SDSU football: Jackrabbits earn 14-seed in FCS playoffs, will host New Hampshire

Nov. 23—BROOKINGS — South Dakota State will be home for Thanksgiving once again.

Less than 24 hours after they snapped a four-game losing streak to beat North Dakota in their regular season finale, the Jackrabbits were announced Sunday as the 14-seed in the 24-team FCS playoffs, their 14th consecutive appearance in the tournament.

SDSU (8-4) will host New Hampshire on Saturday at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium in the first round. The winner of that game will head to Missoula to face 3rd-seeded Montana.

Kick-off for Saturday's game is set for noon. TV coverage via ESPN+.

Tickets will be available online at

gojacks.evenue.net

. SDSU season ticket holders have until 5 p.m. Tuesday to claim their same seats, with unclaimed season tickets going on sale to the general public Wednesday morning.

This is the second all-time meeting between the teams, with the first also coming in the FCS playoffs. SDSU beat the Wildcats 56-14 in 2017.

The 25th-ranked Wildcats and Jackrabbits both earned at-large bids to this year's playoffs. Both teams are 8-4. The 22nd-ranked Jacks began the year 7-0 and rose to No. 2 in the national rankings before going on a four-game losing streak that threatened to keep them out of the playoffs. They defeated North Dakota 34-31 in overtime on Saturday.

New Hampshire (8-4) enters the playoffs on a five-game winning streak. They went 6-2 in Colonial Athletic Association play.

Six teams from the Missouri Valley Football Conference qualified for the playoffs. North Dakota State earned the No. 1 seed, while USD is seeded 11th and Youngstown State 15th. Illinois State and North Dakota got in as unseeded qualifiers.