2022 Northern Colorado Bears football team

The 2022 Northern Colorado Bears football team represented the University of Northern Colorado as a member of the Big Sky Conference during the 2022 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by second-year head coach Ed McCaffrey and played their home games at Nottingham Field. McCaffrey was fired on November 21, 2022, two days after the Bears completed their season with a 3–8 record (2–6 in Big Sky play), repeating the win-loss record of the prior season.^[1]

2022 Northern Colorado Bears football
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Record	3–8 (2–6 Big Sky)
Head coach	Ed McCaffrey (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Max McCaffrey (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator	Scott Darnell (2nd season)
Home stadium	Nottingham Field
Seasons ← 2021 2023 →

2022 Big Sky Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 4 Montana State +^		8	–	0					12	–	2
No. 5 Sacramento State +^		8	–	0					12	–	1
No. 9 Weber State ^		6	–	2					10	–	3
No. 18 Idaho ^		6	–	2					7	–	5
No. 25 UC Davis		5	–	3					6	–	5
No. 14 Montana ^		4	–	4					8	–	5
Portland State		3	–	5					4	–	7
Eastern Washington		2	–	6					3	–	8
Northern Colorado		2	–	6					3	–	8
Northern Arizona		2	–	6					3	–	8
Idaho State		1	–	7					1	–	10
Cal Poly		1	–	7					2	–	9
+ – Conference co-champions ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Preseason

Polls

On July 25, 2022, during the virtual Big Sky Kickoff, the Bengals were predicted to finish in a tie for eleventh in the Big Sky by the coaches and eleventh by the media.^[2]

Coaches poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Montana	111 (3)
2	Sacramento State	110 (4)
3	Montana State	109 (5)
4	Weber State	84
5	UC Davis	82
6	Eastern Washington	76
7	Northern Arizona	62
8	Idaho	45
9	Portland State	42
10	Cal Poly	33
T-11	Idaho State	19
T-11	Northern Colorado	19

Media poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Montana	356 (14)
2	Montana State	352 (13)
3	Sacramento State	335 (4)
4	Weber State	261
5	UC Davis	255 (1)
6	Eastern Washington	236
7	Northern Arizona	191
8	Portland State	146
9	Idaho	142
10	Cal Poly	85
11	Northern Colorado	71
12	Idaho State	66

Preseason All–Big Sky team

The Bears had one player selected to the preseason all-Big Sky team.^[3]

Defense David Hoage – LB

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 3	2:00 p.m.	Houston Baptist*	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	ESPN+	L 34–46	4,419
September 10	2:00 p.m.	at Wyoming*	War Memorial Stadium Laramie, WY	MW Network	L 10–33	22,863
September 17	5:00 p.m.	at Lamar*	Provost Umphrey Stadium Beaumont, TX	ESPN+	W 21–14	4,933
September 24	1:00 p.m.	Idaho State	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	ESPN+	W 35–14	5,292
October 1	7:00 p.m	at Idaho	Kibbie Dome Moscow, ID	ESPN+	L 35–55	10,759
October 8	7:00 p.m.	at No. 5 Sacramento State	Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA	ESPN+	L 7–55	11,013
October 15	1:00 p.m.	No. 4 Montana State	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	ESPN+	L 14–37	4,796
October 22	1:00 p.m.	UC Davis	Notthingham Field Greeley, CO	ESPN+	L 10–58	4,499
November 5	3:00 p.m.	at Portland State	Hillsboro Stadium Hillsboro, OR	ESPN+	L 21–35	2,771
November 12	12:00 p.m.	Northern Arizona	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	ESPN+	W 21–20	3,769
November 19	2:00 p.m.	at Eastern Washington	Roos Field Cheney, WA	ESPN+	L 21–45	4,099
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

• Source: Schedule

Conference opponents not played this season: Cal Poly, Montana, Weber State

Game summaries

vs Houston Baptist

	1	2	3	4	Total
Huskies	6	16	10	14	46
Bears	7	7	0	20	34

See also: 2022 Houston Baptist Huskies football team

at Wyoming

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	3	7	10
Cowboys	3	6	7	17	33

See also: 2022 Wyoming Cowboys football team

at Lamar

See also: 2022 Lamar Cardinals football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	7	7	7	0	21
Cardinals	0	7	0	7	14

Statistics

Statistics	Northern Colorado	Lamar
First downs	19	21
Total yards	270	299
Rushing yards	52	217
Passing yards	218	82
Turnovers	3	0
Time of possession	27:39	32:21

