2016 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football team

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Ranking
STATS	No. 12
FCS Coaches	No. 12

2016 Big Sky Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 4 Eastern Washington +^	8	–	0	12	–	2
No. 12 North Dakota +^	8	–	0	9	–	3
No. 25 Weber State ^	6	–	2	7	–	5
No. 24 Cal Poly ^	5	–	3	7	–	5
Southern Utah	5	–	3	6	–	5
Northern Colorado	4	–	4	6	–	5
Northern Arizona	4	–	4	5	–	6
Montana	3	–	5	6	–	5
Montana State	2	–	6	4	–	7
Portland State	2	–	6	3	–	8
UC Davis	2	–	6	3	–	8
Sacramento State	2	–	6	2	–	9
Idaho State	1	–	7	2	–	9

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2016 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football team represented the University of North Dakota during the 2016 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by third-year head coach Kyle 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 9–3, 8–0 in Big Sky play to share the conference championship with Eastern Washington. They received an at-large bid into the FCS Playoffs where they lost to Richmond in the second round.

Previous season

In 2015, North Dakota finished with a record of 7–4, 5–3 in Big Sky play, to finish in a tie for third place. They failed to qualify for the FCS Playoffs.

Schedule

September 36:00 PMat Stony Brook*No. 19

L 9–13 6,153 September 102:30 PMat Bowling Green*No. 25

ASN/ESPN3L 26–27 15,318 September 174:00 PMSouth Dakota*

Alerus Center
Grand Forks, ND (Potato Bowl/Sitting Bull Trophy)

Midco SNW 47–44 ^2OT11,477 September 243:00 PMat Montana State

WBSW 17–15 19,507 October 11:00 PMNo. 16 Cal Poly

Alerus Center
Grand Forks, ND

Midco SNW 31–24 10,097 October 88:00 PMat Sacramento StateNo. 24

WBSW 40–7 9,614 October 151:00 PMSouthern UtahNo. 22

Alerus Center
Grand Forks, ND

Midco SNW 45–23 10,506 October 223:35 PMat Idaho StateNo. 19

WBSW 28–21 6,320 October 291:00 PMWeber StateNo. 17

Alerus Center
Grand Forks, ND

Midco SN2W 27–19 8,699 November 51:05 PMat Northern ColoradoNo. 16

WBSW 23–13 4,322 November 121:00 PMNorthern ArizonaNo. 12

Alerus Center
Grand Forks, ND

Midco SN2W 38–31 9,049 December 35:00 PMNo. 12 Richmond*No. 8

Alerus Center
Grand Forks, ND (Second Round)

ESPN3L 24–27 9,837

Template:CFB Schedule End ^[1]

Game summaries

Stony Brook

	1	2	3	4	Total
#19 Fighting Hawks	0	7	2	0	9
Seawolves	0	7	0	6	13

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–0	2014	UND, 13–3

Bowling Green

	1	2	3	4	Total
#25 Fighting Hawks	0	10	10	6	26
Falcons	14	7	6	0	27

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

South Dakota

	1	2	3	4	OT	2OT	Total
Coyotes	3	24	7	0	7	3	44
Fighting Hawks	7	7	3	17	7	6	47

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
60–29–5	2011	UND, 38–37

Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Hawks	0	7	3	7	17
Bobcats	3	3	3	6	15

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
14–18–1	2015	UND, 44–38

Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	Total
#16 Mustangs	0	7	7	10	24
Fighting Hawks	10	0	14	7	31

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–3	2015	UND, 45–21

Sacramento State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#24 Fighting Hawks	6	21	7	6	40
Hornets	0	0	7	0	7

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–1	2013	SAC, 31–7

Southern Utah

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	14	3	6	0	23
#22 Fighting Hawks	7	21	3	14	45

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–4	2014	SUU, 35–17

Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#19 Fighting Hawks	0	14	7	7	28
Bengals	7	7	0	7	21

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–1	2015	ISU, 37–31

Weber State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	0	13	0	6	19
#17 Fighting Hawks	7	0	14	6	27

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–2	2015	WEB, 25–24

Northern Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
#16 Fighting Hawks	7	6	10	0	23
Bears	7	0	0	6	13

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
16–12	2015	UND, 45–14

Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks	14	10	7	0	31
#12 Fighting Hawks	10	0	7	21	38

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–4	2014	UND, 30–28

FCS Playoffs

Second Round–Richmond

	1	2	3	4	Total
#12 Spiders	7	0	7	13	27
#8 Fighting Hawks	7	10	7	0	24

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	19	25	RV	RV	RV	24	22	19	17	16	12	10	8	12
Coaches	21	RV	RV	RV	RV	21	18	16	12	11	10	8	8	12
FCS Playoffs	Not released									—	10	9	Not released

References

^ "2016 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football schedule". University of North Dakota Department of Athletics. Retrieved January 1, 2016.

[1] "2016 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football schedule". University of North Dakota Department of Athletics. Retrieved January 1, 2016.

[1]

v t e North Dakota Fighting Hawks football
Venues	Memorial Stadium (1927–2000) Alerus Center (2001–present)
Bowls & rivalries	North Dakota State: Nickel Trophy South Dakota: Sitting Bull Trophy
Culture & lore	"Fight On Sioux" "It's for You, North Dakota U" Pride of the North Native American mascot controversy
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943–1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
National championship seasons in bold

v t e Big Sky Conference football champions
College Division / Division II	Idaho State (1963) Montana State (1964) Weber State & Idaho (1965) Montana State (1966) Montana State (1967) Idaho, Montana State, & Weber State (1968) Montana (1969) Montana (1970) Idaho (1971) Montana State (1972) Boise State (1973) Boise State (1974) Boise State (1975) Montana State (1976) Boise State (1977)
I-AA/FCS	Northern Arizona (1978) Montana State (1979) Boise State (1980) Idaho State (1981) Montana, Idaho, & Montana State (1982) Nevada (1983) Montana State (1984) Idaho (1985) Nevada (1986) Idaho (1987) Idaho (1988) Idaho (1989) Nevada (1990) Nevada (1991) Idaho & Eastern Washington (1992) Montana (1993) Boise State (1994) Montana (1995) Montana (1996) Eastern Washington (1997) Montana (1998) Montana (1999) Montana (2000) Montana (2001) Montana, Montana State, & Idaho State (2002) Montana State, Montana, & Northern Arizona (2003) Montana & Eastern Washington (2004) Eastern Washington, Montana State, & Montana (2005) Montana (2006) Montana (2007) Weber State & Montana (2008) Montana (2009) Montana State & Eastern Washington (2010) Montana State & Montana (2011) Eastern Washington, Montana State, & Cal Poly (2012) Eastern Washington (2013) Eastern Washington (2014) Southern Utah (2015) Eastern Washington & North Dakota (2016) Southern Utah & Weber State (2017) Eastern Washington, UC Davis, & Weber State (2018) Sacramento State & Weber State (2019) Weber State (2020) Sacramento State (2021) Montana State & Sacramento State (2022) Montana (2023)
National championships in bold