The U.N.I. football doesn’t have the luxury of enjoying their performance against Wisconsin, as the Panthers have a very unknown challenge facing them this weekend. The Panthers battle Wisconsin to within five points in their season opener, but coach Mark Farley says they now need to put that game in the past.
“It as a great experiences, it was a great teaching moment for us and now we’ve got to take that an build on it. Because as good as it was, it wasn’t good enough,” Farley says. The Panthers open their home schedule on Saturday against Division II Central State out of Ohio.
The two teams have never met before, and the Marauders have several new coaches this year, making them a very tough scout for Farley and his staff. Farley says they have some new coaches and they are not very familiar with the team and that makes it tough to come up with a plan to face them, which creates uncertainty just like last week.
The Panthers will face Iowa at Kinnick Stadium a week from Saturday, followed by match-ups against two of the top teams in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. Farley says that has him worried that his players might not be as focused as they need to be on Saturday.
“It’s very concerning that our players are coming off this game with so much hype to it, so much put into it, so much energy involved in it. Fortunately we are at home,” Farley says. He says they have to win and home and hopes the players will stay focused, because the are 0-1.
The Panthers will kick it off against Central State at six o-clock Saturday night.
By Jesse Gavin, KCNZ, Cedar Falls