NDSU & UND Ready For Spring Football

The Bison and Fighting Hawks begin the season on the 21st and 20th, respectively

February 5, 2021

FARGO/GRAND FORKS, ND (KVRR) – The kickoffs, the tackles, the touchdowns, the pyrotechnics all returning for the spring. Missouri Valley Football teams are ready to go.

“We see a lot of energy, Mike. Our guys are practicing hard, looking forward to practice, and we go early in the morning.”

“You could see the energy, the excitement of our kids when they were able to come back on the field. We’ve had excellent practices. We’ve had eleven up to this point.”

Everything North Dakota State could possibly do, they’ve done. The herd have won their last 38 games, the longest winning streak in FCS history and the 3rd longest ever in all of division one.

Now, like everyone else, they’re operating in a new reality but the first order of business is ingraining one the holiest ideas in the program into the newcomers.

“Our young kids are understanding what it takes to be a Bison, which is always a big learning curve here at NDSU…We traditionally are a high volume practice team and we’re trying to do some things a little different but still making sure we cover all the details.”

A big challenge for the Green and Yellow but over in Grand Forks, Bubba Schweigert’s team is facing an additional first: a new conference.

“We know it’s going to be tough competition. We still think it’s the right thing for our institution. We’ve got players from other areas but our prime recruiting area is going to be the midwest and now that matches the league we play in.”

Aside from recruiting, there’s another convenience the 7th year head coach anticipates.

“In particular, when we had to go back to back to the west coast and play a night game. Kickoff was nine o’clock our local time. We are looking forward to some shorter trips.”

The Fighting Hawks get going with back to back home games starting on the 20th against Southern Illinois followed by South Dakota State a week later. As for the Bison, they open up on Sunday, the 21st against Youngstown State.