2016 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football

Big Sky co-champion
FCS Playoffs Second Round, L 27–24 vs. Richmond
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 12
FCS Coaches	No. 12
Record	9–3 (8–0 Big Sky)
Head coach	Bubba Schweigert (3rd season)
Offensive coordinator	Paul Rudolph (3rd season)
Defensive coordinator	Eric Schmidt (3rd season)
Home stadium	Alerus Center
Seasons ← 2015 2017 →

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 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 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.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 3	6:00 pm	at Stony Brook*	No. 19	Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium Stony Brook, NY		L 9–13	6,153
September 10	2:30 pm	at Bowling Green*	No. 25	Doyt Perry Stadium Bowling Green, OH	ASN/ESPN3	L 26–27	15,318
September 17	4:00 pm	South Dakota*		Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND (Potato Bowl, Sitting Bull Trophy)	Midco SN	W 47–44 ^2OT	11,477
September 24	3:00 pm	at Montana State		Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	WBS	W 17–15	19,507
October 1	1:00 pm	No. 16 Cal Poly		Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	Midco SN	W 31–24	10,097
October 8	8:00 pm	at Sacramento State	No. 24	Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA	WBS	W 40–7	9,614
October 15	1:00 pm	Southern Utah	No. 22	Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	Midco SN	W 45–23	10,506
October 22	3:35 pm	at Idaho State	No. 19	Holt Arena Pocatello, ID	WBS	W 28–21	6,320
October 29	1:00 pm	Weber State	No. 17	Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	Midco SN2	W 27–19	8,699
November 5	1:05 pm	at Northern Colorado	No. 16	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	WBS	W 23–13	4,322
November 12	1:00 pm	Northern Arizona	No. 12	Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	Midco SN2	W 38–31	9,049
December 3	5:00 pm	No. 12 Richmond*	No. 8	Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND (Second Round)	ESPN3	L 24–27	9,837
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

^[1]^[2]

Game summaries

Stony Brook

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

Bowling Green

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

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

Montana State

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

Cal Poly

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

Sacramento State

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

Southern Utah

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

Idaho State

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

Weber State

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

Northern Colorado

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

Northern Arizona

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

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

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

^ "North Dakota Fighting Hawks Schedule 2016". ESPN. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
^ "2016 M Football Schedule". University of North Dakota Athletics. Retrieved December 23, 2022.

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

v t e 2016 NCAA Division I FCS playoff participants
Cal Poly Central Arkansas Charleston Southern Chattanooga The Citadel Eastern Washington Illinois State Jacksonville State James Madison Lehigh New Hampshire North Carolina A&T North Dakota North Dakota State Richmond Saint Francis (PA) Samford Sam Houston State San Diego South Dakota State Villanova Weber State Wofford Youngstown State
Champion – James Madison