‘Soul-searching’ needed for UNI after ISU loss

AMES - Saturday night's 31-7 loss to Iowa State wasn't pretty for Northern Iowa in a number of respects.

Sure, the most obvious situation to be addressed is the starting quarterback position, but after a game in which the Cyclones scored 31 unanswered points - the last of which on an 81-yard punt return touchdown - Coach Mark Farley wasn't focused on his quarterbacks.

He was focused on the undisciplined play in all three phases of the game at one time or another, but most glaring of which came on special teams. UNI punted 12 times and Iowa State returned eight of them for a total of 193 yards and the Trever Ryen touchdown in the fourth quarter. For reference, of all the other Big 12 teams that played this weekend, there were 22 punt returns that totaled 148 yards.

It was an uncharacteristic night for a Farley-coached team, of that there can be no doubt, and he called special teams 'the biggest disappointment of the night.”

'We were not running like we should on special teams and thus you give up punts like we did. That's ridiculous,” Farley said. '(It's) effort. No. 1 is effort. Special teams is a gut check. You've got to be able to come off the field - it was all defensive players - you've got to be able to come down the field, get off a block and make a play.

'They had better effort than us. That's what special teams is. Better effort will win that special teams. They had better effort than we did and thus they made some plays. They've got good players, but they had better effort.”

UNI punter Logan Bieghler averaged 43.3 yards per punt, but only was able to net 25.6 yards out of those 12 punts because a consistently low trajectory gave the Iowa State returners space to start a run and average 24.1 return yards.

Ryen, who had the touchdown, and receiver Allen Lazard split duties, each returning four punts. Ryen had 93 return yards, while Lazard had 100.

Other glaring weaknesses for the Panthers (0-1) against the Cyclones (1-0) that will show up in film sessions were penalties and field position.

UNI had 10 penalties for 74 yards, many of which came on first down and put the offense behind before they were even able to start. A few holding calls came on long runs that were negated, or on plays where starting quarterback Aaron Bailey broke free from the pocket on a broken play.

One of the most frustrating aspects to that for both players and coaches was much of the undisciplined play was traced back to players being tired. Even with it being the season-opener, Farley and his bunch expect more of themselves in that regard.

'Lack of focus, probably. It could come from people being tired and losing technique - holding calls, personal fouls, stuff like that,” said quarterback Sawyer Kollmorgen. 'We emphasize three things that could win or lose you the game and one of them is penalties. And tonight it was pretty obvious that killed us and was a big part of why we couldn't get anything going. You can't do that to yourself, especially in a game like this. You can't have turnovers, you can't have penalties and special teams has to be huge.”

In terms of field position, UNI was consistently backed up - especially in the second half - while Iowa State was gifted short fields repeatedly thanks to punt returns.

The Cyclones' average starting field position was their own 42 yard-line, while the Panthers' was their own 20. In the second and third quarters specifically, Iowa State actually averaged starting at the UNI 49 and 46 respectively, which was where the game broke open.

In the third and fourth quarters, UNI averaged starting at its own 13 and its own 18, respectively. Couple that with penalties and it was a recipe for disaster for the Panthers.

'It's hard not playing against Iowa State and playing against ourselves getting all those penalties,” said offensive lineman Jacob Rathmacher. 'The offensive line, we probably had the majority of the penalties. Inconsistencies of having penalties, and when you're backed up it's hard when you get a false start. It just doesn't help you get in a rhythm.”

Whatever the reasons, Farley is confident they'll right the ship because changes are likely coming to the personnel who see the field in these situations.

When the team reconvenes to watch film, it will not be a pleasant experience.

'Trust me, they'll get it done, because we'll get the right guys on the field to get it done,” Farley said. 'Part of this is they need to see it on film and they need to find out. We had a lot of unknowns here. I think we found out a lot about our football team today. If we use that we'll be a better team in weeks to come, but we really have to do some soul-searching on this film.”

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com