FARMINGTON, Utah (May 29, 2025) – The Big Sky Conference, in partnership with ESPN, has announced that Northern Arizona's football matchup against Idaho will be broadcast on ESPN2. The announcement comes from ESPN as the network released its national telecast for the 2025 college football season. Four Big Sky games are among the selections, marking the first time in league history that four Big Sky football conference games have been selected for linear distribution by ESPN's family of networks.
The contest, originally slated for Saturday, Nov. 1, has been moved to Friday, Oct. 31 at 7:30 p.m. MST on Findlay Toyota Field inside J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff, Ariz.
It will be NAU's first-ever appearance on ESPN2, and just the third time appearing on ESPN's linear networks. Northern Arizona's home playoff games on Nov. 30, 2013, and Dec. 6, 2003, were broadcast on ESPN, marking this the first regular season game on ESPN's family of networks.
Northern Arizona is led by head coach
Brian Wright who enters his second year at the helm. During his first season, Wright guided the Lumberjacks to their first FCS playoff appearance since the 2017 season. NAU ended the regular season 8-4 overall and 6-2 in Big Sky Conference play, winning its final five games for the longest winning streak since 2017. The Lumberjacks finished undefeated at home for just the third time in program history at 5-0 (2015, 1978) and were nationally ranked at the end of the season in both the FCS Stats Perform and AFCA Coaches Poll.
The nationally broadcast matchup will be the sixth meeting in the last seven seasons between the two foes after an extended period apart thanks to Idaho's run as an FBS program. Since Idaho returned to the Big Sky in 2018, the Vandals have won three out of the five meetings. It will be Idaho's first trip to the Skydome since the 2022 season.
Both teams are currently ranked in the HERO Sports FCS Preseason Top 25, with Idaho coming in at No. 10 and NAU ranked No. 19.
For more information about tickets, visit nauathletics.com/buy or email
LumberjackTicketOffice@nau.edu.
