2020 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football team

2020 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football
FCS Playoffs Quarterfinals, L 21–34 vs. James Madison
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 7
FCS Coaches	No. 6
Record	5–2 (4–1 MVFC)
Head coach	Bubba Schweigert (7th season)
Offensive coordinator	Danny Freund (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Pistol
Defensive coordinator	Brett Holinka (1st season)
Base defense	3–4
Home stadium	Alerus Center

2020 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 2 South Dakota State +^		5	–	1					8	–	2
No. 12 Missouri State +^		5	–	1					5	–	5
No. 7 North Dakota ^		4	–	1					5	–	2
No. 6 North Dakota State ^		5	–	2					7	–	3
No. 14 Southern Illinois ^		3	–	3					6	–	4
Northern Iowa		3	–	4					3	–	4
South Dakota		1	–	3					1	–	3
Illinois State†		1	–	3					1	–	3
Western Illinois†		1	–	5					1	–	5
Youngstown State		1	–	6					1	–	6
+ – Conference co-champions ^ – FCS playoff participant Note: Indiana State opted out of the spring season. † – Illinois State and Western Illinois opted out of the remainder of the spring season on March 21 and April 5, 2021, respectively. Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2020 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football team represented the University of North Dakota during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I FCS football season. Led by seventh-year head coach Bubba Schweigert, they played their home games at the Alerus Center as first-year members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

Schedule

North Dakota's game scheduled against Valparaiso was canceled on July 27 due to the Pioneer Football League's decision to play a conference-only schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
February 20	12:00 p.m.	No. 24 Southern Illinois		Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	ESPN+	W 44–21	3,176
February 27	12:00 p.m.	No. 3 South Dakota State	No. 14	Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	ESPN+	W 28–17	3,638
March 4	5:00 p.m.	No. 20 South Dakota	No. 4	Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND (Sitting Bull Trophy)	ESPN+	W 21–10	3,491
March 13	12:00 p.m.	at Western Illinois	No. 3	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	ESPN+	W 38–21	658
March 20	2:30 p.m.	at No. 4 North Dakota State	No. 2	Fargodome Fargo, ND (Nickel Trophy)	ESPN+	L 13–34	9,121
April 3	11:00 a.m.	No. 19 Missouri State	No. 6	Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	ESPN+	Canceled
April 10	12:00 p.m.	at Illinois State	No. 6	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	ESPN+	Canceled[a]
April 17		at Youngstown State	No. 6	Stambaugh Stadium Youngstown, OH	ESPN+	Canceled
April 24	2:00 p.m.	No. 12 Missouri State	No. 7	Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND (NCAA Division I First Round)	ESPN3	W 44–10
May 2	5:00 p.m.	at No. 1 James Madison	No. 7	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisburg, VA (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal)	ESPN2	L 21–34
Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

1. On March 21, 2021, Illinois State announced that it would opt-out of the remainder of the 2021 spring season due to safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

^[2][3]

References

1. Kelley, Kevin (July 27, 2020). "Pioneer Football League to play conference-only football schedule in 2020". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
2. "North Dakota Fighting Hawks Schedule 2020". ESPN. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
3. "2020 M Football Schedule". University of North Dakota Athletics. Retrieved December 23, 2022.