It was a split weekend for both the Jacks and the Yotes, as both teams hit the road for week 2 action.

The Yotes were in Greeley, Colorado for a familiar matchup with Northern Colorado, while the Jacks met the Northwestern Wildcats in Evanston, Illinois.

The Jacks played the Wildcats extremely close throughout the game, including a late score to make it a 2-point game in the 4th quarter.

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In the end, the Jacks fell 34-18 against the Big Ten squad. Per GoJacks.com:

EVANSTON, Ill. — Northwestern scored on its final four drives of the game to pull away from South Dakota State for a 34-18 victory Saturday night at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium.

With the loss, SDSU fell to 1-1 overall on the young season.

The Wildcats wasted little time to put points on the board on their opening drive of the season. On the first play from scrimmage, Aidan Chiles hooked up with former Jackrabbit wide receiver Griffin Wilde down the middle of the field for a 71-yard catch and run into the red zone. One play later, Chiles connected with Alex Honig for an 11-yard touchdown pass.

SDSU's offense began to get on track as the first quarter came to a close and moved into the second stanza. The Jackrabbits pieced together a 12-play, 77-yard drive that ended with a 21-yard field goal by Tristan Alvano.

The two squads traded field goals later in the second quarter for a 10-6 halftime score as Jackson Kleather made a 36-yarder for Northwestern and the Jackrabbits' second trip into the red zone ended with a 33-yarder by Alvano.

The Jackrabbits were set up to take the lead after a 10-yard punt by Northwestern on the opening drive of the second half put the ball at the Wildcat 26-yard line. SDSU picked up one first down before again stalling deep inside enemy territory and having to settle for Alvano's third field goal of the game, a 27-yarder that advanced the score to 10-9.

Northwestern responded following a lengthy injury delay with another quick-strike drive. Chiles completed consecutive passes of 22 yards to Drew Wagner and 35 yards to Luke Dehnicke before Caleb Komolafe burst up the middle for a 7-yard touchdown run.

Alvano's fourth field goal of the game, this one from 26 yards, finished off a 13-play, 69-yard drive that was disrupted by three consecutive incomplete passes from the NU 8-yard line after the Jackrabbits converted on fourth-and-1.

Kleather countered with a 38-yard field goal for the Wildcats a minute and a half into the fourth quarter, but once again SDSU momentarily shifted the momentum back in its favor with what would be its lone touchdown drive of the night. Behind the rushing of Josiah Johnson and two Chase Mason completions to Grahm Goering that covered 25 and 13 yards, the Jackrabbits marched 75 yards on nine plays to put them in a position to tie the game after a 2-yard yard scoring run by Johnson.

The ensuing two-point attempt was intercepted, keeping the score at 20-18 with 8 minutes and 16 seconds remaining.

Northwestern then put the game away with two touchdowns around another missed opportunity by the Jackrabbits into the opposing red zone. The first Wildcat score down the stretch came as Northwestern converted on a pair of third downs, including on third-and-1 as Chiles kept and rolled around left end for a 14-yard touchdown.

On the first play after Alvano missed a 38-yard field goal, Joseph Himon II broke loose for an 80-yard touchdown run on only his fourth carry of the night. As a team, the Wildcats rushed for 224 yards, including a Wildcat-best 87 yards by Himon, and passed for another 273 as Chiles completed 14-of-24 attempts. Wilde caught three passes for 104 yards.

For SDSU, Mason completed 23-of-48 passes for 285 yards. Goering hauled in a career-high nine receptions for 117 yards, followed by Jack Smith with five catches for 79 yards. Johnson paced the rushing attack with 79 yards on 19 carries.

The USD Coyotes put up nearly 400 yards of total offense in another impressive performance in a win over Northern Colorado.

Per GoYotes:

GREELEY, Colo.— The South Dakota football team prevailed in their first road test of the 2026 season against the Big Sky's Northern Colorado Bears with a 38-23 win from Nottingham Field behind two rushing scores from Charles Pierre Jr.

"Really happy to get a road victory. It took all three phases to contribute to get the win," noted head coach Matt Vitzthum following the victory. "Not our cleanest game but good teams find a way to win when they don't have their 'A' game. Excited to get on the tape and improve heading into Game 3."

Both first quarter scores came from explosive 40+ yard plays with neither team finding the red zone in the opening 15 minutes from Nottingham Field. It would be Northern Colorado who scored the first points of the day with a 54-yard touchdown pass for the first explosive play of the night.

The Coyotes pushed into Bear territory for the first time on the third drive as Austyn Modrzewski found Brayden White open over the middle. The very next play, a reverse, to Tennel Bryant took it 46 yards to the house to knot the game up at 7-7.

For the second-straight game, Modrzewski again settled in and finished the first half 10-for-16 for 114 yards and a touchdown. He would lead back-to-back scoring drives gave South Dakota the 14-7 advantage early in the second quarter.

Modrzewski orchastrated a 10-play, 90-yard drive in just over two minutes to give South Dakota the two score lead before the half. The drive included a chunk play with a 25-yard pass over the middle to Tysen Boze that would lead to a 10-yard touchdown reception from White, who brings down a touchdown reception in back-to-back games.

The Bears responded with a push into Coyote territory with under a minute in the half, looking to cut into the two touchdown deficit. With six seconds left on the clock in the first half and the ball on the USD-21 yard line, Northern Colorado elected to take a shot at the touchdown. It fell incomplete with one tick on the clock and the Bears hit the 39-yard field goal to make it 21-10 Yotes at the break.

On the first drive of the second half, the Bears pushed into USD territory but a tackle for loss from Jaylen Boehm-Peterson and Chris Dixon, followed by a UNC false start stalled the Northern Colorado drive. Driven out of field goal range, UNC elected to go for it on fourth-and-11 at their 37-yard line but penalties from USD kept the ball with the Bears putting them into the red zone.

Northern Colorado would punch it in, ultimately, on that first second half drive to make it a one-score contest with South Dakota holding the 21-17 advantage. In the first USD possession of the second half, the Yotes drove it 73 yards on 10 plays to make it 28-17 and taking control of the game.

The second half also saw special teams fireworks for the Coyotes with a Lincoln Adams blocked punt in the final minutes of the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Modrzewski would find newcomer Bryce Cohoon in the corner of the endzone for Cohoon's first reception and touchdown grab as a Yote as South Dakota extended their lead to 38-17. The rest of the game saw more Yotes get some action on defense. Northern Colorado would go down the field one last time for a touchdown with under five minutes remaining, failing the 2-point attempt, making it 38-23.

The Yotes would recover the onside kick attempt and burn the rest of the clock, moving to 2-0 for the first time since the 2017 season under Bob Nielson.