This is how Week 0 should feel: a ranked team, a live underdog, and just enough uncertainty to make everyone pay attention. North Dakota enters 2025 with major expectations, and Thursday night’s meeting with Long Island at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks is not the kind of opener you can treat as a formality. It is the sort of game that tells you whether a top-10 label is real or just decorative.
North Dakota finished 8-6 last year and won a game in the FCS playoffs, which is a decent resume by any standard. But decent is not the same as complete, and the pressure now shifts to proving that last season was a launchpad rather than a high-water mark. Long Island, meanwhile, comes in off a 6-6 season that included a win over Eastern Michigan, which is exactly the kind of detail that should stop anyone from assuming the Sharks are just here to absorb punishment.
Why this opener matters
There is a real edge to this matchup because it sits at the intersection of expectation and resistance. North Dakota is being framed as a top-10 team for a reason, and if the Fighting Hawks are serious about the level they believe they belong at, these are the games they are supposed to handle. Not necessarily with ease, because early-season football rarely works that neatly, but with control.
The complication is that Long Island has a defensive profile that gives it a chance to hang around longer than the spread might suggest. That does not make the Sharks favorites, and it does not rewrite the hierarchy. What it does do is create a genuine test of patience for North Dakota. If the home side starts slowly, wastes possessions, or lets the game drift into something uncomfortable, the ranking suddenly starts looking like a burden instead of an asset.
Long Island can make this awkward
That is the uncomfortable truth for the bigger program in games like this: the underdog often has less to lose and more room to play free. Long Island already proved last season that it can beat an FBS opponent, and that matters. A 6-6 record is not flashy, but it is respectable, and respectable teams with a strong defense have a habit of making people work harder than expected.
North Dakota should still be expected to control the night. The home field matters, the ranking matters, and the overall talent picture matters. But this is not the kind of opener that rewards complacency. If the Fighting Hawks are going to justify the noise around them, they need to look the part from the start, not after the game has already become annoying.
How fans can watch
Fans looking to stream North Dakota vs. Long Island can find the game on +. That makes the matchup easy enough to follow, but it also means anyone tuning in will get a clear look at whether the top-10 billing for North Dakota is backed up by actual command of the moment.
In other words, this is not just Week 0 filler. It is an early verdict game. North Dakota has the ranking, the home setting and the bigger expectations. Long Island has enough defensive credibility to keep the conversation interesting. That is exactly why Thursday night should tell us something real.
