Farley: UNI players ‘don’t get an out’ for mistakes

CEDAR FALLS - Northern Iowa Coach Mark Farley was in a better mood on Monday at his weekly press luncheon.

He wasn't seething, as he was Saturday afternoon after the Panthers lost, 21-13, to Illinois State on the road. But that doesn't mean he's any more OK with what happened at Hancock Stadium than he was then.

Farley doubled down on his clear and concise message to both his team and anyone willing to listen: what happened Saturday cannot happen again if UNI hopes to make something of this season.

'I don't want to give an excuse for anything. I'm not going to blame the officials, I'm not going to blame the youth. If you give them an out, they've got an out. They don't get an out,” Farley said. 'They've got to line up and play this weekend. We can't afford to have an excuse for this because then that's acceptable. And it's not acceptable.

'Whether you're a freshman or senior; offense or defense, I don't want to give them an out because it has to be very defined for them so they know where they need to be to win.”

Mistakes are mistakes. Whether mental or physical, the No. 10 Panthers (2-2, 0-1 Missouri Valley Football Conference) made them in a game where if just a few less happened, the outcome is very different.

But Farley doesn't even want to use that as an excuse. The numbers say the UNI defense shut down a team that's considered one of the best in FCS. Farley didn't even know exactly how many yards the Panthers gave up in the second half - because it didn't matter in the end.

'I study it from a big picture, not just a segment. In the game, when you go back and watch the game on film, there were - besides the five penalties that triggered another set of downs - what came about was a missed gap assignment on four other occasions that produced all the yards,” Farley said. 'You can play great the whole day, but you've got to make plays in four quarters. And you can't say, ‘Well if they hadn't made this play …' They did make those plays. So how do we defend all four quarters? It's the discipline, if you want to use that word, and that consistency they need to make sure the defense always puts us in a position to win because of point production.”

Farley was still assessing his team on the macro level Monday. Being a defensive-minded coach, his criticisms of the defense (and all the aforementioned mistakes) were more pointed, but he certainly knows the offense did not live up to its standards.

He and offensive coordinator Joe Davis have had 'frequent conversations” about what's happened and what's next. Davis said Monday the team took a step back Saturday, which was obviously a big disappointment given everyone's optimism out of Cal Poly.

The offense was without receivers Logan Cunningham and newly-minted Dalton Demos, both of whom suffered injuries in practice last week that kept them out. What was left was just Daurice Fountain, Charles Brown and Marcus Weymiller at receiver - who all made mistakes and dropped passes. Neither quarterback was particularly efficient, either.

So to correct that and 'take another step forward” after the step back, Davis and Co. want to get back to basics.

'You can overcome a couple (mistakes) here and there, but when they mount up and when it's different guys making mistakes, you're not able to overcome it,” Davis said. 'You have to be able to play much more error-free football, which we didn't do. We need to regroup this week and see if we can get back on the right track to where we need to be.

'We'll look at maybe simplifying things a bit and seeing what we do well to let our guys attack that plan and master that plan over the next few days before we head to North Dakota State.”

It has to happen fast, because the four-time defending FCS national champion awaits at the Fargo Dome on Saturday.

Farley said personnel changes will happen in all phases, though Davis added he doesn't think the general game plan of Aaron Bailey being featured at quarterback with Sawyer Kollmorgen sprinkled in will change. No matter who starts and how much either plays, the coaches and players know a repeat performance cannot happen if there's any hope to beat No. 2/3 North Dakota State.

'The people we play, you've got to be at the top of your game. You don't get time to grow into anything. You have to be on it now. There's no excuses, for me anyway,” Farley said. 'It's the defenses we play right now, they're very good. We have to be at the top of our game at the beginning of the season. We don't have time to do this up and down stuff if we want to win. We need to be more consistent. We can't afford to make mistakes when we're playing the talent we're playing.”

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