As South Dakota State head coach John Stiegelmeier gathered his six captains before the start of the 2017 season, he presented them with a list of goals. One of them was to finish as a top-eight team and earn a first-round bye in the playoffs.
"He said, 'Coach, I think you're wrong. With all of the respect in the world, I think we've got to put down on paper top-two seed,'" Stiegelmeier recalled. "It wasn't with arrogance. It wasn't with not being able to back it up. That's the way he plays. He plays like a champion."
The Jackrabbits won a school-record 11 games.