UNI not worrying about its FCS playoff seed

CEDAR FALLS - Mark Farley was asked earlier this week if he could figure out how his Northern Iowa football team could be ranked second nationally, yet get a fifth seed in the FCS playoffs.

The coach wouldn't take the bait. His answer was about as politically correct as humanly possible.

“At the end of the day, I've had some people try and explain it to me,” Farley said. “We wasted a lot of energy on that last year. I've never seen UNI get a great seed in this thing, other than the year we were No. 1 and unbeaten.

“We're in the playoffs, and we get to play this first one at home. Once we found out where we landed, we just took the approach that this is our path, and we're going to make the best run out of it that we can.”

The path for the Panthers (9-2) begins with a second-round game against Wofford (8-3) Saturday at the UNI-Dome. Opening kickoff is 4:05.

All things considered, it's not a great draw for UNI, which tied North Dakota State for the Missouri Valley Conference championship. If the Panthers win, they most likely head to Montana for a quarterfinal next weekend.

The fourth-seeded Grizzlies host Central Arkansas in a second-rounder today. Northern Iowa has never beaten a Southern Conference team in the postseason.

NDSU is ranked behind Northern Iowa in the national polls but was seeded second overall, probably because of its superior record and that it beat UNI in the regular season. The Missouri Valley Conference, by the way, hasn't won a national title since 1997 (Youngstown State).

“Seriously, I didn't want to spend any energy on something that we couldn't control because we need to put it all into this first football game,” Farley said. “The committee has its way of choosing things. (What way), I don't know. I've seen it for years now, I can't make sense of any bracket they've ever put together. It's just how it falls.”

The intriguing part of Saturday's game is how UNI will deal with Wofford's unique “Wingbone” offense. The Terriers' triple-option attack has produced the best rushing total in the FCS.

On the plus side for Northern Iowa, it has had two weeks to prepare. And it has linebacker L.J. Fort, who was named the MVC's defensive player of the year.

“We've tried to study them and analyze the structure of their defense,” Wofford Coach Mike Ayers told the Spartanburg (S.C.) Herald-Journal. “The tough thing is not seeing them against the three-back concept. We really don't know how they are going to line up.”

“You've got to be able to stop the run,” Farley said. “This might be a fast football game. It's going to go very quickly with all the rushing that's going to go on.”