Some folks, both Husker fans and not Husker fans, grumbled when the ‘Skers dropped Tennessee from the 2026 and 2027 schedules a year ago. The good news is we are officially done with games with weaker opponents for ‘26 later this evening.
The final foe is North Dakota and they happily made the trip down to grab a big paycheck, the kind which sustain athletic budgets of these FCS/1-AA programs.
Now, this is HOCKEY North Dakota, not FOOTBALL North Dakota (State), which is making its FBS/D1 debut this season and is favored to win the Mountain West, Anthony Colandrea’s old conference. North Dakota is 3-0 against three truly atrocious teams, but they did make the FCS playoffs last season and won one before being dispatched 31-13 by Tarleton State – the same team which beat Bowling Green 20-13 two weeks ago ago.
So I’m not shaking with fear over the Fighting Hawks, though I do expect a slightly better showing than BGSU put up last week. And this is a story relayed to me by someone in the UNO family/Athletic Dept., so I took them at their word and never questioned this. If someone supposedly in the know calls this utter bullshit, I’ll not argue, just quietly stand by my source.
Funny story about North Dakota – where hockey’s concerned with our own UNO Mavericks.
When they originally formed the NCHC conference, the original eight schools (UNO, North Dakota, Western Michigan, Denver, St.Cloud St., Colorado College, Minnesota-Duluth and Miami OH) were asked to submit a team to be their rival and therefore play a home and home each season.
All seven of the other schools chose North Dakota.
The conference then told North Dakota they could basically choose their rival, and they in turn, in addition to other things, polled the fans. The fans, for a myriad of reasons (farther south, more to do in Omaha, less chance of bad winter storms) chose UNO.
It ended up going away – maybe when they added Arizona St and St Thomas? – but it was a fun story and we looked forward to seeing those North Dakota nuts every season. Hopefully, the majority of it is true, because I always found it pretty hilarious that one of college hockey’s blue bloods was proud to call the Mavs their rivals.
And enjoy the city of Omaha.
On to the vibes:
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These will not be available until Big 10 play begins.
- At this point, you just mumble something incoherent and run.
my wife when I sit down on the couch at 9 AM getting ready to watch 15 straights hours of football pic.twitter.com/dwTeaRSdOM
— HuskGuys (@HuskGuys) September 19, 2026
- If you’re having a bad day, just ask yourself if it’s NC State bad.
NC State was trying to run the clock out, could've just gone down for a safety, but CJ Bailey fumbles in the end zone and Vandy recovers for the win.
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) September 19, 2026
That is one of the most insane endings you will ever seepic.twitter.com/Ekv76sWhNd
- The balls on this beautiful bastard of a head coach 🫡
Letting your Punter throw from inside your own 5 on 4th & a mile 😂 pic.twitter.com/vgmVPMXl7H
— Coach Dan Casey (@CoachDanCasey) September 19, 2026
- The very definition and 2026 contest winner in the “That Didn’t Age Well” category.
NC STATE SEALS IT pic.twitter.com/LEIcEOIqwm
— Bussin' With The Boys (@BussinWTB) September 19, 2026
- Hey, at least it’s not pictures of that corn field miles out of town that everyone thinks is downtown Lincoln.
Weekend Threads 🪡#UNDproud | #LGHpic.twitter.com/PxG3kHGRkk
— North Dakota Football (@UNDfootball) September 18, 2026
- Yeah, I didn’t see any of these UND fans chirping tweets…but The Rock cracks me up.
North Dakota fans chirping all week, then mad that Nebraska fans are chirping back… then they play the victim that they are an FCS school, if you don’t want us to chirp you like a real school then know you role and shut your mouth! Can’t wait till blow them out! #GBRpic.twitter.com/QWNlXqUXPu
— Shaun Fischer (@ShaunFischer) September 19, 2026
- Go Big Red – enjoy the day y’all!
Plenty of red in the Nebraska student section with 75 minutes to go before kickoff. 🌽 pic.twitter.com/pbUAu0kdXo
— Hurrdat Sports (@HurrdatSports) September 19, 2026