Northwestern opens 2026 against FCS power South Dakota State

South Dakota State is not the kind of September visitor Northwestern can treat as a tune-up. The Jackrabbits will come to Evanston on Sept. 5 for a 7 p.m. CT kickoff at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium, with the game set for the Big Ten Network and framed as a real test of where the FCS hierarchy stands. For Northwestern, it is a home opener against a program that has spent years acting like a national benchmark rather than a typical subdivision opponent.

That is what makes this matchup more than a paycheck game. South Dakota State finished 9-5 in 2025, reached the FCS playoffs for the 14th straight season and lost 14-3 to New Hampshire in the first round on Nov. 29, but the larger résumé still carries weight: national titles in 2022 and 2023, plus five Missouri Valley Football Conference championships since 2016. The Jackrabbits also said this will be their first game against a Big Ten opponent since 2022, which only sharpens the spotlight on how they stack up against a Power Four roster.

The response from South Dakota State this offseason showed it expects to keep contending even through turnover. Dan Jackson, hired as the 22nd head coach in program history on Dec. 31, 2024, added 17 midyear transfers, including former Northern Illinois quarterback Josh Holst, former Nebraska kicker Tristan Alvano, former Vanderbilt offensive lineman Cooper Starks and Division II Defensive Player of the Year linebacker Jes Krcil. That mix suggests a team trying to reload around experience, not rebuild from scratch.

The Wildcats will face the challenge with David Braun entering his fourth season after being named Northwestern’s head coach on Nov. 15, 2023. Braun’s defense returns key pieces in linebacker Braydon Brus and defensive lineman Jamaal Johnson, giving Northwestern a chance to match the Jackrabbits physically if it can hold up at the line of scrimmage and avoid getting dragged into South Dakota State’s preferred grind.

That front-seven battle could decide whether Northwestern turns the opener into a statement or lets the Jackrabbits turn it into another chapter in their national case. South Dakota State’s 2025 offense averaged 225.43 passing yards per game and piled up 3,156 passing yards, a reminder that the Wildcats cannot simply crowd the box and wait for a run-first script. Northwestern’s early home stretch also includes Colorado on Sept. 19, so the Sept. 5 game will shape not only the start of the season, but the tone of an entire opening month in Evanston.