BROOKINGS, S.D. (KELO) — The SDSU football team enters Saturday’s game against Illinois State looking to add on to their 18-game win streak.

The Jacks opened conference play by pushing past North Dakota with a dominant performance. Top-ranked SDSU had 433 yards of total offense, nearly twice as many yards as the Fighting Hawks.

“I was really excited about how we came out and started fast, we were able to establish the run game early and pretty much stuck with that. When Mark had the opportunity to make the plays in the pass game, we made them in critical moments, our defense was solid throughout the whole game. And we need to maintain that,” SDSU head coach Jimmy Rogers said.

SDSU ranks seventh in the country in total defense allowing 258 yards per game. The Redbirds own the sixth best defense, allowing just three yards less than SDSU, though the Jacks are looking to outperform Illinois State.

“Being consistent at tackling and finishing, not losing our eyes in man coverage, being disciplined, creating a pass-rush that’s consistent, transitional pass rush, there’s a lot of things that go into this,” Rogers said.

Offensively, SDSU will look to lean on the ground attack, which has been anchored by Isaiah Davis.

“He’s got a great o-line in front of them and he’s got great wide receivers and tight ends blocking for him and creating the extra yardage. And if you look at the film, there’s always an extra push from behind to get them those couple extra yards, but I’m not just going to discredit what he does with the ball in hand and when guys are on him and the ability to create on his own it is special,” coach Rogers said.

Saturday’s game will be the first time that the Jackrabbits will play a true road game.

“Our hands will be full, and we need to compete on offense and make sure that we’re communicating to be able to pick up some of these things because it will be loud. We expect that we’re going to have to operate in a chaotic environment on offense,” coach said.

SDSU will face Illinois State Saturday. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.