(MVFC/NDSU Athletics/UND Athletics)
ST. LOUIS – The Missouri Valley Football Conference has announced dates and matchups in league play for the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
With the addition of Murray State to the conference in 2023, there will be 12 MVFC institutions with all league members playing eight conference games each year.
While the conference cannot play a full round-robin schedule each season, teams will play every MVFC institution at least four out of every six seasons, supporting a continuation of league identity and increasing competitive fairness over time.
Staff considered multiple options, including divisional play, four-team pods and a true rotation, before arriving at the current model, which utilizes agreed-upon scheduling principles, including maximizing bus trips to the greatest extent possible and protecting rivalries.
In the two-year cycle for 2023 and 2024, North Dakota State will not play Illinois State, Indiana State or Youngstown State.
NDSU is scheduled to host South Dakota, Western Illinois, Murray State and Southern Illinois in 2023. The Bison will host Missouri State, North Dakota, South Dakota State and Northern Iowa in 2024.
Both the 2023 and 2024 MVFC schedule for North Dakota features eight in-conference games, both with four home contests and four away games.
In 2023, the Fighting Hawks will open the MVFC portion of the schedule on Sept. 30 at South Dakota State.
The month of October will begin with UND hosting Western Illinois on Oct. 7 and North Dakota State on Oct. 14. After battling the Bison, the Hawks will head to Northern Iowa on Oct. 21 and conclude the month of October hosting Indiana State in Grand Forks for the first time (Oct. 28).
North Dakota will begin November with new conference foe Murray State, traveling to Kentucky on Nov. 4 to square off with the Racers for the first time in school history.
The 2023 regular season closes with North Dakota visiting South Dakota on Nov. 11 and hosting Illinois State on Nov. 18.
In 2024, MVFC action for UND kicks off on Oct. 5 with Northern Iowa in the Alerus Center.
The following week, NoDak visits Illinois State on Oct. 12 before hosting the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State on Oct. 19.
After hosting SDSU, UND has two consecutive road games, with games at North Dakota State (Oct. 26) and Indiana State (Nov. 2).
The Racers of Murray State will visit Grand Forks for the first time in program history on Nov. 9, before the Fighting Hawks conclude the 2024 regular-season home slate with South Dakota on Nov. 16.
The final MVFC game of the regular season for North Dakota will be at Western Illinois on Nov. 23.