The U.N.I. football team’s situation has not changed in the wake of their loss at Youngstown State last Saturday. Panther coach Mark Farley says his team still has their backs against the wall with defending FCS champion North Dakota State visiting the UNI-Dome this Saturday.
Farley says Saturday’s game will test just how tough his team is and how resilient they are, as he says they knew going into the season how things could go. He says the team just needs to get some momentum.
A loss to the Bison would likely deal a big blow to U.N.I.’s chances of making the FCS playoffs, but Farley says his team can’t be worried about that. “I’m not going to go in there and talk about the playoff runs and those types of things…if you start looking at the big picture or way down the road to what you need to do, you forget to play the play you are in,” Farley says.
He says they will deal with North Dakota State and then deal with the next game. U.N.I.’s three losses have come against two Big Ten opponents and the 3rd ranked team in the FCS division, and those three games have been decided by a total of 23 points.
Farley says he’s confident that the things the Panthers are doing will work, but they have to do a better job of completing games. “We just have to finish, stay in the plays we’re in…we’ve just got to finish those games and believe in momentum, I’m not changing anything,” Farley says.
The 14th ranked Panthers host the #1 Bison Saturday night. U.N.I. has two wins in six matchups against #1 teams in the program’s history.
By Jesse Gavin, KCNZ, Cedar Falls