Bright and early, UND football will play Boise State on the blue turf at 10 a.m. Mountain
Sep. 11—GRAND FORKS — The last time the UND football program played against an opponent from the Mountain West Conference, the Fighting Hawks were in Logan, Utah, playing Utah State in 2021.
The game was scheduled to kick off at 8 p.m. However, a lightning delay and a brief power outage pushed the game back to closer to a 9:30 p.m. kickoff.
This weekend, UND will go up against a Mountain West opponent again at a strange time, but the internal clocks will need to adjust to a rare morning kickoff this go around.
The Fighting Hawks, now ranked No. 14 in the FCS, will play Boise State on the blue turf at 11 a.m. Central and 10 a.m. Mountain Saturday at Albertsons Stadium. The game will be televised on FS1.
"I think it's going to be pretty sick," UND wide receiver Wesley Eliodor said. "I've played against FBS opponents, but I think the blue turf is pretty cool. We're a morning practice team, and I'm up at 5:40 (a.m.) everyday. It's nothing new."
UND's fall camp and regular season practices start at 8:45 a.m.
The Boise trip will be UND's first road game of the year after home matchups with Drake and Northern Arizona to start the season.
"We keep our pregame schedule," UND coach Bubba Schweigert said. "Our pregame meal will be the same time in relation to kickoff. This will be 11 o'clock our time, so we have to be able to handle it."
UND has played on the red turf multiple times at Eastern Washington in Cheney, but this will be a memorable experience for Fighting Hawks players.
"It's something you always look at growing up," UND linebacker Josh Navratil said. "It doesn't change how we're going to play, but it's going to be a cool experience."
Boise State, preseason favorites to win the Mountain West Conference, will enter the UND matchup 0-2 after losing to Washington and Central Florida to open the year.
UND hopes playing at Nebraska in front of nearly 90,000 to open the 2022 season will be beneficial in front of a big crowd on Saturday.
"Most of us are experienced getting in front of 90,000 people," Navratil said. "All the nerves will go away, and we can use that as motivation and clear the noise."
UND has one FBS victory — beating Wyoming in Laramie in 2015.
The Hawks are 0-5 against the FBS since that win.
UND nearly made it two FBS wins in a row, missing a 2-point conversion in the final moments to lose 27-26 at Bowling Green in 2016.
UND then lost handily in 2017 and 2018 to Utah (37-16) and Washington (45-3), respectively.
The Hawks didn't have an FBS game on the schedule in 2019, then couldn't play Kansas State in 2020 due to the pandemic.
UND lost 48-24 at Utah State in 2021 in a game the Hawks led 21-7 after the first quarter.
Last season, UND fell 38-17 at Nebraska in a game that saw the Cornhuskers up 24-17 after three quarters.
Who: UND vs. Boise State.
When: 11 a.m., Saturday.
TV: FS1.
Records: UND 2-0, Boise State 0-2.
FBS experience: UND is 0-5 against the FBS since beating Wyoming in 2015.
