The Northern Colorado Bears and South Dakota Coyotes have scheduled a home-and-home football series for the 2025 and 2026 seasons, FBSchedules.com has learned.
A copy of the athletic contest agreement with the University of South Dakota was obtained from the University of Northern Colorado via a Colorado Open Records Act request.
In the first game of the series, Northern Colorado will travel to take on South Dakota at the DakotaDome in Vermillion, S.D., on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. The series will conclude the following season when the Bears host the Coyotes at Nottingham Field in Greeley, Colo., on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026.
Per the copy of the contract, South Dakota will pay Northern Colorado a $50,000 guarantee for the game in Vermillion in 2025. No guarantee for the return game in 2026 was mentioned.
Northern Colorado, currently a member of the Big Sky Conference, and South Dakota, who competes in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, have a long history on the gridiron dating back to their first matchup in 1959. The two schools last met in a home-and-home series in 2018 and 2019. The Coyotes won both of those contests, but the Bears still lead the overall series 20-16.
Northern Colorado now has three opponents on its non-conference schedule for 2025 with the addition of South Dakota. UNC is also scheduled to visit the Colorado State Rams on Sept. 6 (previously set for Sept. 13 but was modified due to the South Dakota contest) and will also travel to take on the Houston Christian Huskies on Sept. 20.
Big Sky opponents for UNC in 2025 include Idaho State, Montana State, Portland State, and UC Davis at home and Eastern Washington, Idaho, Northern Arizona, and Sacramento State on the road.
Northern Colorado is the third known non-conference opponent for South Dakota’s football schedule in 2025. The Coyotes are scheduled to open the season with back-to-back games on the road against the Iowa State Cyclones on Aug. 30 and the Lamar Cardinals on Sept. 6.
South Dakota’s Missouri Valley opponents for 2025 were previously announced, but will likely change due to Missouri State joining Conference USA.
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