UND Football Gears Up for Home Opener

North Dakota hosts Mississippi Valley State on Thursday.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — The University of North Dakota sees its season start a little bit earlier with a week one matchup on Thursday night. Mississippi Valley State heads to the peace garden state for the second year in a row.

The Delta Devils were thumped by NDSU last year 72–7. UND is desperate to start things off in the win column after a forgettable three–win season in 2017.

Head coach Bubba Schweigert views Thursday’s matchup as an important measuring stick as each squad returns to game action for the first time this year.

“First games always have a little bit of an unknown because you don’t really know how teams are going to change or adjust,” Schweigert said. “For us it is really keeping the focus on UND. That is what we have been preaching to our team. We got to execute our offense, defense and special teams. We’ll have to see what they’re doing as far as changes defensively or how you want to attack them and how they’re going to attack us.”