The Jackrabbits opened the 2026 season by throttling the Hatters of Stetson by a score of 70 to 7.  The Jacks dominated from the jump and controlled every single phase of the game.  Rants & Raves for a game like this are pretty challenging because what we saw was a fraction of the offensive playbook and defensively the Jacks barely played their starters.  However, we’ll carry on and do the best we can as we celebrate the return of college football!

Rants & Raves

Rave: I wasn’t there but on TV that sure looked like an A+ atmosphere at kickoff and for much of the first half.  I can’t blame fans for losing interest in the second half.  Not everyone is a roster junky like us (assuming you the reader are too).

Rant: I’ve received multiple messages and DMs about the concession wait lines again.  I wasn’t there but again, enough of you have commented that it sure sounds like it was a major issue again.  Lots of food was out by the 3rd quarter and super long lines were the two biggest complaints.  It’s shocking that as awesome as the stadium is and the games are, the concessions have continued to be an issue.   No, this isn’t an attack on those working the concessions.  They do a great job!

Rave: This looked like the return of the #605Hogs.  It didn’t matter if it was the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd string group, they were dominant!  Zero sacks and 393 yards of rushing at a clip of 8.7 yards per carry!

Rave: A lot of credit has to go to the running backs too.  Coach Cooper calls them the #stable and it sure seemed like it tonight.  Basinger had 110 yards and 1 TD, Corey Blair Jr had 107 and 2 TD, Josiah Johnson had 63 and 2 TD, Jr McKinney had 53 and a TD, and Josh Myers had a 27 yard rushing TD.  My goodness!  These guys all look like they have transformed their body and were breaking tackles left and right.  On one Josiah Johnson TD run, I counted 5 broken tackles.

Rant: I get it I truly do but I was disappointed that the TEs had ZERO targets in the entire game.  Again, there were 11 total passes thrown but zero being to tight ends was a bummer when we have heard so much about their talent and depth this camp.

Rave: I was happy for Will Paepke in the first quarter.  He had a tough play and allowed penetration causing Blair to bounce out but Paepke responded on the next play as a pulling guard and destroyed a Hatter defender allowing Blair to score one of his TDs.  Way to have that next play mentality.

Rave: It was great to see Carter Sitzman earn his first career sack as a Jackrabbit.  Glad to see what we saw in practice carried over to the game.  He’s going to have a monster season.

Rave: Early on Jace Sifore and Logan Green were causing fits to the interior of the Stetson o-line.  They will be trouble this year.  I’m still curious to see how the depth performs against stiffer competition.

Rave: Love the contributions from freshmen Tank Farr, Bergan Tetzlaff, and Alex Uctman.  Farr is going to play a lot this season.  He’s just too good to keep off the field.  Seeing Uctman as the punt returner surprised me, not because he’s not able but Coach Isaiah Jackson didn’t mention his name once in our conversation.  Bergan’s growth spurt is just hard to fathom.  Other freshmen who made plays were Jay’Veon Scott at running back, Emeir White at corner, and Landon Jackson at safety.  I’m sure there were more but these are the guys I caught!

Rant: I was disappointed at times with the tackling.  Yes, the Jacks rallied to the ball and made the stop as a group but too many times the first guy there bounced off or failed to get the ball carrier to the ground.  This is the first true, 100% live tackling many of the starters had done though as Coach Dan Jackson shared in his press conference earlier this week.

Rave: Chase Van Tol continues to show his play making ability with two fumble recoveries.  The fumbles were caused by Myles Green and the aforementioned Carter Sitzman.

Rave: I loved seeing Chase go to his guy Grahm Goering on a big 3rd down conversion in the second quarter.  Those two have developed a real chemistry!

Rave: Seeing Jack Smith take his first reception of the season to the house was awesome.  For someone who is thought of as “not a speed guy” he sure seems to make some long plays.

Rant: Ryan Harrington, please don’t kick the ball out of bounds. 🙂

Rave: Loved Beau Bakken looking like a run away freight train on the kick coverage and annihilating the return man.

Rave: Loved seeing Liam Shaw get his first career sack and Landon Dulaney getting his first career TD reception.

Rave: I thought Matt Goering was all over the place in his limited action.  The initial stats show 5 tackles!

Rave: The second offensive line was J’Shaun Thomas, Lincoln Semchenko, Caden Hotz, Cooper Starks, and Kyan Rauk.  They were terrific!  I missed the right guard, but the third team offensive line was Semchenko, McCarty, Walters, ?, and Hach.  I thought they did a good job too as a very young group.

Rave: Absolutely loved the hustle from big #90 Daniel Bradley late in the game.  The Stetson QB had broken off a long run and was weaving in and out of the defense.  Bradley started the play as the opposite side defensive tackle, was doubled teamed initially but continued to pursue.  He’s the reason Stetson didn’t score on the play.  Love seeing that!

Rave: I’m glad they let Pelham boom it.  That 70 yard punt was a beauty!

Rave: Honestly, this was a terrific start to the season.  The Jacks got a ton of players playing time and they all performed well.  They got to see the starters and actually allowed them to cut it loose.  Northwestern will be a different beast next week but at least the team isn’t going into that game cold.  Sounds like the team came out of the game in good health too.

Game Balls

Offense: #605Hogs- a dominant effort from start to finish

Defense: Carter Sitzman- 1 sack, 2 TFL, 1 forced fumble

Special Teams: Alex Uctman- punt return and good confident fair catches

Go Jacks!

Matt