GRAND FORKS, N.D. - UND will officially plays its first game as a Big Sky and full Division I member against South Dakota School of Mines on Thursday, Aug. 30 at the Alerus Center. August games have been a rarity for the North Dakota football team, competing in only four during its history that dates back to 1894.

This will be the first meeting between the two teams on the gridiron as the squads will be the first to compete on the new Astroturf 3D GameDay Grass playing surface at the Alerus Center. UND just concluded its transition to the Division I level, gaining full status in early August, while SD Mines is continuing its transition to the Division II level.

TV: Midco Sports Network (Locally on channel 27 and 322 (HD))
Radio: UND Radio Network (Locally on 96.1 FM)

Live Streaming: www.B2TV.com or www.AmericaOneSports.com
Live Stats: www.UNDSports.com

THE BLITZ

• August has been kind, however, as the Green and White are 4-0 with all of those triumphs coming at home since 2004. UND has outscored its opponents 188-39 (47 ppg) in that quartet of games.

• The opener versus the Hardrockers will be the 118th for the North Dakota football program (86-29-1; .746). This will be the first meeting between the two teams. SD Mines is moving up to the NCAA Division II ranks after playing at the NAIA level.

• UND registered its 40th shutout in a season opener just last season when UND blanked Drake 16-0 on Sept. 1, which was also a Thursday night tilt. 

• The 2011 win over the Bulldogs was also the 22nd straight when UND opened a season on its home turf. 

• The most points scored by a UND team in a season opener is 59, occuring twice as the 2003 squad shutout Minnesota, Crookston and the 2007 squad blanked Humboldt State by identical scores (59-0).

• There is only one player that hails from the state of South Dakota on UND’s 2012 roster. Junior offensive lineman Darren Deneui is a native of Chancellor. Deneui is slated to start at right tackle after making 11 starts at left tackle in 2011.

• SD Mines only has two North Dakotan natives on its roster as wide receiver Thomas Walter and defensive lineman Andrew Munson both claim Bismarck as their home town. The Hardrockers’ roster does span more than half of the United States, however, as 27 different states are represented on the 2012 roster. North Dakota has 17 states covered on its roster as well as Canada and Sweden.

• The UND-SD Mines game will be the first live game broadcasted by Midco Sports Network as part of its five-year agreement reached with UND’s athletic department this past summer. Kickoff is slated for 7:05 p.m. as former UND radio play-by-play voice Dan Hammer will call the action. Former UND signal caller Tony Stein (1997-99) will serve as Hammer’s analyst and Danny Luetzen will be on the sidelines.

• This will be the first of five football games and at least 40 live UND events that MSN will broadcast during the 2012-13 academic year. The only home football game that will not be carried on MSN is the Montana game (Oct. 20), which is slated for a national broadcast by Root Sports.

• The UND Radio Network will provide coverage of all 11 games during the 2012 season for its 12-station membership. Jack Michaels is back for his second season as the play-by-play voice, while Mike Berg will once again handle the analyst duties. Paul Ralston will be managing the sidelines for the radio broadcast team.

• Fans can also link to each live audio broadcast from the home of UND Athletics at UNDSports.com. Live stats will also be available for all home games on the site.

• Ten of UND’s 11 games (excluding Montana) will have a live video stream available to fans  compliments of Big Sky TV. Fans can visit B2TV.com or AmericaOneSports.com to create an account for free access to those contests. The games can also be streamed live this year on mobile and tablet devices.

• A lot of firsts will occur on Thursday, Aug. 30 in the Alerus Center as North Dakota opens its 2012 season against SD School of Mines. It will mark the first time these two teams have met on the gridiron. 

• UND will also play its first football game as a full Division I member after completing the five-year transition from the Division II level. The NCAA verified UND’s new status on Thursday, Aug. 2.

• Next, it will also be the first game on the gridiron for UND as a Big Sky member. The athletic department became an all-sport playing member of the league on July 1, 2012. UND joins Southern Utah as a new member, while Cal Poly and UC Davis join as football only members.

• The game between UND and the Hardrockers will be played on an entirely different surface than what the Green and White played on during its first 11 seasons in the Alerus Center. The old turf was replaced this past summer with a new AstroTurf GameDay Grass. Installation was completed just in time for the season opener and the team to be able to practice on during the week leading up to the game.

•  UND has only played four games in August before, but this will be the first time the team has played on the 30th day of the month. 

• On the opposing sidelines, SD Mines’ Stacy Collins will be making his collegiate head coaching debut. 

