Happy Hour with John Gaskins

And, we have lift-off.
 
Bitter in-state rivals SDSU and USD will play a Top Ten game on Saturday. The week-long buildup is exploding with storylines, high MVFC and FCS playoff stakes, top-end FCS talent, dynamic quarterbacks, injury intrigue, a missing trophy, and plenty of angst between fan bases.
 
Mondays on Happy Hour during the football season are always reserved for the head coaches of the Jackrabbits and the Coyotes. So, what better way to "see how high the feathers fly," as Keith Jackson would say, than to hear Dan Jackson and Matt Vitzthum set the tone?
 
Matt Vitzthum
The Iowa native makes his head coaching debut in the Interstate Series, though he was on the Coyotes staff the two seasons prior as a quarterbacks coach (for an overtime loss in 2024) and then co-offensive coordinator (a 24-17 win last year).
 
Vitzthum comes in fresh off his first win over a Top Ten FCS opponent and his first one-score victory as a head coach. There is plenty to unpack from the 26-23 overtime home victory over North Dakota, including some of his first late-game, gut-wrenching decisions as a head coach. The Happy Hour host asks him about three of those decisions in the final two minutes.
 
How did the USD rushing defense perform better against UND's stout run game than it did in losses to Boise State and Youngstown State?
 
Is freshman quarterback Austyn Modrzewski one of the Coyotes' vocal leaders?
 
Will Saturday mark the return of dangerous running back Keyondray Jones-Logan?
 
How will the Coyotes contain SDSU dynamo QB Chase Mason? 
 
And what does Vitzthum make of the State-U rivalry and the possibility of bringing back the Little Brown Jug trophy somehow, someway?
 
 
Dan Jackson
The Jackrabbits bounced back from a soul-crushing 21-10 loss at North Dakota by sharply and efficiently carving up MVFC last place Murray State 42-9.
 
But how ready are the Jacks for their second Top Ten test in three weeks, particularly a passing game that sputtered at UND and didn't try much to go downfield the next week?
 
What does Jackson think of Modrzewski and former All-American running back Charles Pierre Jr., and what havoc does he think the Coyotes' defense will wreak on Mason?
 
Then, of course, come all the rivalry questions:
 
* Why does this game mean "a little bit more?" The answer goes beyond simply this being an in-state, in-league face-off.
 
* Should these two teams be playing for a trophy? Or perhaps the old Little Brown Jug trophy, which was discontinued several years ago?
 
* What ever happened to that Little Brown Jug the schools played for until 2019?

Bitter in-state rivals SDSU and USD will play a Top Ten game on Saturday. The week-long buildup is exploding with storylines, high MVFC and FCS playoff stakes, top-end FCS talent, dynamic quarterbacks, injury intrigue, a missing trophy, and plenty of angst between fan bases.
The Iowa native makes his head coaching debut in the Interstate Series, though he was on the Coyotes staff the two seasons prior as a quarterbacks coach (for an overtime loss in 2024) and then co-offensive coordinator (a 24-17 win last year).
Vitzthum comes in fresh off his first win over a Top Ten FCS opponent and his first one-score victory as a head coach. There is plenty to unpack from the 26-23 overtime home victory over North Dakota, including some of his first late-game, gut-wrenching decisions as a head coach. The Happy Hour host asks him about three of those decisions in the final two minutes.
How did the USD rushing defense perform better against UND's stout run game than it did in losses to Boise State and Youngstown State?

Is freshman quarterback Austyn Modrzewski one of the Coyotes' vocal leaders?
Will Saturday mark the return of dangerous running back Keyondray Jones-Logan?
How will the Coyotes contain SDSU dynamo QB Chase Mason? 
And what does Vitzthum make of the State-U rivalry and the possibility of bringing back the Little Brown Jug trophy somehow, someway?

Bitter in-state rivals SDSU and USD will play a Top Ten game on Saturday. The week-long buildup is exploding with storylines, high MVFC and FCS playoff stakes, top-end FCS talent, dynamic quarterbacks, injury intrigue, a missing trophy, and plenty of angst between fan bases.
 
The Jackrabbits bounced back from a soul-crushing 21-10 loss at North Dakota by sharply and efficiently carving up MVFC last place Murray State 42-9.
 
But how ready are the Jacks for their second Top Ten test in three weeks, particularly a passing game that sputtered at UND and didn't try much to go downfield the next week?
 
What does Jackson think of Modrzewski and former All-American running back Charles Pierre Jr., and what havoc does he think the Coyotes' defense will wreak on Mason?
 
Then, of course, come all the rivalry questions:
 
* Why does this game mean "a little bit more?" The answer goes beyond simply this being an in-state, in-league face-off.
 
* Should these two teams be playing for a trophy? Or perhaps the old Little Brown Jug trophy, which was discontinued several years ago?
 
* What ever happened to that Little Brown Jug the schools played for until 2019?

Sometimes you have to zag when others zig. 
 
The Happy Hour host did a lot of zagging last weekend. When most college football fans found Saturday to be the day — not just for this season but maybe in years — to sit on the couch and soak in several glorious barnburners and upsets, the host was on Interstate 90, watching SDSU's loss at UND on his phone while the Minnesota and Wisconsin countryside went by through the windshield (don't worry, he was the passenger).
 
It was all in the spirit of a last-second adventure to Green Bay for a Packers game at Lambeau Field, something the host nor his spouse, a Cowboys fan, had ever experienced. So what better day to cross off a sports bucket list item than on a 60-degree Mid-October afternoon with leaves bursting into golden yellow, bright orange, and crimson red all over the Upper Midwest?
 
No better day. Just one problem: No tickets and no hotel rooms booked when the couple woke up on Saturday morning in Sioux Falls, eight hours away from Green Bay.
 
So, how did they end up with row 7, 50-yard-line tickets for under $300 apiece — a steal, considering secondary ticket market websites listed seats like that for $1,000+ on gameday? 
 
They zagged. Hear how. Listen carefully, and you might just get some sound advice for last-minute, anxiety-ridden ticket scores in your future.
 
Also, did Lambeau live up to its top shelf tailgating reputation? Listen carefully, and you'll have a guide to the perfect Lambeau experience.
 
Sit back and enjoy story time with Uncle John and Sioux Falls Live sports reporter Trent Singer, who, as always, joined for a Thirsty Thursday Football Forecast, this time from Gibs Sports Bar on the east side of Sioux Falls.
 
After recounting the trip to football nirvana, the two do what this weekly show is intended: thoroughly preview and predict results of upcoming weekend football games of local interest like:
 
* South Dakota's Top 10 showdown in the DakotaDome with North Dakota, fresh off its biggest-ever FCS win, taking down then-No. 1 South Dakota State
 
* SDSU's bounce-back game on Hobo Day as a 30-point favorite over MVFC cellar dweller Murray State
 
* Iowa at Minnesota, with the Floyd of Rosedale pig trophy eagerly awaiting whoever gets to 20 points first (or closest to 20 points)
 
As Keith Jackson would say, "Let's see how high the feathers fly!"

Forecast!