"Jack" West arrived on campus in Grand Forks that would transform North Dakota into one of the most successful college football programs in the nation.

West immediately turned around what was at the time a mediocre football program at UND, winning NCC titles in his first four seasons at the helm.

Over the course of 15 seasons, West amassed a record of 89–35–6, won a total of 8 NCC Championships, and retired as the winningest coach in North Dakota history, a distinction he would hold for 57 years.

Following Jack West's 15-year tenure as leader of the Fighting Sioux football, the program compiled a record of just 44–44 over the next eleven seasons and did not win an NCC title in that time frame.

North Dakota would win the game by a rather convincing 17 points, upsetting the favored Mustangs and bolstering their hopes of being awarded the programs first national title.

However, the loss to NDSU proved too much to overcome as the pollsters crowned undefeated Delaware as College Division National Champions for the second straight year.

They played host to unranked Livingston in the quarterfinals of the playoff where the heavily favored Fighting Sioux were stunned and handed their only loss of the season.

Murphy's 1979 team qualified for the Division II playoffs, but fell in the quarterfinals to Mississippi College finishing the season with a 10–2 record.

Although he amassed a record of 36–27 in six seasons leading the program, North Dakota never qualified for the playoffs nor did they win a conference title under Behrns' direction.

Following a dreadful 3–8 season in 1985 that culminated in a 49–0 loss to arch rival NDSU Bison, Behrns resigned as head coach of North Dakota.

To add insult to what was already a forgettable decade in the annals of UND football history that yielded no conference titles and no playoff berths, 1980 marked the last time that the Sioux would defeat the rival NDSU Bison until 1993, twelve consecutive meetings.

He was previously an assistant in the Canadian Football League and at the University of Minnesota, as well as serving as offensive coordinator on Gene Murphy's staff at North Dakota in 1978 and 1979.

When the two foes met in 1993, the Fighting Sioux defeated the Bison for the first time since 1980, in a 22–21 thriller, that would prove to turn the balance of power in the North Central Conference for the rest of its existence.

As icing on the cake, UND was pitted against NDSU in the 2nd round of the playoffs and were victorious over the Bison for the second time in the same season.

After Roger Thomas stepped away from the football field and accepted the position of Athletics Director at North Dakota, he did not have to look far to find his replacement on the sidelines.

9 ranked North Dakota travelled to Northwest Missouri State where they fell in overtime, ending Lennon's first season with a 9–2 record.

4 ranked North Dakota reeled of three straight playoff wins in the friendly confines of their new home in front of raucous and deafening crowds.

2 ranked Grand Valley State who were led by future Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly.

On the ensuing play, QB Kelby Klosterman hit WR Luke Schleusner on a short underneath route.

UND punched it into the endzone on the next play to take the lead with 29 seconds left in the game, securing North Dakota with the national championship.

QB John Bowenkamp had driven the Sioux 58 yards deep in to GVSU territory on a quest for a potential game tying TD, but was intercepted in the red zone giving the Lakers the victory.

They would join the Great West Conference, which also included South Dakota, Southern Utah, UC Davis, and Cal Poly.

Mussman had been an assistant under Dale Lennon for 9 years, the previous 7 as offensive coordinator, and had been a part of the 2001 National Championship staff.

In 2009, defending NAIA National Champion University of Sioux Falls came to Grand Forks and stunned the Alerus Center crowd by soundly defeating North Dakota.

Prior to taking the head job at North Dakota, he was the defensive coordinator for Dale Lennon's Southern Illinois team.

The team improved to 7–4 overall and 5–3 against Big Sky Conference opponents, narrowly missing out on a bid to the NCAA FCS playoffs.

The two schools are separated by just 70 miles of interstate along the Eastern border of the state and have spent well over a century competing against one another for players, students, fans, resources and recognition.

The rivalry was once again renewed on an annual basis in 2020 when North Dakota joined the Missouri Valley Football Conference, with the first in-conference matchup between the two schools in over 10 years ending in 21–10 victory for the Hawks.

At that time, the Big Sky had 13 teams, so the conference employed an unbalanced schedule that results in only playing certain opponents in different seasons, and continues to do so to this day.

Northern Colorado, also a long time Division II foe in the NCC, trails the all-time series against North Dakota 18–12.