In 1904, the school was renamed South Dakota State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts.
In their first season of existence, they played in one game, a 6–6 tie against the University of South Dakota.
In its second and final season under head coach Bert H. Morrison, the team compiled a 3–1 record.
[1] The team began the season with L. L. Gilkey as its coach, but he was released in late October due to the lack of funds in the Athletic Association.
Gilkey then returned to his regular work purchasing chickens for the Huron Produce Co.[11] The 1902 football season in South Dakota witnessed the death of Harry Jordan, a young man from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and led to the cancellation of games in that city.
The appeal was based on the loss of life and "mutilation" during the prior football season, the loss of study time, and the game's tendency to promote "immorality", including betting, rioting, debauchery, and "the refinement of cruelty, needless senseless cruelty."
The author denounced: "That so savage and barbarious a game can meet with the approval of Christian educators and ministers of the gospel in the year of our Lord 1902 is one of the amazing exhibitions of the century.
In its second and final year under head coach William Juneau, the team compiled a 5–2 record.