Happy Hour with John Gaskins

Every Friday, "South Dakota Sports Lounge" displays some of the most captivating and entertaining conversations from daily sports talk shows in Sioux Falls, Rapid City, and Fargo. Plus, Midwest Sports+ and KSFL-TV reporter Zach Borg provides a compelling feature story to send Dakotas sports fans into the weekend with a smile.
 
Here are this week's segments:

 


Happy Hour with John Gaskins (Sioux Falls): USD head coach Matt Vitzthum describes the Coyotes' valiant performance in Boise and the state of the team, particularly dynamic freshman quarterback Austyn Modrzewski, as it opens up Missouri Valley conference play at Youngstown State. 
 
Hot Mic with Dom Izzo (Fargo): UND head coach Eric Schmidt on the Fighting Hawks' trip to Nebraska and the state of his team heading into MVFC play.
 
Nate Brown Show (Rapid City): SDSHAA exec director Dan Swartos discusses the high school football season. Brown starts the conversation by asking about the lack of competitive scores for some schools and how the SDSHAA could help.
 
Zach Borg feature: 1-on-1 with SDSU offensive coordinator Eric Eidsness in Zach's KSFL-TV series 'Jack Attack'

We saw what the Jackrabbits did to Youngstown State last week in a Top Ten tilt— and for the whole second half, SDSU ran all over the Penguins in Brookings without star quarterback Chase Mason.
 
Now, it's the Coyotes' turn to take on the Penguins, in a Top 11 tilt tomorrow in Youngstown (USD is No. 8 and YSU is No. 11 in the FCS Stats Perform Top 25 poll).
 
Good news for USD: The Yotes have the services of star quarterback and strong early Jerry Rice Award candidate (according to FCS analyst Sam Herder on Wednesday's Happy Hour) Austyn Modrzewski, the "Magic Man." 
 
Matt Zimmer coined the nickname for the head-turning freshman on the latest "Nobody's Listening Anyway" podcast with the Happy Hour host, in honor of early 1990's Green Bay Packers quarterback Don Majkowski, who had a fleeting moment of playmaking fame just before Brett Favre swiftly made people mostly forget about "The Magic Man." 
 
Bad news for USD: The Penguins have the services of 2025 Walter Payton Award quarterback Beau Brungard are likely seething from that loss last week and get a hungry home crowd to help them take out their frustrations on the Yotes, who are desparate to not start 2-0 in Valley play.
 
Good news for USD: The Jacks gave the Yotes a handy guide on film to how to move on the Penguins defense and limit Brungard's offense. 
 
Bad news for USD: The Yotes are on short rest, returning from Boise at 8 a.m. on Sunday after a late-night game. They are making a long trip for the second consecutive week and may be physically and psychologically taxed, similar to the Penguins, after their own close, hard-hitting loss.
 
Who knows how much any of this "news" will matter on a Saturday in "The Ice Castle" of Ohio, where the forecast calls for sunny, 70-degree conditions, which suit the explosive Yotes aerial attack far better than a cold and wet and windy afternoon.
 
What else will play into USD's conference opener? Happy Hour has its own weekly Football Forecast with the Happy Hour host and Sioux Falls Live sportswriter Trent Singer to go deep.
 
Other games to preview:
 
* SDSU's non-conference closer with Eastern Illinois. The Jacks are a five touchdown favorite despite Mason's absence following last Saturday's late first half "lower body sprain." What should we expect from the first start from Northern Illinois transfer Josh Holst and the Jacks' FCS Top 5 offense against a 1-3 Panthers squad already licking wounds from blowout losses at Minnesota and Illinois State and even a loss to MVFC bottom half inhabitant Indiana State?
 
* USF's home showdown with Div. II No. 3 Minnesota State, where Cougar coach Jim Glogowski toiled as defensive coordinator to keep the Mavericks a national powerhouse for seven years before coming to Sioux Falls three years ago. The Coo lost a 31-point lead at U-Mary last week but secured a second-consecutive overtime win. Can they take a so-far dominant MSU outfit (average score 37-13) to the wire at Bob Young Field on a day when USF's national title teams from 1996 and 2006 will be honored?
 
* A pair of Top 5 Friday night face-offs in local high school ball: No. 2 Tea Area at No. 1 Pierre in Class 11AA and No. 5 Dell Rapids at No. 1 Sioux Falls Christian in 11A. Also, a review of then-No. 2 Jefferson's 20-14 win at then-No. 1 Brandon Valley in the 11AAA headliner that flipped those two teams' rankings.
 
Plus, it's a sensational slate of Top 25 FBS games, as well, like:

* USF legend Kalen Deboer's No. 8 Alabama hosting South Carolina
 
* Former SDSU player and coach Jimmy Rogers' Iowa State hosting No. 15 Utah
 
*  Aberdeen native Josh Heupel's No. 13 Tennessee hosting No. 1 Texas. 
 
The hosts take a swig of some of those showdowns as a cardboard panda enjoys a can of Hamm's the whole hour.

