Last Sunday morning the UND football team and fans gathered at Buffalo Wild Wings and waited to see whether their hard work and perseverance paid off to earn a seed in the playoffs.  The selection show on ESPNU answered their prayers as the Fighting Hawks found their place in the seventh seed.

The Hawks ended their season with a 9-2 record and remained undefeated in their conference to earn their spot. This means the Hawks will take a bye week in the first week of FCS playoffs and in week two they will face the winner of the Richmond and North Carolina A&T.

“Having a bye is a pretty big deal,” linebacker Connor O’Brien said. “We can get some guys back who are banged up.”

North Carolina A&T of Mid-Eastern Atlantic ended their season with the same record as UND, 9-2 but in their last outing in the regular season they fell to North Carolina Central, 42-21.

As for Richmond from the Colonial Athletics Association, their season ended slightly under UND at 8-3. Richmond was upset by William & Mary in their last game, after losing their starting quarterback Kyle Lauletta, 34-13.

UND has their work cut out for them, but it doesn’t seem to phase the team as they continue to practice and excel.

“We worked hard all year for this,” said UND running back John Santiago. “We just have to keep it rolling.”

UND will host their first playoff game on Dec. 3 with a kickoff time set for 5 p.m. Tickets will be available Nov. 21 at 10 a.m. at the Ralph Engelstad Arena and Alerus Center box offices. Tickets will also be available online at UNDsports.com

Allyson Bento is the sports editor for Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected]