The UNI football team once again looks to get their season back on track on Saturday as the Panthers visit Illinois State. UNI is now 4-4 after losing their last four games, the last three losses all coming in overtime. Panther coach Mark Farley says despite the results, his team has been playing well enough to win. “You can try to find out why an overanalyze this a little bit — and I don’t know the reason why — we just have to get back on that football field and doing the things that put us in the position to win. And we’re doing that, and if you start to overanalyze or go the other direction, it could flip on you,” Farley says.
Farley says that while his players expect to play in close games, this string of overtime contests has been very taxing both physically and mentally. “We’re UNI, that’s the way we are. There’s not a day you don’t come to fight,” Farley says. He says the close loses in the last 4 games are a kick in the gut, but they’ve got to come back.
Illinois State is also 4-4 on the season coming off of a win over South Dakota. Farley says Saturday’s game is a pivotal one for the Redbirds as well. He says they have a new stadium and new setting and are playing with confidence right now.
(Reporting by Jesse Gavin, KCNZ, Cedar Falls)