2021 Northern Colorado Bears football

Conference	Big Sky Conference
Record	3–8 (2–6 Big Sky)
Head coach	Ed McCaffrey (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Max McCaffrey (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Scott Darnell (1st season)
Home stadium	Nottingham Field
Seasons ← 2019 2022 →

2021 Big Sky Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 10 Sacramento State $^	8	–	0	9	–	3
No. 2 Montana State ^	7	–	1	11	–	3
No. 7 Eastern Washington ^	6	–	2	10	–	3
No. 6 Montana ^	6	–	2	10	–	3
No. 17 UC Davis ^	5	–	3	8	–	4
Weber State	5	–	3	6	–	5
Northern Arizona	4	–	4	5	–	6
Portland State	4	–	4	5	–	6
Idaho	3	–	5	4	–	7
Northern Colorado	2	–	6	3	–	8
Cal Poly	1	–	7	2	–	9
Idaho State	1	–	7	1	–	10
Southern Utah	0	–	8	1	–	10

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2021 Northern Colorado Bears football team represented the University of Northern Colorado as a member of the Big Sky Conference during the 2021 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by first-year head coach Ed McCaffrey and played their home games at Nottingham Field.

Preseason

Big Sky preseason poll

On July 26, 2021, during the virtual Big Sky Kickoff, the Mustangs were predicted to finish in the Big Sky last in the media and twelfth in the coaches.^[1]

Coaches poll
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Weber State	(7)
2	Montana	(3)
3	Eastern Washington	(2)
4	Montana State	(1)
5	Sacramento State	(1)
6	UC Davis
7	Northern Arizona
8	Idaho
9	Idaho State
10	Portland State
11	Southern Utah
12	Cal Poly
13	Northern Colorado

Media poll
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Weber State	(14)
2	Montana	(4)
3	Eastern Washington	(3)
4	Montana State	(3)
5	Sacramento State
6	UC Davis
7	Northern Arizona
8	Idaho
9	Idaho State
10	Portland State
11	Southern Utah
12	Northern Colorado
13	Cal Poly

Preseason All-Big Sky team

The Bears did not have any players selected to the preseason all-Big Sky team.^[2]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 3	7:00 p.m.	at Colorado*	Folsom Stadium Boulder, CO	P12N	L 7–35	44,153
September 11	5:00 p.m.	at Houston Baptist*	Husky Stadium Houston, TX	ESPN+	W 45–13	2,135
September 18	2:00 p.m.	Lamar*	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	ESPN+	L 10–17 ^OT	5,605
September 25	1:00 p.m.	Northern Arizona	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	ESPN+	W 17–10 ^OT	5,769
October 2	1:00 p.m.	at No. 11 Montana State	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	ESPN+	L 7–40	20,127
October 9	1:00 p.m.	No. 4 Eastern Washington	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	ESPN+	L 17–63	5,413
October 16	6:00 p.m.	at No. 13 UC Davis	UC Davis Health Stadium Davis, CA	ESPN+	L 3–32	10,963
October 23	6:00 p.m.	at Southern Utah	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	ESPN+	W 17–9	3,208
October 30	1:00 p.m.	No. 15 Sacramento State	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	ESPN+	L 24–27	4,068
November 6	12:00 p.m.	No. 11 Montana	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	ESPN+	L 0–35	4,987
November 20	1:00 p.m.	at Weber State	Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT	ESPN+	L 17-48	3,242
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

Source: Schedule

Conference opponents not played this season: Cal Poly, Idaho, Idaho State, Portland State

Game summaries

At Colorado

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

At Houston Baptist

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	14	7	17	7	45
Huskies	0	6	7	0	13

Lamar

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
Cardinals	0	7	0	3	7	17
Bears	0	7	0	3	0	10

Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
Lumberjacks	0	7	0	3	0	10
Bears	0	3	7	0	7	17

At No. 11 Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	7	0	0	7
No. 11 Bobcats	17	10	13	0	40

No. 4 Eastern Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Eagles	22	21	10	10	63
Bears	3	7	7	0	17

At No. 13 UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	0	3	3
No. 13 Aggies	0	11	7	14	32

At Southern Utah

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	7	3	0	7	17
Thunderbirds	3	0	3	3	9

No. 15 Sacramento State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 15 Hornets	10	7	3	7	27
Bears	0	7	10	7	24

No. 11 Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 11 Grizzlies	14	7	14	0	35
Bears	0	0	0	0	0

At Weber State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	3	21	24	0	48
Bears	3	14	0	0	17

References

^ "Weber State Picked to Win Big Sky by Coaches and Media". July 26, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
^ "2021 Preseason All-Big Sky Conference Teams Announced". July 26, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2021.

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