All roads lead back to Chase Mason.
If No. 22 South Dakota State's first-string quarterback plays for the first time in five games on Saturday, the Jackrabbits far more likely to beat No. 16 North Dakota in a regular season finale that might decide if the Jacks reach the playoffs or not.
It should be difficult for SDSU fans to muster any confidence the Jackrabbits could beat the Fighting Sioux — with the No. 2 defense in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, giving up 18.8 points per game — without Mason when SDSU averaged 40 points per game and went 7-0 with him, then stumbled to their first four-game losing streak in 14 years and averaged 14 points without him.
So, will he be able to put on the cape and save the season in Grand Forks? Head coach Dan Jackson gave the latest status on Mason's month-long foot injury on Monday's "Happy Hour with John Gaskins" show.
It is part of Jackson's weekly one-on-one chat with Happy Hour, in which Jackson also addressed:
- SDSU's disastrous 21-0 start in a 35-21 loss to Illinois State
- Why do Jacks keep losing?
- Play calling: What's going behind it?
- Lack of effective run game
- Confidence, cohesiveness, and leadership after 4 straight L's
- UND scout
- Dan's own well-being through month of on-field misery
But, still, all roads lead back to Mason. No, he doesn't play running back, nor block, nor tackle, nor play any defense, nor fumble punt snaps or kickoff returns, nor cover kickoffs that go for touchdowns against SDSU. The Jacks have shown an ability to screw up just about any aspect of football these last four games without him playing any part.
Plus, freshman Jack Henry has shown some promise in stretches in his two starts at USD and at home against Illinois State.
So, why does SDSU clearly have a much stronger fighting chance to win without him? What goes into 7-0 and 40 points per game when he plays and 0-4 with 14 ppg when he doesn't?
That's where another weekly Monday Happy Hour guest falls perfectly into place.
Kurtiss Riggs is not only SDSU's home game TV analyst and the 11-time championship coach and general manager of the Sioux Falls Storm, he is the Sanford Sports Academy football director and still the No. 2 career passer in University of Sioux Falls history, who later coached USF quarterbacks for his former teammate and still-best friend (and current Alabama head coach) Kalen DeBoer when the Cougars went 67-3 and won three national championships from 2006-09.
So, perhaps Riggs can shed light into Mason's abilities and why the Jacks seem so helpless without them.
Riggs also has insider knowledge on Mason's future at SDSU, as well, and delivers his latest update on what kind of big money NIL offers Mason will have from FBS schools despite missing almost half the season with an injury... and where Mason currently stands on if he'll be unable to resist those kind of offers the same way Mark Gronowski was by taking $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 at Iowa.
Riggs has other thoughts on the Jacks' four-game losing streak and USD's swift three-game winning surge to stamp their way into the FCS playoffs. Riggs also was on the call for the high school football state championships and delivers insight and opinions on:
- Why Brandon Valley took down two-time defending champion Lincoln
- Lincoln QB Brody Schafer — is he the best prep QB talent Riggs has seen in 30 years?
- Schafer's recent scholarship offer from SDSU, the first he received from a Div. I school
- Did USD drop the ball by not offering Schafer earlier?
- What about Brody's other brother Tate, who for now holds all the Class 11AAA passing, yardage and touchdown records? Is his mostly-stellar late-season stint as the University of Sioux Falls quarterback worthy of scholarship offers from SDSU, USD or other FCS schools?
- What do we make of Augie's loss to finish 9-2 and miss the playoffs?
Also, can we already call J.J. McCarthy an NFL bust? Riggs has no filter on that topic, either.
Before the Jackson and Riggs interviews, Gaskins offers his own perspective on the Jacks, Yotes, Mason, McCarthy, and Gronowski in a 40-minute "John-o-logue."
1 h et 45 min