1979 North Dakota Fighting Sioux football team

American college football season

1979 North Dakota Fighting Sioux football
NCC champion
NCAA Division II Quarterfinal, L 15–35 at Mississippi College
Conference	North Central Conference
Record	10–2 (5–1 NCC)
Head coach	Gene Murphy (2nd season)
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium
Seasons← 19781980 →

1979 North Central Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 3 North Dakota $^	5	–	1	–	0	10	–	2	–	0
No. 8 South Dakota State * ^	4	–	2	–	0	9	–	3	–	0
North Dakota State	4	–	2	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
Nebraska–Omaha	3	–	3	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
South Dakota *	3	–	3	–	0	5	–	6	–	0
Augustana (SD)	2	–	4	–	0	4	–	5	–	0
Morningside	0	–	6	–	0	0	–	10	–	0
Northern Colorado †	0	–	0	–	0	2	–	8	–	0

$ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division II playoff participant * – South Dakota State won two head-to-head games over South Dakota, which counted as one game for each team in the conference standings. † – Northern Colorado was ineligible for the conference title. Rankings from AP Poll

The 1979 North Dakota Fighting Sioux football team, also known as the Nodaks, was an American football team that represented the University of North Dakota as a member of the North Central Conference (NCC) during the 1979 NCAA Division II football season. Led by Gene Murphy in his second and final season as head coach, the Fighting Sioux compiled an overall record of 10–2 with a mark of 5–1 in conference play, winning the NCC title. North Dakota advanced to the NCAA Division II Football Championship playoffs, losing in the quarterfinals to Mississippi College. The team played home games at Memorial Stadium in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance
September 1		Moorhead State*		Memorial Stadium Grand Forks, ND	W 17–0	6,300
September 8		at Montana State*		Reno H. Sales Stadium Bozeman, MT	W 20–16	7,070
September 15		at Sacramento State*		Memorial Stadium Grand Forks, ND	W 31–0	13,200
September 22		at South Dakota State		Coughlin–Alumni Stadium Brookings, SD	W 13–0	4,380
September 29		Illinois State*	No. T–4	Memorial Stadium Grand Forks, ND	W 13–0	5,700
October 6		at Augustana (SD)	No. 3	Sioux Falls, SD	W 30–24	1,157
October 13		at North Dakota State	No. 2	Dacotah Field Fargo, ND (Nickel Trophy)	W 14–7	12,800
October 20		South Dakota	No. 3	Memorial Stadium Grand Forks, ND (Sitting Bull Trophy)	W 23–22	11,050
October 27		Morningside	No. 3	Memorial Stadium Grand Forks, ND	W 32–7	5,700
November 3		at Nebraska–Omaha	No. 3	Al F. Caniglia Field Omaha, NE	L 13–24	5,300
November 10		at Western Illinois*	No. 3	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	W 28–7	8,300
November 24	7:30 p.m.	at No. 5 Mississippi College*	No. 3	Mississippi Memorial Stadium Jackson, MS (NCAA Division II Quarterfinal)	L 15–35
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

1979 North Dakota Fighting Sioux football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
RB	`33`	Kirk Anderson	Jr
QB	`15`	Chris Sorensen	So
OT	`74`	Todd Thomas	Jr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
CB	`13`	Jim Abernathy	So
DT	`80`	Dale Markham	Sr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class

v t e North Dakota Fighting Hawks football
Venues	Memorial Stadium (1927–2000) Alerus Center (2001–present)
Bowls & rivalries	North Dakota State: Nickel Trophy South Dakota: Sitting Bull Trophy
Culture & lore	"Fight On Sioux" "It's for You, North Dakota U" Pride of the North Native American mascot controversy
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943–1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold

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