Senior class left its mark on UNI football

By Kyle Sample, Correspondent

MISSOULA, Mont. -- It wasn't supposed to end this way.

This UNI team was too good to see its season slipping away in the 3

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quarter of a quarterfinal Football Championship Subdivision playoff game at Montana.

This UNI team had a defense that forced turnovers and didn't allow points and was led by two of the best defenders the FCS had to offer.

This UNI team had an offense piloted by an athletic quarterback who gave opposing defensive coordinators fits, kept defenders guessing and was surrounded by serious talent at the skill positions.

It wasn't supposed to end this way and yet at 10-3, the Northern Iowa Panthers find themselves with no more games to play and nothing to look forward to but next year.

“You can see it, it hurts ‘em. Of course its gonna hurt. It hurts bad,” UNI coach Mark Farley said after UNI's season ending 48-10 loss to Montana.

It was a shocking end for the Panthers. They entered their game with Montana as the second ranked team in the nation having won 10 of their last 11 games. They entered the game having not surrendered more than 27 points to any opponent. They entered the game with plans on moving through Montana, through Sam Houston State and through whoever would meet them in Frisco, TX. January 7

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for the school's first football championship.

They left the game having surrendered 48 points and 463 yards to Montana. They left the game unable to free up Tirrell Rinnie enough to allow their offensive to put enough points on the board to stop Montana's relentless blitz from dictating the game. They left the game with no other choice but to say goodbye, on a down note, to one of the school's best senior classes.

“It was a great Iowa class that we could get,” Farley said. “These guys all came from Iowa. They were just guys coming in and played their tails off for our university; nobody else wanted them. At the end of the day they came to our place and won a lot of football games and took our program to a lot of different places.”

UNI had also left frigid Missoula Friday night with reason to look back on this season with fondness. By all accounts, this team was one of the most successful in school history. This team had won 10-games. This team had not been ranked lower than sixth all season. This team split the conference title with North Dakota State. This team won a playoff game. This team was loaded with talent; linebacker L.J. Fort and tackle Ben Boothby are both Buck Buchanan award candidates; Rennie passed for 1,802 yards, ran for another 885 yards and accounted for 25 touchdowns; freshman David Johnson went for 822 yards and 9 touchdowns; receivers Jerred Herring and Terrell Sinkfield combined for 12 touchdown receptions.

“This is a bittersweet situation for us. I know all three of us (Herring, Fort and Boothby) would love to have it a lot better,” Herring said. “This year definitely we grew together as a team, more than a team we were a family.”

“If this is how it has to end then I'm glad we were united. We stayed together the whole way.”

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