UNI tries to regain some pride

By Pete Mollica

The Panthers have lost two straight games, just like Youngstown State.

YOUNGSTOWN — To say that the University of Northern Iowa football team has been a dominant factor in the Missouri Valley Football Conference over the years would be putting it mildly.

The Panthers, who were one of the original members of the Gateway Conference when it began in 1985, have won or shared the conference championship 14 times in the 24-year history of the conference.

This season the Panthers come into Saturday’s home game with Youngstown State sporting a 5-3 season record and 3-2 in the conference, good for third place. With Southern Illinois and South Dakota State both unbeaten in the conference and both already have beaten the Panthers, they have no chance at a 15th league title.

The Panthers lost to those two top teams on back-to-back weekends and it marked the first time since the 2004 season that Northern Iowa had back-to-back losses in the same season.

Coach Mark Farley, in his ninth season, has five of those conference titles, including the last two in a row. Farley has never lost a game to Youngstown State in eight meetings.

Saturday’s game with the Penguins, the 24th meeting between the teams, will kick off at 5:05 p.m. at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

“We haven’t really played Northern Iowa football the last two games,” said Farley. “We just made way too many mistakes against two very good football teams and really beat ourselves.”

The Panthers opened this season by almost knocking Iowa before dropping a 17-16 decision, then ran off victories over South Dakota (66-7); St. Francis, Pa. (30-0); Missouri State (35-7); Indiana State (62-7), and North Dakota State (42-27).

The Panthers then lost at home to Southern Illinois 27-20 and the following week dropped a 24-14 decision at South Dakota State.

The Panthers were idle last week and Farley said the time off definitely helped.

“We’re well rested and just about back to full strength with our injured and we’re going to need every one of those guys this week,” Farley said.

“Youngstown State has given us a battle the last two years and we felt very fortunate to have won both of those games against them,” he continued.

“I know they are coming off two rough losses and we expect them to be fired up and ready for action when they come in here Saturday,” he said. “They are a much better football team than their record and we expect to have our hands full again.”

Northern Iowa has all sorts of offensive weapons, led by senior quarterback Pat Grace (6-foot-2, 240 pounds) who has thrown for 1,904 yards and 17 touchdowns this season with only five interceptions.

He’s got a couple of talented receivers that include senior D.P. Eyman (6-1, 187) who has 33 receptions for 474 yards and three touchdowns, while senior D.J. Hord (6-1, 198) has caught 31 passes for 535 yards and five touchdowns.

The Panthers are also averaging nearly 200 yards a game rushing the football with senior Derrick Law (6-1, 223) leading the way with 555 yards on 81 carries and four touchdowns, while his backup Carlos Anderson (5-8, 172), a redshirt freshman, has 423 yards on 91 attempts with three scores. Grace has also scored six rushing touchdowns this season.

Defensively senior linebacker Josh Mahoney (6-1, 228) is the top tackler with 63 stops, while junior strong safety Jamar Thompson (6-4, 215) has 62. Senior defensive end James Ruffin (6-4, 263) leads the way with 10 tackles for losses and seven sacks.

mollica@vindy.com