2018 Northern Colorado Bears football

Conference	Big Sky Conference
Record	2–9 (2–6 Big Sky)
Head coach	Earnest Collins Jr. (8th season)
Offensive coordinator	Jon Boyer (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Defensive coordinator	Marty English (1st season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Nottingham Field
Seasons ← 2017 2019 →

2018 Big Sky Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 6 Weber State +^	7	–	1	10	–	3
No. 2 Eastern Washington +^	7	–	1	12	–	3
No. 7 UC Davis +^	7	–	1	10	–	3
No. 17 Montana State ^	5	–	3	8	–	5
Idaho State	5	–	3	6	–	5
Montana	4	–	4	6	–	5
Cal Poly	4	–	4	5	–	6
Northern Arizona	3	–	4	4	–	6
Portland State	3	–	5	4	–	7
Idaho	3	–	5	4	–	7
Northern Colorado	2	–	6	2	–	9
Southern Utah	1	–	7	1	–	10
Sacramento State	0	–	7	2	–	8

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Although North Dakota was classified as an independent, games against them still counted as Big Sky Conference games. Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2018 Northern Colorado Bears football team, represented the University of Northern Colorado in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by eighth-year head coach Earnest Collins Jr. and played their home games at Nottingham Field. They were a member of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 2–9, 2–6 in Big Sky play to finish in 11th place.

Preseason

Polls

On July 16, 2018 during the Big Sky Kickoff in Spokane, Washington, the Bears were predicted to finish in eleventh place in the coaches poll and twelfth place in the media poll.^[1]

Coaches poll
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	134 (6)
2	Weber State	124 (3)
3	Northern Arizona	121 (3)
4	Idaho	101 (1)
5	Sacramento State	94
6	Southern Utah	91
7	Montana	82
8	Montana State	76
9	UC Davis	64
10	Cal Poly	40
11	Northern Colorado	30
12	Idaho State	29
13	Portland State	21

Media poll
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	651 (27)
2	Weber State	636 (19)
3	Northern Arizona	535 (1)
4	Montana	496 (2)
5	Idaho	483 (3)
6	Southern Utah	449 (1)
7	Sacramento State	415
8	Montana State	391 (1)
9	UC Davis	331 (1)
10	Idaho State	170
11	Cal Poly	169
12	Northern Colorado	166
13	Portland State	103

Preseason All-Conference Team

The Bears had one player selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team.^[2]

Alex Wesley – Sr. WR

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	2:00 p.m.	No. 17 McNeese State*	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	Pluto TV 241	L 14–17	5,672
September 8	1:00 p.m.	at No. 23 South Dakota*	DakotaDome Vermillion, SD	ESPN+	L 28–43	9,143
September 15	2:00 p.m.	Sacramento State*	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	ELVN	L 25–28	3,768
September 22	6:00 p.m.	at No. 7 Weber State	Stewart Stadium Odgen, UT	Pluto TV 235	L 28–45	8,668
September 29	12:00 p.m.	North Dakota	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	Pluto TV 241	L 13–38	4,902
October 6	12:00 p.m.	No. 16 UC Davis	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	Pluto TV 241	L 36–49	4,155
October 13	3:00 p.m.	at Portland State	Providence Park Portland, OR	Pluto TV 232	L 14–35	4,375
October 20	12:00 p.m.	Northern Arizona	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	ELVN	W 42–14	3,522
October 27	6:00 p.m.	at Southern Utah	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	Pluto TV 236	W 42–39	7,106
November 3	12:00 p.m.	No. 5 Eastern Washington	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	ELVN	L 13–48	3,274
November 10	1:00 p.m.	at Montana State	Bobcat Stadium Missoula, MT	ATTRM	L 7–35	14,147
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

Source: Schedule

Despite also being a member of the Big Sky, the game vs. Sacramento State will be a non-conference game and will have no effect on the Big Sky standings.

Game summaries

McNeese State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 17 Cowboys	10	7	0	0	17
Bears	0	0	0	14	14

At South Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	14	0	0	14	28
No. 23 Coyotes	14	20	0	9	43

Sacramento State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hornets	7	0	7	14	28
Bears	7	7	3	8	25

At Weber State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	7	14	7	0	28
No. 7 Wildcats	14	7	14	10	45

North Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Hawks	3	21	0	14	38
Bears	0	7	0	6	13

UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 16 Aggies	14	14	14	7	49
Bears	0	10	0	26	36

At Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	0	14	14
Vikings	14	14	7	0	35

Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks	7	7	0	0	14
Bears	12	0	16	14	42

At Southern Utah

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	14	10	18	0	42
Thunderbirds	8	3	14	14	39

Eastern Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 5 Eagles	13	7	14	14	48
Bears	0	0	13	0	13

At Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	7	0	0	0	7
Bobcats	7	14	0	14	35

References

v t e Northern Colorado Bears football
Venues	Nottingham Field (1995–present)
Culture & lore	Klawz "UNC Fight Song"
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1893 1894 1895 1896 1897–1898 1899 1900 1901–1904 1905 1906–1916 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