Sep. 9—GRAND FORKS — The No. 6-ranked UND football program hits the road for the first time this season when the Fighting Hawks take on Portland State at 9 p.m. Saturday in Hillsboro, Ore.
Here are eight things to know about UND's next opponent.
Portland State's new head coach, Chris Fisk, has roots in North Dakota.
Fisk, a Pocatello, Idaho, native, played at the University of Jamestown from 1996 to 1998, then coached the offensive line at the University of Mary in Bismarck from 2002 to 2006 before becoming Mary's offensive coordinator from 2007-10.
When UND head coach Eric Schmidt was an assistant at Washington, Fisk was the head coach at Central Washington.
"You can tell early on already that he's brought in that winning culture to Portland State," Schmidt said.
Fisk was 48-22 as the head coach at Central Washington, leading the team to the NCAA Division II playoffs in each of his last three seasons.
With a new coaching staff, Portland State returned 41 players from the 2025 roster including seven starters on offense and one starter on defense.
The new coaching staff signed 67 newcomers — 34 freshmen and 33 transfers.
Senior linebacker Jaxton Helmstetler is the Vikings' only returning defensive starter. He was third on the team in tackles last season with 71. He was second a year ago with 6.5 tackles for loss.
The Vikings added two transfers from Fisk's former team at Central Washington that figure to make an impact on defense — junior linebacker Logan Lisherness and senior defensive end Brogan De'Asis.
Lisherness was a second-team all-conference pick, while De'Asis had 19 tackles and 3.5 for loss.
"Defensively is where you see the biggest improvement, the biggest change in their team," Schmidt said. "We got to watch (De'Asis) last year. (CWU) played Montana right before we did, and we really thought highly of him. "
Portland State has started two different quarterbacks in two games.
Tyrese Smith had more than 300 yards of total offense against UC Davis, finishing 23-for-36 for 268 yards while rushing for 33 yards and two touchdowns.
Gabe Downing started against San Diego State and went 31-for-52 for 280 yards passing and two total touchdowns (one rushing, one passing).
"Probably more designed runs for the Week 1 quarterback, but I think those guys have the ability to be able to move their feet and make plays in the pocket," Schmidt said. "Out there on the West Coast, I think you're going to see high-level receivers and skill players. You watch them and the throws they're making, whether that's deep outs or posts ... they're throwing all the routes accurately. "
Smith played against UND in the Alerus Center as a backup quarterback last season. He was 0-for-1 passing but rushed seven times for 26 yards including a 14-yard run.
No, not Hillsboro, N.D. Portland State plays its home games in Hillsboro, Ore., next to the Hillsboro Hops minor league baseball stadium.
When UND was in the Big Sky Conference, Portland State played some games in Hillsboro and some in the downtown soccer stadium of the Portland Timbers in the MLS.
In 2015, UND played at the Hillsboro setup. In that game, UND won 19-17 when the Vikings were ranked No. 16 in the country.
John Santiago ran for 111 yards and quarterback Keaton Studsrud ran for 107 and threw for 136.
A Reid Taubenheim 29-yard field goal provided the winning points in the fourth quarter. Taubenheim hit four field goals in the game.
The Portland State schedule starts with a brutal four-game stretch.
The Vikings opened against then-No. 6 UC Davis, then played FBS San Diego State. After playing now-No. 6 UND, PSU takes on FBS Oregon on Sept. 18.
The Vikings nearly shocked the FCS world in the opener. PSU led 21-0 at halftime while out-gaining the Aggies 257 to 84. Davis, though, outscored PSU 31-3 in the second half to win 31-24.
In the current rankings, PSU is scheduled to play five teams ranked in the FCS Top 25 — Montana (No. 3), UND (6), UC Davis (7), Idaho State (17) and Northern Arizona (24). Southern Utah is also receiving votes in the poll.
Cru Newman was a Phil Steele Preseason All-Big Sky second team kick returner and third team wide receiver.
Newman was a Freshman All-American last season after totaling more than 1,000 all-purpose yards.
Newman returned a punt 78 yards for a touchdown against UC Davis.
Newman is a 6-foot, 185-pound Portland native.
The converted quarterback was the Oregon Gatorade Player of the Year in high school after passing for 7,684 yards and 94 touchdowns in his career. He won state titles in 2021 and 2023.
Deleon Thompson was named to the Phil Steele Preseason All-Big Sky third team as a running back.
Thompson has 1,505 career yards and 15 career rushing touchdowns.
The 5-foot-9, 200-pound junior from California ran 15 times for 48 yards against Davis and 20 times for 80 yards against San Diego State.
UND bottled up Thompson in Grand Forks last season. He had 13 carries for 19 yards and a touchdown. His longest run was 7 yards.
Portland State had two punts blocked last Saturday at San Diego State.
The Vikings also had a fumbled snap on a punt against UC Davis that led to a safety.
UND blocked a punt against St. Thomas last week. Sam Ostrenga blocked the punt to give the UND offense the ball back at the UST 20.
However, the momentum was short-lived as Hawks quarterback Jerry Kaminski threw an interception on the next play. St. Thomas' Malachi Boadi-Aboagye snared the pass in the backfield and returned it for a touchdown, despite Kaminski running nearly 70 yards to try track down the Tommies' linebacker.