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Saturday will mark the 112th meeting on the gridiron–but only the second in the Division I era–between long-time rivals North Dakota State and North Dakota, who are set to go head-to-head at the Fargodome.
The game (3:30 p.m. ET start time) won’t be on regular TV anywhere, but you can watch it live right here on ESPN+, the digital streaming service from ESPN that has exclusive coverage of dozens of college football games and other live sports every week, all the 30-for-30 documentaries and additional original content (both video and written) all for $4.99 per month.
You can sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then watch NDSU vs UND live on your computer via ESPN.com, or on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or other streaming device via the ESPN app.
North Dakota vs ND State Preview
With UND set to join NDSU in the Missouri Valley Conference next year, the rivalry is officially back. They’ve met 111 times in their storied histories, but it has happened just once before since they joined the Division-I level. That one came back in 2015, with some guy named Carson Wentz leading the Bison to an easy 34-9 victory.
Fortunately for North Dakota, Wentz is no longer on campus. Neither is his successor, Easton Stick, the 2019 fifth-round NFL selection who left the Bison last year after becoming the school’s all-time leader in passing yards, passing touchdowns, total offense yards, yards per game and yards per play.
Unfortunately for North Dakota, the Bison appear to have yet another star at quarterback.
In his first start under center last week, Trey Lance completed 10-of-11 throws for 185 yards and four touchdowns, adding 116 yards and two more scores on just five carries en route to a 57-10 thrashing of Butler. That means he averaged 18.8 yards per play and a touchdown on every 2.67 plays he was involved in. Unsurprisingly, he was named Missouri Valley Football Conference Player of the Week for his efforts.
“He’s very athletic and anytime you’re athletic, you’ve got to be able to defend the quarterback run game,” UND coach Bubba Schweigert said. “When he drops back to pass and the play breaks down, he can make plays. He presents challenges to a defense, no question.”
It’s not as though anyone was worried about North Dakota State entering the season–the two-time defending champs were, after all, No. 1 in the preseason FCS rankings. But with a new head coach and new quarterback, many were curious about how the Bison look.
It’s probably safe to say most of those questions have been emphatically answered, but it’ll still be intriguing to see how Lance and Co. look against better competition on Saturday.
North Dakota got off to a similarly dominant start last weekend with a 47-7 drubbing of Drake, and the Fighting Hawks are now just outside the FCS Top 25.
It wasn’t all great, though, as quarterback Nate Ketteringham left that game with a leg injury and won’t play against NDSU. Instead, backup Andrew Zimmerman–who threw for 132 yards and two touchdowns in relief last weekend–will make his first career start against the top team in the land.
“We are very proud of how Andrew played in Week 1,” Schweigert said. “He’s a senior who has spent a lot of time here, and we are looking forward to him leading our offense at this point in the season. Sports medicine will continue to work hard along with Nate to work to get him back as soon as possible.”
NDSU are favored by 30.5.