Narrow conference road losses to St. Thomas and Omaha made South Dakota State’s Thursday night matchup against North Dakota feel like a very important January game. Maybe that was because it wasn’t just the Jacks trying to correct their recent form.

Renville also pointed to South Dakota's unique place in the U.S. political sphere, with Noem set to lead the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Sen. John Thune taking over the Republican Senate leader spot and U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson working within a divided House of Representatives.

One tribe in South Dakota lifted its order banning Gov. Kristi Noem from its territories just days before the Republican was set to appear before a U.S. Senate committee on her nomination to head one of the federal government's largest agencies.

Gov. Kristi Noem was cut off from entering a wide swath of tribal lands in South Dakota early last year after making public comments that tribal leaders were catering to drug cartels on their reservations.