Dakota Marker - History

History

While the two teams had played each other for many years as members of the Division II North Central Conference, the move by both schools to the Championship Subdivision level of football prompted the creation of the trophy, as both schools lost their primary rivals (NDSU with the University of North Dakota and SDSU with the University of South Dakota) who remained in the Division II classification at the time. As both teams became members of the newly formed Great West Football Conference, NDSU and SDSU's annual game took on more importance from a regional bragging rights standpoint as the closest "neighbor" football game either team would play. This series has continued since both teams joined the Missouri Valley Football Conference in 2008.

Through the 2012 season, the Dakota Marker series stands in favor of NDSU at 5-4, with NDSU currently in possession of the trophy after having won the last three trophy meetings and the last four games overall. Since the inception of the Dakota Marker series, the home team has won seven of the nine Marker games. The two teams have now met 100 times in their history, and the Bison, through 2012, lead the overall series 55-40, with 5 ties. The 100th meeting was the first time the two teams met in the playoffs (2012) where the Bison claimed a 28-3 victory in the 2nd round of the FCS playoffs. Overall, the Bison are 33-13 vs SDSU in Fargo with 3 ties (including the 2012 playoff victory), while the Jackrabbits are 27-22 against NDSU in Brookings, with 2 ties. The series includes 17 straight wins by the Bison from 1976-1992.

The inaugural Dakota Marker game was played in Brookings in 2004. SDSU quarterback Brad Nelson threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Chris Moliter with 39 seconds remaining to win the game for the Jackrabbits by a 24-21 count.

In 2005, NDSU claimed their first Dakota Marker win by a 41-17 score in Fargo. With a back-and-forth game tied at 14 midway through the second quarter, the Bison scored on a short TD run by running back Kyle Steffes to take a lead they would not relinquish. Steffes finished the game with 141 yards to go with his three touchdowns.

The 2006 game in Fargo between the two teams took on extra significance because not only were the rivals playing for the Marker, the winner of the contest would also win the Great West Football Conference championship. Both teams entered the game with perfect 3-0 conference records in front of a record Fargodome crowd of 19,053 fans. The Bison entered the game ranked #4 in Championship Subdivision, while the Jackrabbits carried the #18 ranking. After several lead changes throughout the game, NDSU was up 31-28 with 6:13 left when Travis White, who also caught eight passes for 91 yards in the game, sealed a Bison win and the conference title by scoring on an 84-yard punt return. The Bison would add a late FG for a 41-28 win. It was the final game of the year for both teams, who at the time were still ineligible for playoff competition at the Championship Subdivision level. The Bison finished 10-1, while SDSU ended their season at 7-4.

In the 2007 meeting, held in Brookings, the Jackrabbits took the Marker back and claimed their only Great West championship with a 29-24 win in front of a record 16,345 fans, the largest crowd to ever see a football game at the Coughlin-Alumni Stadium to date. As was the case in 2006, the two teams entered the contest with identical 3-0 conference records and thus played a de facto championship game. SDSU jumped to a 20-3 lead early in the 2nd quarter, but the Bison rallied to take a 24-23 lead early in the final quarter. On the ensuing drive, a 42-yard TD run by SDSU's Cory Koenig put the Jacks back ahead, and an SDSU interception with just over a minute remaining sealed the game. The Jacks finished at 7-4 on the season while the Bison, undefeated and ranked #1 in the FCS coaches poll entering the game, suffered the only loss of their season to finish at 10-1.

The 2008 game featured a close contest once again, this time in Fargo. With NDSU up 24-17 midway through the final period, SDSU capped a late drive with a 1-yard TD pass from Ryan Berry to JaRon Harris to bring the Jacks within a point. SDSU coach John Stiegelmeier, with his team already out of playoff contention, gambled and sent his offense out for the two-point conversion. Berry hit Mike Steffen, who had not caught a pass all game, for the two points and SDSU had a 25-24 lead with 2:20 remaining. The Bison had a chance to come back, but Bison QB Nick Mertens was intercepted by Conrad Kjerstad and the Jackrabbits ran the clock down to 2 seconds from there. Mertens' last-gasp pass only took the Bison to midfield, giving the Jackrabbits their first win in Fargo since 1962.

In the 2009 contest in Brookings, SDSU made it three straight Dakota Marker wins with a 28-13 victory. The game was broken open early in the 2nd quarter when Bison QB Nick Mertens threw a pass into the left flat that was picked off by SDSU's Derek Domino, who returned it 16 yards for an SDSU touchdown and a 14-7 lead. It was the first of Domino's two interceptions in the game, and the Jackrabbits would lead the rest of the way.

The 2010 game in Fargo, won by NDSU 31-24, turned on two key interception returns for touchdowns by the Bison. In the first quarter, defensive lineman Coulter Boyer picked off SDSU's Thomas O'Brien on the Jacks four-yard line and scored to give NDSU the early 7-0 lead. The Jacks would come back to force a 14-all tie as the third quarter drew to a close, but a D.J. McNorton touchdown run late in the period gave NDSU the lead for good at 21-14. After an early 4th quarter field goal, NDSU's Josh Gatlin put the game out of reach by picking O'Brien off and returning it 51 yards for a game-clinching touchdown.

The 2011 matchup in Brookings saw the Bison, who entered the contest 6-0 on the season that would eventually lead to the program's first FCS national championship, capture their second straight win in the series by a 38-14 count. It was NDSU's first win in Brookings since 1999 and their first road win in the Dakota Marker series. The Bison led 10-0 at the half, thanks in large part to two missed field goals of short distances by SDSU's Justin Syrovatka. After the teams traded TD's to start the 2nd half, the Bison put the game away at the 10-minute mark of the final period, as NDSU's Ryan Smith broke the game open with a 41-yard punt return for a TD.

The 2012 meeting in Fargo saw the two teams enter the game tied for the conference lead, with the winner gaining at least a share of the Missouri Valley conference championship. The Bison, entering the game ranked #1 in FCS with an 8-1 mark, earned a tough 20-17 victory. The Bison took an early 10-0 first quarter lead on a short field goal by Adam Keller and a TD pass from Brock Jensen to Kevin Vaadeland, but SDSU would tie the game going into halftime thanks to a TD pass from Austin Sumner to Brandon Hubert and a Justin Syrovatka field goal just before intermission. Keller's second field goal of the game put NDSU up for good in the third quarter, and Sam Ojuri's short TD run with 2:39 left in the game gave the Bison all the points they would need. The Jacks did drive for a late Sumner TD pass to Trevor Tiefenthaler with just under a minute left, but the ensuing onside kick was recovered by the Bison, who subsequently ran out the clock to seal their third straight Marker victory. Both teams would qualify for postseason play in that season, and the two teams would meet three weeks later in the second round of the FCS playoff tournament as well that season, with the Bison again claiming the win in Fargo, this time by a 28-3 score.