8 things to know about UND football's next opponent Tennessee Tech

Nov. 26—GRAND FORKS — The UND football team will play Tennessee Tech for the first time in school history on Saturday at noon in the first round of the FCS Playoffs in Cookeville, Tenn.

Here are eight things to know about the Golden Eagles:

UND and Tennessee Tech will be playing next to a construction zone.

TTU's home field of Tucker Stadium is undergoing a $30 million renovation that is expected to be ready for the 2026 season.

As a result, all fans will be on the east side of the field.

The school has demolished the west side of the stadium and is undergoing a rebuild to feature premium seating, suites and a club level hospitality room.

The renovation is expected to raise the 9,500-seat previous setup to about 12,000. It also includes a new home team dressing room.

Tennessee Tech will play in a new league next season.

The Golden Eagles will officially become members of the Southern Conference on July 1, 2026. TTU's addition gives the Southern Conference 11 teams.

TTU will join East Tennessee State, Tennessee-Chattanooga, The Citadel, Furman, Mercer, North Carolina-Greensboro, Samford, Virginia Military Institute, Western Carolina and Wofford.

Tennessee Tech senior quarterback Kekoa Visperas is a finalist for the FCS Walter Payton Award, which goes to the top offensive player in the country.

Visperas set a school single-season record for touchdown passes with 25.

The transfer from Eastern Washington led his league in total offense and total touchdowns. In 12 regular-season games, he was 212-for-323 (65.6 percent) for 2,486 yards and also rushed for 484 yards.

Visperas was a multi-year starter at EWU. He threw for 2,171 yards with 17 touchdowns in 2024.

Days before the opening of the FCS playoffs, Tennessee Tech head coach Bobby Wilder signed a five-year contract extension.

Wilder is now under contract through 2030.

"Under Coach Wilder, our team has created a momentum that has energized our university and our community," athletic director Casey Fox said.

On the same day Wilder signed his new contract, he was named AFCA Region 2 Coach of the Year. Wilder also earned the OVC-Big South Coach of the Year award. This season, the Golden Eagles set program records in points scored (482), touchdowns (65), rushing touchdowns (32), total offense (5,119 yards), second in sacks (45), and fewest total rushing yards allowed (913).

Senior linebacker Theron Gaines leads the Golden Eagles on defense and is a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award, which goes to the FCS' best defensive player.

Gaines, who's 6-foot-1 and 237 pounds, leads a defense that allows just 76.1 yards rushing per game.

Gaines, who has played at TTU all four years of college, has 86 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks while also scoring a pair of defensive touchdowns.

This is the second time in history Tennessee Tech has made the FCS postseason. In its one previous appearance, TTU hosted Central Arkansas in 2011 and fell 34-14.

Wilder said school officials are working hard to create an atmosphere for this weekend.

"It's harder this weekend with Thanksgiving," he said. "We're on fall break. Everybody is doing the best they can to get as many to this game. It's always a challenging weekend. Hopefully, we can create a really good environment. We're 11-1 at home in the last two years. We've had success at home, and we need to use that to our advantage."

When speaking of North Dakota during his weekly press conference, Wilder noted UND's tight contest against North Dakota State.

"They played the defending national champs and it was 15-10 and North Dakota had the ball at the end of the game and threw a pass to the end zone that was intercepted," Wilder said. "That's how close to beating the defending national champions they were. They're built for that league. They're well-balanced on offense. On defense, they're very difficult to score against."

Wilder also had high praise for UND first-year head coach Eric Schmidt.

"Eric Schmidt is one of the best in the country, in my opinion," Wilder said. "He has an excellent defensive background throughout his career."

As the weather in Grand Forks has started to turn wintry, UND shouldn't see major challenges to that end in Cookeville, which is about 80 miles east of Nashville.

Temperatures are projected to be a high of 49 and a low of 41 degrees.

Saturday afternoon forecasts for Cookeville don't include rain and wind projections are around 10 miles per hour.