North Dakota adds future series with Idaho State and Northern Arizona

By Kevin Kelley -

The North Dakota Fighting Hawks have added future home-and-home football series with the Idaho State Bengals and the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks, the school announced on Wednesday.

North Dakota and Idaho State will kick off their home-and-home series at Holt Arena in Pocatello, Idaho, on Sept. 4 2021. The series will conclude at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks, North Dakota, three seasons later on Sept. 14, 2024.

In six previous meetings, North Dakota is 5-2 against Idaho State. The Bengals won the most recent meeting 25-21 last season in Grand Forks.

North Dakota will kick off the series with Northern Arizona on the road at the Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff on Sept. 17, 2022. The Fighting Hawks will host the Lumberjacks the following season on Sept. 9, 2023.

North Dakota and Northern Arizona first met on the gridiron in 1967 and have played seven games overall. NAU defeated North Dakota 31-16 last season to extend their lead in the series to 5-2.

Both Idaho State and Northern Arizona are members of the Big Sky Conference in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). North Dakota was a member of the Big Sky from 2012 through 2017. The Fighting Hawks are currently competing as an Independent and will join the Missouri Valley Football Conference beginning with the 2020 season.

North Dakota also officially announced today three future games that we previously reported. UND will play at Washington on Sept. 16, 2023 and will also take on Portland State in a home-and-home series (in Portland on Oct. 24, 2020; in Grand Forks on Sept. 6, 2025).

“We’re excited about this future schedule,” said UND Athletics Director Bill Chaves. “All of these games gives us the opportunity to better understand what our schedule is going to look like over the next five-to-seven years. There is still more work to do, but we are moving closer towards our scheduling goals.”

Football Schedules