Preston Otter and Jack Thue are all on the official 2026 roster. The specific roles matter less than the broader point: this is not a teardown, it is a reload. That distinction is everything for a program trying to get back to Nashville, Tennessee, without losing the physical identity that made the title years so suffocating for opponents.

The scheme question is just as important as the personnel one. South Dakota State does not need to reinvent itself, and it probably should not try. The better play is preserving the balance and discipline that made the Jackrabbits so hard to beat while smoothing out the rough edges that showed up in 2025. In the FCS, the teams that chase novelty usually end up chasing someone else’s standard.

The 2026 schedule leaves almost no place to hide

South Dakota State’s 2026 slate is already set, and it is built like a playoff seeding test. The Jackrabbits have seven home games and a full 12-game schedule, beginning Aug. 29, 2026, against Stetson and continuing Sept. 5 with a road game at Northwestern. Jackson said, “A great deal of hard work went into putting together a competitive schedule,” and the schedule backs him up.

The home list includes Stetson, New Haven, Youngstown State, Eastern Illinois, Murray State, South Dakota and Indiana State. The road slate is every bit as demanding, with trips to Northwestern, Illinois State, North Dakota, Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois. That is a schedule designed to tell you quickly whether South Dakota State is peaking or merely passing time before the bracket arrives.

The Missouri Valley portion is where the real judgment will come. Youngstown State, Eastern Illinois, Illinois State, North Dakota, Murray State, South Dakota, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois and Indiana State all sit on the 2026 path, and that means every week can affect playoff seeding. In this league, a couple of bad Saturdays can turn a title contender into a home-field question, and home field still matters in a subdivision where winter football rewards the toughest team, not the loudest reputation.

The comparison that will define the season

This is where South Dakota State gets measured against itself and everyone else. Against the MVFC, the question is whether the Jackrabbits can reclaim weekly control in a conference that keeps producing teams capable of ambushing bluebloods. Against the national field, the question is whether they still look like the group that crushed Montana 23-3 for a title, or like a contender that has slipped from automatic menace to very good.

The answer is not about brand name or past banners. It is about whether Jackson’s second team can protect Mason, survive the Valley grind, and carry the same edge that powered the back-to-back championships. If those pieces come together, South Dakota State can absolutely make another run at the throne. If they do not, the Jackrabbits will still be one of the FCS’s best programs, but no longer the one everyone else measures against first.