For the fourth time in as many home games this season, the South Dakota State University football team hosts a ranked opponent.

The Jackrabbits welcome former Great West Football Conference opponent Cal Poly to Coughlin-Alumni Stadium for a 5 p.m. MDT kickoff on Saturday.

SDSU also is coming off a much-needed bye week, following a 46-44, triple-overtime Hobo Day setback to then-fourth-ranked McNeese State on Oct. 4. The Jackrabbits are 3-3 overall, but are part of a four-way tie atop the Missouri Valley Football Conference with a 2-1 mark in league play. SDSU, ranked 22nd by the coaches and 21st by the media this week, resumes MVFC action next Saturday at Indiana State.

The 2008 season has been a strange one schedule-wise for the visiting Mustangs, who enter Saturday's game with a 3-1 overall record and are ranked third in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision Coaches' Poll and fifth in the Sports Network media poll. Cal Poly is coming off its third bye week in five weeks, in part to having its Sept. 13 matchup against McNeese State (La.) canceled because of Hurricane Ike. In their last outing, the Mustangs manhandled South Dakota, 49-22, in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

"We would rather not have this many open weekends, but you try to make the most of it," said Cal Poly head coach Rich Ellerson. "Will this many open weeks lead to a fresher team down the stretch, that remains to be seen. But we'd rather be playing games."

Ellerson is 51-32 in seven-plus seasons at Cal Poly and has guided the Mustangs to 43 wins in their last 62 games dating back to the 2002 season finale. Cal Poly has won 17 of its last 28 games on the road and 26 of their last 31 home contests. Cal Poly has won seven or more games each of the last five seasons, the longest such streak in school history, breaking the old mark of four set by the 1955 to 1958 teams.

The Mustangs are led by a pair of preseason All-Americans - wide receiver Ramses Barden and offensive lineman Stephen Field, both seniors and three-time All-Great West honorees. Barden, named to the Walter Payton Award watch list, has caught 28 passes in Cal Poly's first four games and now has 167 career catches for 3,572 yards and 39 touchdowns. He has 14 career 100-yard receiving games, another school record, and has caught at least one touchdown pass in each of the Mustangs' last 13 games. Also among the 10 returning offensive starters are senior quarterback Jonathan Dally, who broke school records with 29 touchdown passes and 3,001 yards in total offense in 2007, and senior slotback James Noble, who has rushed for 3,396 yards and 31 TDs in three-plus seasons at Cal Poly.

South Dakota State has beaten Youngstown State, Western Illinois and Stephen F. Austin while falling to a pair of top-10 teams - McNeese State in triple-overtime and Northern Iowa - as well as FBS Iowa State.

South Dakota State and Cal Poly are tied 2-2 in their brief series. The Jackrabbits have won the last two meetings, including a 48-35 victory a year ago, also in Brookings, as Cory Koenig rushed for 259 yards, Berry completed 13-of-20 passes for 121 yards and South Dakota State converted two Mustang fumbles and a blocked field goal attempt into three touchdowns.

Sophomore running back Kyle Minett has rushed for 527 yards and nine TDs in six games while Berry has completed 144 of 225 passes (64 percent) for 1,722 yards and nine scores. Harris has 35 catches for 545 yards and five TDs while Minett has caught 32 passes for 284 yards and one score and Glen Fox 31 for 355 yards and a pair of TDs. The Jackrabbits have 11 interceptions so far and Dean Priddy averages 41.1 yards per punt.