Panthers ready for week off

It's break time for the University of Northern Iowa football team.

And Mark Farley couldn't be happier.

After two tough games - a one-point loss to unbeaten Iowa State and a 34-23 road win over nationally ranked Stephen F. Austin - the Panthers will spend this week going back to the basics, nursing a few bumps and bruises and work on getting better.

“I think we can clean up a lot of things on special teams, a lot of things on offense and defense,” Farley said Monday. “I think we can get a lot better still.”

That's quite a statement considering the Panthers moved up two spots in The Sports Network/Fathead.com FCS Top 25 and now are ranked No. 2 behind Georgia Southern. The Eagles garnered 106 of the 147 first-place votes, but 16 voters think UNI is the best team in the country.

Farley said it's far too early to worry or think about rankings.

“Our whole focus is just keep them working on the day-to-day stuff,” he said.

Still, even he was impressed with the win in Nacogdoches, Texas, on Saturday. Three Panthers earned Missouri Valley Football Conference player of the week honors - quarterback Tirrell Rennie, linebacker Jordan Smith and red-shirt freshman running back David Johnson.

Rennie rushed for 126 yards and two touchdowns and passed for 151 more. Smith had a career-high 16 tackles and an interception and Johnson rushed for 87 yards and a pair of TDs on 31 carries.

“I'm really pleased with that win,” Farley said. “That was a good one ... that's a tough place to win. That's what really makes me optimistic now.”

The Panthers are off until hosting MVFC challenger Western Illinois on Sept. 24 in the UNI-Dome. Farley said the team will start working on the Leatherneck game plan midweek, but for now it's all fundamentals.

“We'll go back and look at the first two games,” he said. “We'll take a look at what we did right and we'll take a look at what he did wrong.

“We've just got to hook in to what we're doing.”