Oct. 3—GRAND FORKS — A few of college football’s rituals occurred after UND beat North Dakota State 49-24 last season in the Alerus Center.
The students jumped over the railings and stormed the field. The Fighting Hawks players stayed to celebrate with them. The fans who remained in the stands roared in approval as UND celebrated a much-awaited win over a rival.
But there was one thing missing.
There was no sprint to the end zone to grab a traveling trophy to celebrate.
For the first time since 1937, UND did not get the Nickel Trophy after beating the Bison.
The Nickel Trophy, depicting a buffalo on one side and a Native American on the other, was retired after UND removed its Fighting Sioux nickname in 2012 and replaced it with the Fighting Hawks in 2015.
The Nickel Trophy now sits on display at the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck.
The last time it was awarded was 2003, when UND beat NDSU in overtime in the Alerus Center.
The following year, NDSU moved to the Division-I level and the football programs didn’t play again until 2015 — eight years after UND jumped to Division-I. They’ve played six times as Division-I opponents, four since UND entered the Missouri Valley Football Conference in 2020, without awarding a trophy.
Will a new traveling trophy, a staple of college football rivalries, be re-instated to the UND-NDSU rivalry soon?
It does not seem so.
While UND is open to it, NDSU is not as receptive.
“Now that we’re back in the same conference, playing on a regular cadence, I think we certainly would be open to that conversation,” UND athletic director Bill Chaves said. “No question about it.
“There hasn’t been much discussion at this point. I think what’s fair is we needed to let our entrance into the Missouri Valley breathe a little bit. We were quickly greeted by a global pandemic. It’s been a little bit interesting to say the least. Now, we’re heading into a proper cadence of playing each other each and every year. The idea of potentially (adding a traveling trophy) seems logical. I know UND would certainly be open to it.”
UND does not currently play for any traveling trophies.
NDSU instituted the Dakota Marker trophy for its rivalry with South Dakota State in 2004, when the two programs left the North Central Conference to go D-I together.
“I would say a fair amount of people have asked me that,” NDSU athletic director Matt Larsen said about starting a new UND-NDSU trophy. “I would say there’s nothing in the works right now. It took a huge step back when we both went Division-I and played in two different leagues for 10-plus years. The one thing we always worry about, and caution a bit, is that I was talking to our football coach and in the Big 10, every week is a trophy game. It diminishes the value of them. We have one trophy game with SDSU.
“It’s not to say it will never happen. I know it’s not something we’re overly motivated to do.”
South Dakota and South Dakota State play for an athletic department-wide trophy, the Showdown Series.
“That may be something we’re interested in down the road,” Larsen said.
Larsen said he generally hears questions about bringing back a traveling trophy from older fans who experienced the Nickel Trophy days.
“A lot of younger fans and more recent student-athletes, if you ask them who our rival is, they’d probably say South Dakota State,” Larsen said. “Because of the period of time UND was in the Big Sky and we were in the Missouri Valley and Summit, we didn’t have as many opportunities to play each other. Generations probably look at it differently.”
Despite the 12-year absence of the football rivalry, tickets remain in high demand.
The UND-NDSU game is sold out and the cheapest ticket on secondary-market site StubHub is $92.
The NDSU-SDSU game, scheduled for Oct. 19 in Fargo, is not yet sold out.
“It’s an incredibly important three hours for the state of North Dakota and beyond the state of North Dakota, because we have alums all over the world,” Chaves said. “However it plays out, it’s an incredibly significant and symbolic three hours.”
While there’s no trophy awarded, Larsen said he thinks it’s a good thing the programs are playing against each other regularly in football again.
“I didn’t ever experience it previously,” he said. “I’m more of the latter generation that didn’t get a chance to experience what that rivalry was like in the ’80s, ’90s and even before that. We have a number of rivalries, not just one. I think the in-state piece means more to our fans. I think it means more to some of our in-state kids, who maybe didn’t grow up with it, but are playing in it again. It’s debated and it means something in their home towns.
“I think the fact that we’re playing against each other now is a good thing. I think it’s a really good thing.”
