South Dakota South Dakota South Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who compose a large portion of the population and historically dominated the territory. South Dakota is the seventeenth largest by area, but the fifth smallest by population and the 5th least densely populated of the 50 United States. As the southern part of the former Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889, simultaneously with North Dakota. Pierre is the state capital and Sioux Falls, with a population
South Dakota–South Dakota State football rivalry South Dakota–South Dakota State football rivalry The South Dakota–South Dakota State football rivalry (also the South Dakota Showdown Series) between the South Dakota Coyotes and the South Dakota State Jackrabbits is a yearly rivalry match-up in football between the two largest public universities in the state of South Dakota: the University of South Dakota in Vermillion and South Dakota State University in Brookings. South Dakota and South Dakota State are both football-only members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference in the FCS. The football series began in 1889 and has been played a total of 114 times as of 2018.