With kickoff less than five days away, we here at the CGI thought we'd give you a little info on South Dakota State. Never mind the fact that former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle is an alumnus, or that potential Hall of Fame kicker Adam Vinatieri honed his skills there.

We're here to talk about the here and now, and that means this post is about the Jackrabbits, the first-round opponent of the Montana Grizzlies in the FCS playoffs.

First off, a word of warning to Griz fans: Them Jackrabbits are tough. The at-large bid from the Missouri Valley Conference is big and fast, and they love to run the ball.

In the selection committee's effort to regionalize the first round the best it could, Montana found itself against a tough opponent. I'm not screaming "Wofford!" at this point yet, but it's clear SDSU is a team capable of winning Sat-urday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

Having said that, I don't think they will. The Griz are going to have just a bit too much for their neighbors to the east. We'll tell you why later on in the week. Right now, here is a little scouting report on the Jacks, a team that is a lot like Montana:

• The Jacks are led by 12th-year coach John Stiegelmeier. "Coach Stig" has led the team to a 75-56 record (a .573 winning %) with seven straight winning seasons, including the school’s first five campaigns in the FCS. The Jacks have had a winning record in 10 of Stiegelmeier’s 12 seasons.

• Kyle Minett is a running back much in the mold of UM's Chase Reynolds. Minett, like Reynolds, is in the midst of his second straight 1,000-yard campaign. A year ago he nearly got to 1,300 yards and scored 18 touchdowns. The 5-foot-10, 205-pound Minett rushed for 147 yards and a pair of scores in a big win over Western Illinois last week.

• QBs Thomas O'Brien (a frosh) and Ryan Crawford rotate much like the Grizzlies' Andrew Selle and Justin Roper. O'Brien, however, played the entire game against Western Illinois. SDSU's run-heavy offense doesn't put much pressure on O'Brien and Crawford, but they are efficient nonetheless, and own a 126.8 rating with 14 TDs and 9 INTs.

• Defensively, SDSU ranks near the top of its league in several categories, including scoring defense (13.5 points al-lowed per game), total defense (280.4 yards allowed per game), rush defense (108.4 yards allowed per game), and pass defense (172.0 yards allowed per game).

• DL Danny Batten is second in the league in both quarterback sacks (10) and tackles for loss (15.5). LB Derek Domino led the team with 87 tackles and five interceptions. The Griz need to be aware of Domino's big-play ability, too: He took two INTs back for touchdowns this sseason.

• A few other stats of note that will surely get the Griz coaches' attention: The Jacks have the best red zone defense in the MVC, are a plus-5 in turnover margin, are the least-penalized team in their league and the fifth-least in the nation, and hold teams to 34 percent third-down conversions, which could be a huge matchup on Saturday.