It doesn't take long for a football season to cause pain for players, coaches, fans, and even the media.

Well, more psychological and emotional pain for coaches and fans. The media? It just so happens that Sioux Falls Live sports editor Matt Zimmer is dealing with his own physical pain currently, which he describes in leading off Thursday's Happy Hour, his weekly "Nobody's Listening Anyway" podcast with the Happy Hour host.
 
But mostly, they talk football. It is a violent sport. And after spending eight months salivating and speculating about how certain players and teams will perform, the reality of that violence kicks in earlier for some than others.
 
Here in South Dakota, that's the case for Chase Mason, the senior SDSU quarterback whose knee brace and "sprain" will keep him out at least one game and who knows how many more. 
 
The Jackrabbits are already about to find out how well Josh Holst keeps the ship afloat—or sails it full steam ahead—after taking the QB1 reps for a week.
 
Happy Hour, Zimmer, and KSFL-TV's Zach Borg have spent plenty of time and depth on this topic all week and you can find all the Jackrabbit Football stories about it here.
 
While Jacks fans' spirits are perhaps wounded, they are certainly far from alone. In the NFL, several dynamic QB1s have already been knocked out:
 
Jaxson Dart (knee)
Jaden Daniels (elbow)
Sam Darnold (glute)
Kyler Murray (concussion)
Caleb Williams (hamstring)
Caleb Williams' backup (concussion)
 
Ouch!
 
USD has not suffered such a harsh reality. Coyote fans — and media, and anyone who watches football and sees him — are enjoying four games of magic from freshman Austyn Modrzewski. 
 
In this Happy Hour, Zim gives his own perspective on Mason's injury and how the Jackrabbits can sustain their high level of play if they won't have him beyond Saturday's game against Eastern Illinois, in which they are a 34-point favorite.
 
Zim also weighs in on the regional if not national buzz for Modrzewski, who has fallen out of the sky like a video game playmaking meteor. He at least needs a nickname. And, so, we found one. For now.
 
For now. Two words Zim wants to cling to more than thinking about "later," as in where Modrzewski will play college football next year as a sophomore. He wrote about this in a recent column and expounds in this conversation.
 
Finally, there's only three words to say about the Minnesota Vikings:

Two and "oh."
 
Well, OK, there are more words than that. What does Zim — a pessimist about the Vikings' playoff chances before the season started — think about them now?

We get it. 

We all waited eight months for the games to begin. They began, and mnost of you just want to watch the games, hear your sports talk hosts to talk about the games, and perhaps leave periphery topics on the back burner for the offseason. Topics like:
 
* Will the Jacks and Yotes go the FBS sooner than later, or ever?
 
* Will the meteor crash of Austyn Modrzewski, or any high-performing FCS player with eligibility to burn beyond '26, automatically lead to an FBS NIL cash grab? Or, will Modrzewski end up like Chase Mason and stay put?
 
You want to hear about what's happening right now. Cue Van Halen. (Well, Van Hagar.)
 
Happy Hour has, indeed, brought those topics up since the games began. Why? Because when you watch the games, your brain tends to wander to those topics, if only because the Jacks, Yotes, and their quarterbacks have played so well. And perhaps you'd like to hear hosts and experts weigh on those topics, if only in passing. 
 
But on Wednesday's show with veteran FCS writer and podcaster Sam Herder, Happy Hour stayed within the lines of the games while going to places like:
 
* How well would the Jacks and Yotes perform in the FBS right now, specifically the Mountain West conference North Dakota State appears to be a favorite to win in its first year? 
 
* Is Modrzewski already looking like a Jerry Rice Award winner or even Walter Payton Award winner right now?
 
* Who is the best team in the FCS right now?
 
* Does USD appear to have the goods to beat an ego-bruised and desparate Youngstown State team and Beau Brungard right now... and would that change Saturday if the "heart and soul" of the Coyotes, linebacker Gabe Hardman, was kept out with his knee injury?
 
Herder answers those questions and more.
 
Then, time to hear from Beau Brungard—in an interview from MVFC Media Day before the season. He describes his football journey that has been so very... Youngstown, including the decision to turn down (we think) some FBS NIL cash grabs to stay for games like last Saturday in Brookings and this Saturday against the Yotes.
 
Wednesday's show starts with a new angle on the Chase Mason injury saga:
 
Don't you dare blame offensive coordinator Eric Eidsness for this. Judging by the interwebs, many Jacks fans are.
 
The show ends with the host and video producer Cordell Wright, a die-hard Vikings fan, wrapping their brains around a 2-0 start and whether the squad looks like a more stout NFC North title contender and playoff team right now. 
 
One of these men is high on the Vikes. The other is not convinced.

Video producer Cordell and the Happy Hour host discuss the suprising-to-most 2-0 start of the Vikings and how much this boosts their chances of reaching the playoffs, competing for the NFC North title, and even being a team that could reach the.... well, let's not say that yet.