U.N.I. football coach Mark Farley was very pleased with his team’s performance at Iowa State on Saturday, despite the Panthers losing on a last-minute touchdown. Farley says there was a vast improvement over the way U.N.I. played in their last trip to Jack Trice Stadium.
Farley says they “played a hell of a football against a very good team” and he says the Cyclone quarterback made a play to beat them. Farley says they last time they played the Cyclones they lost 27-0 and made four turnovers. Farley says his quarterback Terrell Rennie worked hard in the game.
Farley says that with as well as the team played, they’re not going to focus on why or how they lost the game. He says it’s easy to sit back and say what they could have done, but they got four turnovers against a team that says it is better than they were last year. He says they now need to do what they can to get the team ready for conference play.
The highlight of the game for U.N.I. may have been running back David Johnson’s 80-yard touchdown on a swing pass to give the Panthers a five point lead late in the fourth quarter. Johnson was tabbed as the Missouri Valley Football Conference’s Offensive Player of the Week, and according to his head coach, showed only a glimpse of his capabilities.
Farley says there will be a lot written about Johnson over the next four years and he has high expectations for him.
The Panthers head to Texas this weekend to face Stephen F. Austin. Farley says U.N.I. needs to address the number of penalties they committed against Iowa State, as well as some issues on their kickoff team. He says they didn’t kick well on kickoffs or punts and couldn’t change the field position.
U.N.I. moved up three spots to #4 in this week’s FCS poll following the loss at Iowa State.
By Jesse Gavin, KCNZ, Cedar Falls