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Northern Colorado	Passing	Jacob Sirmon	16/28; 218 total yards; 43 long
	Rushing	David Afari	7 attempts; 41 yards; 11 long
	Receiving	Trevis Graham	5 receptions; 97 total yards; 43 long
Lamar	Passing	Nick Yockey	10/11; 71 total yards; 16 long
	Rushing	Khalan Griffin	10 attempts; 66 total yards; 10 yards long
	Receiving	Sevonne Rhea	3 receptions; 36 yards; 16 yards long

vs Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bengals	0	14	0	0	14
Bears	0	14	0	21	35

See also: 2022 Idaho State Bengals football team

at Idaho

See also: 2022 Idaho Vandals football team

Northern Colorado Bears (2–2) vs Idaho Vandals (2–2) – Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	6	14	8	7	35
Vandals	10	14	21	10	55

at Kibbie Dome • Moscow, ID

• Date: October 1, 2022
• Game time: 7:00 p.m. MST
• Game weather: Sunny
• Game attendance: 10,759
• Referee: Steve Hanni
• TV: ESPN+

Game information

First Quarter IDHO – Jermaine Jackson 26-yard pass from Gevani McCoy (Ricardo Chavez kick), 13:25. Drive: 4 play, 75 yards, 1:35. NCU – David Afari 14-yard run, 9:04. Drive: 8 plays, 75 yards, 4:21. IDHO – Ricardo Chavez 21-yard field goal, 0:40. Drive: 15 plays, 67 yards, 8:18. Second Quarter NCU – Ty Arrington 31-yard pass from Dylan McCaffrey (Devin Bale kick), 7:19. Drive: 3 plays, 71 yards, 1:03. IDHO – Elisha Cummings 27-yard run (Ricardo Chavez kick), 4:12. Drive: 7 plays, 75 yards, 3:07. NCU - Elijah Dotson 2-yard run (Devin Bale kick), 1:21. Drive: 7 plays, 75 yards, 2:51. IDHO - Elisha Cummings 25-yard run (Ricardo Chavez kick), 0:35. Drive: 5 plays, 75 yards, 0:46. Third Quarter IDHO – Anthony Woods 15-yard run (Ricardo Chavez kick), 10:35. Drive: 6 plays, 59 yards, 2:50. NCU – Elijah Dotson 8-yard pass from Dylan McCaffrey (Ty Arrington pass), 6:43. Drive: 11 plays, 75 yards, 3:52. IDHO - Hayden Hatten 35-yard pass from Gevani McCoy (Ricardo Chavez kick), 5:08. Drive: 4 plays, 75 yards, 1:35. IDHO - Hayden Hatten 9-yard pass from Gevani McCoy (Ricardo Chavez kick), 0:36. Drive: 7 plays, 34 yards, 3:13. Fourth Quarter IDHO - Elisha Cummings 12-yard pass from Gevani McCoy (Ricardo Chavez kick), 7:49. Drive: 12 plays, 88 yards, 6:22. IDHO - Richard Chavez 39-yard field goal, 5:02. Drive: 4 plays, 5 yards, 2:14. NCU – Ty Arrington 11-yard pass from Jacob Sirmon (Devin Bale kick), 0:51. Drive: 9 plays, 71 yards, 4:03. Top passers NCU – Dylan McCaffrey – 17/26, 264 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT IDHO – Gevani McCoy – 22/27, 298 yards, 4 TD Top rushers NCU – Elijah Dotson – 17 carries, 77 yards, TD IDHO – Anthony Woods – 17 carries, 96 yards, TD Top receivers NCU – Ty Arrington – 4 receptions, 56 yards, 2 TD IDHO – Hayden Hatten – 8 receptions, 131 yards, 2 TD

at No. 5 Sacramento State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	7	0	7
No. 5 Hornets	7	17	21	10	55

See also: 2022 Sacramento State Hornets football team

vs no. 4 Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Bobcats	3	14	13	7	37
Bears	7	7	0	0	14

See also: 2022 Montana State Bobcats football team

vs UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
Aggies	6	21	14	17	58
Bears	3	0	0	7	10

See also: 2022 UC Davis Aggies football team

at Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	28	7	0	35
Vikings	14	0	0	7	21

See also: 2022 Portland State Vikings football team

vs Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks	7	3	0	10	20
Bears	3	0	10	8	21

See also: 2022 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team

at Eastern Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	14	7	0	21
Eagles	7	14	14	10	45

See also: 2022 Eastern Washington Eagles football team