   

• UND is 62-13 in 11 seasons at the Alerus Center, including an 11-1 mark in the Division II playoffs. 

• Head coach Chris Mussman is 15-6 all-time at UND’s home facility and is 2-0 in season openers at home.

UND will be in a new league this season and with that usually comes new opponents, but the Green and White have actually played eight of the nine Big Sky teams on its docket. The only new opponent in that bunch is Eastern Washington - the 2010 FCS National Champion. There are two more new opponents on the schedule, but SD Mines and San Diego State are both non-conference tilts. Portland State, who is a Big Sky member, is the other non-conference game, but UND has played the Vikings twice before. Montana and Montana State are old North Central Conference rivalries that will be renewed with the membership in the BSC. UND has played Montana State 28 times and Montana 19 times before on the gridiron. The UND gridders will play those schools on back-to-back Saturdays in October this season.

Head coach Chris Mussman’s assistant coaching staff stayed in tact for the most part with only three new additions being added to the fold. Wes Nurse will coach the cornerbacks and joins the staff after one season in the same role at UC Davis. Jeff Richter, a former UND defensive lineman, will begin his first season in 2012 as the team’s tight ends coach. Kyle Myers, who was a volunteer assistant in 2010 returns in a paid capacity and will assist with the linebackers. 

Mike Mannausau will have a new title to work with in 2012 as he was promoted to associate head coach and will be the sole defensive coordinator this season. Josh Kotelnicki was named assistant head coach during the summer and has added that title to his role as the linebackers coach and special teams coordinator. Luke Schleusner will coach the position he played at UND as he moves over from coaching the tight ends and fullbacks to directing the wide receivers.    

North Carolina transfer Braden Hanson arrived on campus in January looking for a chance to start at quarterback in what will be his final collegiate season. The left-handed signal caller worked his way up the depth chart by progressively getting better through the spring. Hanson, who was the Gatorade Player of the Year in North Carolina in 

2007, spent four seasons with the Tarheels and will wear No. 18 this season at UND. 

North Dakota made its final season in the Great West a memorable one as the team flipped its record from 2010, improving by five games to finish 8-3 overall and finish ranked in a national poll for the first time in its Division I history (No. 23; Sports Network/Fathead.com Poll).  It was the third best turnaround in program history. Head coach Chris Mussman earned GWC Coach of the Year honors for his efforts and was also a finalist for the Liberty Mutual and Eddie Robinson FCS Coach of the Year Awards.

UND went winless on the road in 2010, dropping all five games away from the Alerus Center. However, in 2011, the story was a little different away from home as UND went 3-2 with all three of those wins coming against current Big Sky members (Northern Colorado, Southern Utah and UC Davis).

No other team in the FCS had more blocked kicks during the 2011 regular season than North Dakota. The special teams unit blocked 10 kicks (six field goals and four extra points). Since moving up to Division I, UND has a total of 35 blocked kicks with at least seven or more in each of the last four seasons. Senior Devin Benjamin and junior Cordero Finley led the team with three blocked kicks a piece. Sophomore Shea Walker chipped in with two blocks.

UND captured its 25th football conference title in program history when it defeated South Dakota 38-37 to earn a share of the Great West crown in last year’s season finale. The league title was the team’s first at the Division I level after winning 24 North Central Conference titles at the Division II level. 

Junior running back Jake Miller will look to take the momentum from a solid sophomore season into Big Sky play in 2012. He earned first team All-Great West honors in 2011 after rushing for a career-high 942 yards and 13 touchdowns (both ranked second in the league). He added a receiving touchdown to finish the campaign with 14 scores, which tied for the sixth most in a single season by a UND player. Miller also became the first player in GWC history to earn three consecutive Offensive Player of the Week accolades after rushing for a combined 587 yards and seven touchdowns in a three-week span vs. Fresno State (145 yards, 3 TDs), Black Hills State (181 yards, 2 TDs) and Southern Utah (161 yards, 2 TDs).

If he puts together a similar season to his first two in Grand Forks, junior wide receiver Greg Hardin will break into the top 10 career lists in a number of categories in 2012. He already has 84 catches for 1,285 yards and 12 receiving touchdowns in 20 career games. Those are all totals that would have him in the top three of each of those career categories if he maintains his current pace. Current CFL star Weston Dressler is the man at the top of all of those lists, holding an edge in each category by a wide margin. Dressler finished his four-year career with 243 receptions, 3,382 receiving yards and 37 receiving touchdowns.  Hardin was twice named a first team All-Great West selection and he earned the award in 2011 despite missing the last three games of the season with an injury.