2017 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football team

The 2017 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football team represented the University of North Dakota during the 2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by fourth-year head coach Bubba Schweigert and played their home games at the Alerus Center. The Fighting Hawks were a member of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 3–8, 2–6 in Big Sky play to finish in a three-way tie for 9th place.

2017 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football
Conference	Big Sky Conference
2017 record	3–8 (2–6 Big Sky)
Head coach	Bubba Schweigert (4th season)
Offensive coordinator	Paul Rudolph (4th season)
Defensive coordinator	Eric Schmidt (4th season)
Home stadium	Alerus Center (Capacity: 12,283)

2017 Big Sky Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 14 Southern Utah +^		7	–	1					9	–	3
No. 5 Weber State +^		7	–	1					11	–	3
Northern Arizona ^		6	–	2					7	–	5
No. 21 Eastern Washington		6	–	2					7	–	4
Sacramento State		6	–	2					7	–	4
Montana		5	–	3					7	–	4
Montana State		5	–	3					5	–	6
UC Davis		3	–	5					5	–	6
Idaho State		2	–	6					4	–	7
Northern Colorado		2	–	6					3	–	7
North Dakota		2	–	6					3	–	8
Cal Poly		1	–	7					1	–	10
Portland State		0	–	8					0	–	11
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

This was North Dakota's final year as a full member of the Big Sky. While most of the school's athletic programs will move to the Summit League in 2018, the football program will be classified as an FCS independent in 2018 and 2019 before joining the Missouri Valley Football Conference in 2020. Their games against Big Sky members will still count in the Big Sky standings but they will be ineligible for the Big Sky championship.

Previous season

In 2016, North Dakota finished with a record of 9–3, 8–0 in Big Sky play, to share the conference title with Eastern Washington. They qualified for the FCS Playoffs for the first time and lost to Richmond in the second round.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	6:30 p.m.	at Utah*	No. 8	Rice-Eccles Stadium Salt Lake City, UT	P12N	L 16–37	45,905
September 9	4:00 p.m.	Missouri State*	No. 11	Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND (Potato Bowl)	Midco	W 34–0	12,047
September 16	2:00 p.m.	at No. 23 South Dakota*	No. 10	DakotaDome Vermillion, SD (Sitting Bull Trophy)	Midco	L 7–45	9,645
September 23	2:30 p.m.	Montana State	No. 17	Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	Midco	L 21–49	12,342
September 30	8:00 p.m.	at UC Davis		Aggie Stadium Davis, CA	ELVN	L 24–48	9,508
October 7	2:30 p.m.	Northern Colorado		Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	Midco	W 48–38	10,234
October 14	2:00 p.m.	at No. 24 Montana		Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	RTNW[1]	L 17–41	25,085
October 21	12:30 p.m.	Sacramento State		Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	Midco	L 27–34	9,259
October 28	6:00 p.m.	at Portland State		Providence Park Portland, OR	ELVN	W 48–21	3,002
November 4	7:00 p.m.	at No. 17 Southern Utah		Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	Pluto TV	L 21–47	7,641
November 11	1:00 p.m.	No. 19 Eastern Washington		Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	Midco	L 14–21	8,247
*Non-conference game Rankings from STATS FCS Poll released prior to game Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

[2]

Game summaries

at Utah

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 8 Fighting Hawks	3	6	0	7	16
Utes	0	17	10	10	37

Missouri State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	0	0	0
No. 11 Fighting Hawks	3	21	0	10	34

at South Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 10 Fighting Hawks	0	0	7	0	7
No. 23 Coyotes	17	14	7	7	45

Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bobcats	7	21	7	14	49
No. 17 Fighting Hawks	0	10	11	0	21

at UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Hawks	10	7	0	7	24
Aggies	21	17	3	7	48

Northern Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	7	17	14	0	38
Fighting Hawks	14	14	10	10	48

at Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Hawks	0	3	7	7	17
No. 24 Grizzlies	7	13	14	7	41

Sacramento State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hornets	3	7	24	0	34
Fighting Hawks	0	10	7	10	27

at Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Hawks	0	13	21	14	48
Vikings	14	0	0	7	21

at Southern Utah

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Hawks	7	7	7	0	21
No. 17 Thunderbirds	13	14	13	7	47

Eastern Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 19 Eagles	7	14	0	0	21
Fighting Hawks	7	0	0	7	14

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	8	11	10	17	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Coaches	10	11	10	19	RV	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR

References

1. "BIG SKY, ROOT SPORTS ANNOUNCE CONTRACT EXTENSION, 2017 SCHEDULE". Big Sky Conference. March 21, 2017. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
2. "2017 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football schedule". University of North Dakota Department of Athletics. Retrieved January 16, 2017.