2018 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football team

The 2018 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football team represents the University of North Dakota during the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by fifth-year head coach Bubba Schweigert and played their home games at the Alerus Center. The Fighting Hawks competed as an FCS independent. They finished the season 6–5.

2018 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football
Conference	Independent
2018 record	6–5
Head coach	Bubba Schweigert (5th season)
Offensive coordinator	Paul Rudolph (5th season)
Defensive coordinator	Eric Schmidt (5th season)
Home stadium	Alerus Center (Capacity: 12,283)

2018 NCAA Division I FCS independents football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
North Alabama			–						7	–	3
Hampton			–						7	–	3
North Dakota			–						6	–	5

North Dakota will leave the Big Sky Conference for all sports except football in 2018 and join the Summit League. Their football program will join the Missouri Valley Football Conference in 2020. Although being classified as an independent for football in 2018 and 2019, they will continue to play a full Big Sky schedule and their games will count in the conference standings for their opponents but the Fighting Hawks will be ineligible to win the conference championship.[1]

Previous season

In their final season as a full member of the Big Sky, the Fighting Hawks finished the 2017 season 3–8, 2–6 in Big Sky play to finish in a three-way tie for 9th place.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	6:00 p.m.	Mississippi Valley State		Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	Midco SN	W 35–7	8,884
September 8	4:00 p.m.	at No. 9 (FBS) Washington		Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	P12N	L 3–45	68,093
September 15	6:00 p.m.	at No. 5 Sam Houston State		Bowers Stadium Huntsville, TX	ESPN3	W 24–23	5,373
September 22	4:30 p.m.	Idaho State	No. 22	Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	Midco SN	L 21–25	11,157
September 29	1:00 p.m.	at Northern Colorado		Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	Pluto TV 241	W 38–13	4,902
October 13	1:00 p.m.	No. 22 Montana		Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	Midco SN	W 41–14	10,497
October 20	8:00 p.m.	at Sacramento State		Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA	Pluto TV 233	W 41–15	10,709
October 27	2:00 p.m.	No. 4 Weber State	No. 22	Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	Midco SN	L 30–35	8,650
November 3	4:00 p.m.	at Idaho		Kibbie Dome Moscow, ID	Pluto TV 242	L 27–31	7,899
November 10	2:00 p.m.	Portland State		Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	Midco SN	W 17–10	7,494
November 17	3:30 p.m.	at Northern Arizona		Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	Pluto TV 239	L 16–31	4,306
Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

[2]

Game summaries

Mississippi Valley State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Delta Devils	0	7	0	0	7
Fighting Hawks	14	7	7	7	35

at Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Hawks	0	0	3	0	3
No. 9 (FBS) Huskies	10	7	7	21	45

at Sam Houston State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Hawks	7	10	0	7	24
No. 5 Bearkats	7	3	13	0	23

Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bengals	6	13	0	6	25
No. 22 Fighting Hawks	14	7	0	0	21

at Northern Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Hawks	3	21	0	14	38
Bears	0	7	0	6	13

Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 22 Grizzlies	7	0	0	7	14
Fighting Hawks	14	13	7	7	41

at Sacramento State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Hawks	14	0	20	7	41
Hornets	3	7	5	0	15

Weber State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Wildcats	7	14	7	7	35
No. 22 Fighting Hawks	0	20	3	7	30

at Idaho

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Hawks	7	7	6	7	27
Vandals	14	0	0	17	31

Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vikings	0	3	7	0	10
Fighting Hawks	7	0	0	10	17

at Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Hawks					0
Lumberjacks					0

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	RV	RV	RV	22	RV	RV	RV	RV	22	RV	RV	RV
Coaches	NR	NR	NR	RV	NR	NR	RV	RV	24	25	RV	25

References

1. Miller, Tom (January 26, 2017). "UND officially makes the move to the Summit League, Missouri Valley Football Conference". Grand Forks Herald. Archived from the original on May 29, 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
2. "2018 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football schedule". University of North Dakota Department of Athletics. Retrieved May 9, 2018.