The UNI football team is seeded third in the FCS national playoffs and will host Maine in the opening round on Saturday afternoon. The Panthers closed the regular season with a 10-2 mark after posting a victory at Southern Utah.
UNI coach Mark Farley admits he was a little surprised by the third seed, and says they are honored by it and pleased with the opportunity to play Maine. He says getting the home game was important. The Panthers were actually an at-large entry and co-Missouri Valley champ Southern Illinois got the automatic bid after beating the Panthers during the regular season.
Farley says he thought they would be a four seed, but some of the games the last day of the season impacted that. This is the second straight year that UNI has earned one of the top four seeds. Farley says they are just excited to be in it and to be at home.
Maine is 8-4 and this will be the Black Bears second trip to the state this season. They opened with a 46-3 loss at Iowa.