UNI offense, defense fueled by inner competition

CEDAR FALLS - It's almost always interesting to study the dynamics of a football team in terms of how the offense and defense sees the other unit.

It's especially interesting when one unit is playing at an elite level and the other still is trying to find its way a little bit.

The Northern Iowa football team is in that situation, but there's no division of credit or responsibility in the UNI-Dome. Coach Mark Farley and Co. like the dynamic this team has struck, and even the competition between the two units that inevitably springs as the offense and defense improve.

'There's a separation the whole practice, but we always come together in the middle of practice and we always go against each other every day because it's important that we bring those guys together and they compete against each other,” Farley said. 'There's still a lot of chatter in that part of practice (where they go against each other), because that's where it gets to be - where they get to have a little fun. The defense gets to challenge the offense and the bantering goes up a little bit because that's the part of practice where they can go hard.”

The players laugh any time chatter or trash talk is brought up.

After the game against Indiana State, quarterback Aaron Bailey laughed when cornerback Tim Kilfoy was asked about the defense scoring more than the offense at one point. Defensive lineman Isaac Ales laughed on Monday when asked about how the two units get after each other at practice.

There are several passionate and colorful characters on both sides of the ball for the No. 17 Panthers (5-4, 3-3 Missouri Valley Football Conference) and those certainly aren't bottled up at any time.

'We kind of give them some crap, like, ‘We can't score all the points.' But, hey, they had a great game this past game, and it was really nice having them go out there and do that,” Ales said through a wide smile. 'We're just one big family. We're all together in this. I haven't felt any (separation), really. The o-line, they don't like us (on the defensive line) out on the practice field, but once we get back in the locker room, we're all good friends.”

Good-natured ribbing and competition is easy to find when you're winning, but maybe not so much when you're losing.

UNI has had its share of both those moods this season, but there was never, they said, a blame game played. In fact, whether in wins or losses, this version of the Panthers has done their best to look within their own individual responsibilities and then help each other to fix what's wrong.

Whether winning or losing, the heated exchanges are fairly rare in the regular season.

'It's a lot different during the season. During camp you're going up against each other, hitting each other every single day. But during the season, we're almost working together,” Ales said. 'Sometimes I'm like, ‘Hey, I need this look for this week, can you give me this?' during scout team.

'It's more of working together and trying not to hurt each other out here during practice.”

Even in a week where Saturday's opponent doesn't present the same challenge as the rest of the MVFC, there doesn't appear to be any letdown in working together to 'get better each week.”

Farley said he's not concerned about overconfidence or the team looking past Missouri State (1-8, 0-6). There's still plenty to get better at themselves, and this is another chance to do that.

And if nothing else, it has the chance to be another game where the offense and defense compete to see who scores more than who.

'They're going to have to dig from within to challenge themselves and get ready for this week,” Farley said. 'It doesn't matter who we play. It's the position we're in to think this game is very important to us. We have to do a great job of being prepared for this game; mentally ready for this game, so we can play with the same energy. We can't go down there and regress.

'The players need to know that there are places to improve. Whether it's a segment, individual or a position, I think there's room. There's always growth potential.”

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