North Dakota State had to overhaul its schedule amid a recent move to the FBS after dominating the FCS for almost two decades.
The Bison have the biggest part of the 2026 schedule out of the way with the Mountain West Conference opponents released on Tuesday, but it doesn’t include game dates at this time. NDSU will visit Air Force, Hawaii, New Mexico, and UNLV for conference road games.
For home games, the Bison will host Nevada, Northern Illinois, UTEP, and Wyoming. NDSU won’t face San Jose State since the conference only has an eight-game schedule for the 10-team league.
The Bison split two games with NIU in the 1960s and lost to Wyoming in 2008. Everyone else will be a first-time opponent for the Herd, and the Bison have never played outside of the continental U.S. before.
That Hawaii matchup in Honolulu means the Bison will likely play a “Week Zero” game on Aug. 29, according to the Fargo Forum’s Jeff Kolpack. USC notably has that date open on its official schedule, but the Forum’s Mike McFeely previously reported that the Trojans may have another team in the works.
Non-conference games haven’t been determined yet. Kolpack noted that the Bison plan to keep one FCS non-conference home game, which will be either Austin Peay or East Tennessee State.
How the Hawaii Bye Works
NDSU will get scheduling flexibility because of the Hawaii road game, but it varies as Kolpack noted.
“Mountain West teams that travel to Hawaii are given the option to play its first game a week earlier than most FBS teams, a stipulation that allows a school to build in another bye week because of the extensive travel to Honolulu,” Kolpack wrote.
“But that does not mean the Bison will for certain get a bye after the Hawaii game. Of the seven teams that traveled to Hawaii last season, four had a bye the following week while Wyoming played its last regular season game at Hawaii’s Clarence T. Ching Complex,” Kolpack added.
Many New Sights for the Bison
Besides Honolulu, NDSU’s first year of conference away games could lure a strong traveling presence from the fan base, with Las Vegas and Colorado Springs as destinations.
“The Las Vegas trip means the Bison will play in Allegiant Stadium, the home of the Las Vegas Raiders,” Kolpack wrote. “Air Force, based in Colorado Springs, located south of Denver, also plays in a spacious facility in 39,441-seat Falcon Stadium. Nevada comes to Fargo led by head coach Jeff Choate, who was the head coach at Montana State when the Bobcats were beaten 42-14 in the 2019 FCS semifinals and 52-10 in the 2018 second round, both at the Fargodome.”
Another new sight will be FBS teams coming to Fargo for the first time. NIU was in the College Division with NDSU at the time in the 1960s.
While much has been made of NDSU’s 9-5 mark against the FBS since 2006, the Bison haven’t been strong against FBS teams throughout the program’s history, as Kolpack pointed out. That includes the College Division and Division II eras before 2004. Overall the Bison are 25-26 lifetime against FBS teams.
North Dakota Receives Key Update on FBS Schedule