North Dakota State Adds Division I-A Ball State University to 2006 Football Schedule
8/23/2005 5:00:00 AM | Football
FARGO, N.D.--North Dakota State University Director of Athletics Gene Taylor announced NDSU and Ball State University have agreed to play Sept. 23, 2006, at Ball State Stadium in Muncie, Ind.
Ball State is a member of the NCAA Division I-A Mid-American Conference. The Cardinals were 2-9 overall in 2004 and 2-6 in the MAC. Ball State is scheduled to open the 2005 season on Sept. 3 at the University of Iowa.
"Scheduling our first Division I-A opponent is another big step in building our program," said North Dakota State head coach Craig Bohl.
North Dakota State has played three games against current Mid-American Conference opponents. NDSU tied Eastern Michigan 14-14 in the 1970 opener, and defeated Northern Illinois 31-13 in 1968 and 28-0 in 1969. The last major college opponent was Missouri in 1956 when the Tigers defeated the Bison 42-0 in Columbia.
"We're excited about the opportunity to play Ball State as our first Division I-A opponent," said Taylor.
"We appreciate Ball State's willingness to play us. We hope it's the first of many opportunities to schedule I-A opponents in football in the future."
The Bison have seven games on the 2006 schedule with home contests against Northeastern University on Sept. 9, Cal Poly on Nov. 11 and South Dakota State on Nov. 18. Road games include Ball State on Sept. 23, Stephen F. Austin on Sept. 30, Southern Utah on Oct. 28 and UC Davis on Nov. 4.
North Dakota State has put together back-to-back 8-3 seasons under the direction of head coach Craig Bohl. The Bison are scheduled to open the 2005 season at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1, against the University of Arkansas-Monticello in the Fargodome.
