『John-o-logue: SDSU's inexcusable loss to Indiana State, USD's narrative-changing(?) win, and the "Varsity Vikings" win in Detroit』のカバーアート

John-o-logue: SDSU's inexcusable loss to Indiana State, USD's narrative-changing(?) win, and the "Varsity Vikings" win in Detroit

John-o-logue: SDSU's inexcusable loss to Indiana State, USD's narrative-changing(?) win, and the "Varsity Vikings" win in Detroit

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 It's worth repeating. The stated motto from the beginning of this show almost a year ago comes from 90-year-old former NFL coach Jim Mora, and it's not his famous "PLAYOFFS" rant. "You don't know," Mora told reporters when he was the New Orleans Saints coach in the 1990's. "You may think you know, but you don't know." There is a reason we bring that up on "Happy Hour with John Gaskins" weekly, and the results of the Jackrabbits, Coyotes, and Minnesota Vikings games over the weekend are Exhibits A, B, and C. We thought South Dakota State was lucky to have Indiana State — a 32-point underdog and winless in the MVFC after giving up 41 points per game — at home to recover from the NDSU beatdown blues, a chance for players and fans alike to heal their spirits while key Jackrabbits healed physically — Chase Mason, Lofton O'Groske, Chase Van Tol, and others. We thought — and by "we," we mean John Gaskins and likely most Coyote fans, given truth serum — that then-unranked South Dakota (then 5-4), a team that often struggles to score 20 points, was not going to be able to score enough to beat then-No. 8 North Dakota (then 6-2), the surprise darlings of the FCS in 2025. The Fighting Sioux were averaging 40 points a game and ranked second in the Valley in total defense and scoring defense. We thought we knew, but as it turns out, like usual, we didn't know. Sycamores 24, Jackrabbits 12... one of the worst losses in SDSU history and the second home loss in a row after 33 consecutive wins in Brookings. Coyotes 26, Fighting Sioux 21... the first win over a ranked team in the Travis Johansen era. And so now, a Jacks squad that was 7-0, ranked No. 2, and impressing us all with their ability to be in the national championship hunt after losing over 60 players — four of them to the Big 10 and 15 of them to Washington State — all of a sudden looks like a team made of lots of freshmen and first-time starters and FCS players after an excusable loss to No. 1 North Dakota State and an inexcusable defeat to the second worst (or third worst, at best) team in the Valley. And the Jacks sure don't look like a playoff team. The Coyotes all of sudden do. Two weeks ago, we thought that "State vs U" game might be not be as much a coin flip as the last years, what with SDSU — then averaging 35 points per game and carrying a top 10 defense — a consensus if not convincing favorite against a Coyote bunch that had failed to score more than 20 points in five of eight games. It wouldn't be a slam dunk for the Jacks, but it appeared they had far more to worry about with their trip to UND, not their in-state rival. Now, the Yotes have taken down UND and appear to be the favorite on Saturday in the Dakota Dome. FCS betting odds usually don't come out later in the week, but whether you're a Jacks or Yotes fan, how would you argue with USD being the favorite considering the trajectory the teams are on? Now, the Jim Mora "PLAYOFFS" bite might more aptly apply to the Jackrabbits. This is a team starting to look like a team that just wants to "win a game — another game." And who knows. If these teams are playing like they are right now — USD in down-to-the-wire, one-score slobberknockers every week and SDSU tripping all over itself — Saturday's game might turn out to be a playoff game in its own right to determine which is the last team in the MVFC to get into the playoffs. It will certainly feel like it in the Dome. More so than we ever thought as recently as two weeks ago. Gaskins tried to make sense of the Jacks' loss and the Yotes win from Saturday in his "John-o-logue." Namely, he pinpoints the reason behind the loss based on postgame remarks and something coach Dan Jackson told Gaskins in their weekly one-on-one conversation. Then, a breakdown of USD's win suggests the Coyotes haven't quite "broken through" to a winning formula for their last two games (SDSU, then at No. 16 Southern Illinois) and the playoffs, should they reach them. Plus, how do we make sense of the Minnesota Vikings win in Detroit on Sunday. We thought we knew what would happen there, too, but we didn't. It snapped the Vikes' five-game losing streak in the series and perhaps completely changed the look and tenor of the VIkings' season outlook and playoff chances. J.J. McCarthy's return and the effect he has on teammates is one reason. But there are several others. It's a matter of the varsity team being back on the field.
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