2019 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football team

The 2019 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football team represented the University of North Dakota during the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. Led by sixth-year head coach Bubba Schweigert, they played their home games at the Alerus Center. They finished the season 7–5. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs, where they would lose to Nicholls in the first round.

2019 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football
FCS Playoffs First Round, L 6–24 vs. Nicholls
Conference	Independent
2019 record	7–5
Head coach	Bubba Schweigert (6th season)
Home stadium	Alerus Center (Capacity: 12,283)

2019 NCAA Division I FCS independents football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
North Dakota ^			–						7	–	5
^ – FCS playoff participant

The Fighting Hawks left the Big Sky Conference in 2018 to join the non-football Summit League, with the football program joining the Missouri Valley Football Conference in 2020. Although being classified as an independent for football in 2018 and 2019, they continued to play a full Big Sky schedule, and their games counted in the conference standings for their opponents. The Fighting Hawks were ineligible to win the conference championship.

Previous season

The Fighting Hawks finished the 2018 season with a record of 6–5.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	4:00 p.m.	Drake		Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	Pluto TV	W 47–7	8,545
September 7	2:30 p.m.	at No. 1 North Dakota State		Fargodome Fargo, ND (Nickel Trophy)	ESPN+	L 7–38	18,923
September 14	4:00 p.m.	No. 24 Sam Houston State		Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	Pluto TV	W 27–23	8,697
September 28	4:05 p.m.	at No. 21 Eastern Washington		Roos Field Cheney, WA	Pluto TV	L 20–35	8,726
October 5	1:00 p.m.	No. 12 UC Davis		Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	Pluto TV	W 38–36	8,987
October 12	2:05 p.m.	at Idaho State		Holt Arena Pocatello, ID	Pluto TV	L 20–55	8,731
October 19	7:05 p.m.	at Cal Poly		Alex G. Spanos Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	Pluto TV	W 30–26	5,186
October 26	12:00 p.m.	No. 9 Montana State		Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	Pluto TV	W 16–12	8,594
November 9	3:00 p.m.	at No. 3 Weber State	No. 22	Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT	Pluto TV	L 27–30	9,622
November 16	1:00 p.m.	Northern Colorado		Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	Pluto TV	W 45–38	7,732
November 23	1:00 p.m.	Southern Utah		Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	Pluto TV	W 36–18	7,485
November 30	3:00 p.m.	at No. 19 Nicholls	No. 24	John L. Guidry Stadium Thibodaux, LA (FCS Playoffs First Round)	ESPN3	L 6–24	7,569
Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

[1][2]

Game summaries

Drake

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	0	0	7	0	7
Fighting Hawks	10	2	21	14	47

at North Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Hawks	0	7	0	0	7
No. 1 Bison	14	7	10	7	38

Sam Houston State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 24 Bearkats	0	14	0	9	23
Fighting Hawks	14	0	13	0	27

at Eastern Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Hawks	7	0	7	6	20
No. 21 Eagles	14	14	0	7	35

UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
Aggies	0	14	14	8	36
Fighting Hawks	14	14	7	3	38

at Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Hawks	7	0	6	7	20
Bengals	3	28	10	14	55

at Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Hawks	0	7	14	9	30
Mustangs	3	14	6	3	26

Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 9 Bobcats	3	3	0	6	12
Fighting Hawks	7	0	3	6	16

at Weber State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 22 Fighting Hawks	7	10	7	3	27
No. 3 Wildcats	14	6	0	10	30

Northern Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	7	14	10	7	38
Fighting Hawks	14	17	14	0	45

Southern Utah

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	0	15	3	0	18
Fighting Hawks	7	10	10	9	36

FCS Playoffs

The Fighting Hawks were selected for the postseason tournament, with a first-round pairing against Nicholls.[3]

at Nicholls–First Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 24 Fighting Hawks	0	3	3	0	6
No. 19 Colonels	3	7	7	7	24

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	13	Final
STATS FCS	RV	RV	NR	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	24	22	RV	RV	24
Coaches	RV	RV	RV	RV	25	RV	RV	NR	RV	23	22	RV	RV	RV

References

1. "2019 North Dakota Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
2. "2019 Football Schedule". University of North Dakota Athletics. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
3. "FCS bracket revealed for 2019 Division I football championship". ncaa.com. November 24, 2019. Retrieved November 24, 2019.