The University of North Dakota’s football squad returns home Saturday afternoon after two straight on the road for a Homecoming battle with Western Illinois at 2 p.m. from the Alerus Center in Grand Forks. 

This will be the third all-time meeting between North Dakota and Western Illinois, with UND claiming both previous matchups. Those games came in Macomb, with the Fighting Sioux rolling to a 28-7 win on Nov. 10, 1979 in the first showdown and winning 38-21 on March 13, 2021 last season. 

UND saw a career day through the air from quarterback Tommy Schuster, throwing for 328 yards and three scores to earn MVFC Offensive Player of the Week honors last season in Macomb. The rushing attack added 216 yards on the ground and the Hawks held the ball for over 41 minutes to pick up the victory. 

The last three weeks have not been kind to North Dakota, dropping to 0-3 in league play with losses to North Dakota State, South Dakota and Southern Illinois. This marks the first time under head coach Bubba Schweigert that UND has started the conference slate with an 0-3 mark.

Prior to 2021, the last time a UND team has started the conference season with an 0-3 mark was 2010, when it went 0-4 in the 5-team Great West Conference. Before that? UND went 2-7 in the NCC in 1986.

The last time UND suffered three or more consecutive conference losses by one score was 2002, when the Sioux fell to St. Cloud State (20-17), Omaha (20-17), Minnesota State (36-35) and Augustana (38-31) in four straight games.