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The South Dakota State Jackrabbits will host the Illinois State Redbirds in Missouri Valley Football Conference play on Saturday at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.
The game (3 p.m. ET start time) will be on Midco SN locally, but anyone in the US can also watch it live right here on ESPN+, the streaming service from ESPN that has exclusive coverage of dozens of college football games and other live sports every week, all the 30-for-30 documentaries and additional original content (both video and written) all for $4.99 per month.
You can sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then watch South Dakota State vs Illinois State live on your computer via ESPN.com, or on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or other streaming device via the ESPN app.
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Illinois State vs South Dakota State Preview
The Redbirds had a three-game winning streak snapped last week, losing to the Northern Iowa Panthers 27-10 at home to fall to 3-2 in MVFC play and 6-3 overall.
Illinois State managed just 210 yards from scrimmage and coughed the ball up four times. The Panthers turned it over twice.
“They were very good at takeaways. We knew that coming in,” Illinois State head coach Brock Spack said, according to The Pantagraph. “We knew we had to take care of the football and didn’t do a great job of that. It cost us down at the end.”
Redbirds quarterback Brady Davis completed 13 of 28 passes for a touchdown and a trio of interceptions. The redshirt junior has started every game for Illinois State this season, completing 50% or more of his passes in a contest just three times. He’s thrown for 1,340 yards, 6 touchdowns, and 8 interceptions on the year, adding 140 yards and a pair of scores with his legs.
“We expect more out of him,” Spack said Tuesday, per The Pantagraph. “I think we’ll get it. He’s a good kid and a hard worker.”
The coach added: “The quarterback just was not comfortable in the pocket. He was protected well and really never hit. His pocket presence was not very good. He’s worked very hard on that this week.”
The Jackrabbits improved to 4-1 in conference play and 7-2 overall last week, pounding the Missouri State Bears 35-14 on the road.
Making his first career start, SDSU freshman quarterback Keaton Heide completed 11 of 19 passes for 173 yards and a touchdown. He added 9 yards on the ground and didn’t turn the ball over.
“After the first quarter, after taking a couple hits, I became more comfortable in the pocket,” Heide said, according to The Collegian. “Having the trust of my teammates just made everything that much easier.”
Two weeks ago, in a 23-16 defeat to the North Dakota State Bison, the Jackrabbits lost starting quarterback J’Bore Gibbs, a redshirt freshman, to a knee injury that could keep him out for the season. Junior quarterback Kanin Nelson replaced him, but went just 2-of-9 and lost a fumble before the coaching staff turned to Heide.
“I thought he did very well,” SDSU head coach John Stiegelmeier said of Heide’s performance against the Bears, per The Collegian. “I thought we put some pressure on him by not getting calls in on time, but I thought he made some good throws, and he had some drops — it could have been a lot more yards and completions.”