Farley wants UNI to impress through improvement

CEDAR FALLS — As the football season gets into its final quarter, the FCS Playoff picture is starting to take shape.

Northern Iowa remains in the picture at the moment, thanks to back-to-back wins and the benefit of being in perhaps the best conference in the country in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The selection committee will take into account records, strength of schedule, non-conference results and several other factors to fill the 24-team field.

So since Coach Mark Farley has readily admitted the Panthers (4-4, 2-3 MVFC) are in must-win mode, does that mean it's just about winning, or do they need to add some style, too?

Farley wouldn't take the bait Monday at his weekly press luncheon.

'No, not at all. Our biggest thing right now is just to improve this week,' Farley said. 'If we can continue to cultivate our rushing and our defense and maybe bring along a phase that isn't as strong as it should be right now to win games, I think that's how to make your statement of the kind of team you have.'

The whole country knows how good the MVFC is, but just for posterity: No. 2/2 Illinois State, No. 6/6 North Dakota State, No. 11/11 South Dakota State, No. 17/20 UNI, No. 21/21 Youngstown State and No. 23/RV Indiana State are in the rankings, Western Illinois and Southern Illinois are receiving votes in both polls and South Dakota still is receiving votes in the STATS FCS Poll. That only leaves Missouri State in the MVFC to not be in position to be ranked or considered to be ranked.

A lot of that is just conjecture and essentially meaningless from a season-long perspective, but it does indicate the respect the rest of the country has for the Valley's teams and their strength.

That much matters greatly when it's time to select a field.

Farley started to go there, but stopped himself Monday. If the Panthers can keep on the improvement road, that could or should lead to wins. Wins lead to the playoffs. It's a pretty simple formula for him.

'I've heard about the polls. I don't know where we're at in them, but I think the Valley is good enough that outside the league … I'm not even going to get into all that junk because it pulls me off track,' Farley said. 'I'm going to go back to the fact that we need to find a way to get better today. Spent most of the morning looking at things like you're in the off-season — trying to figure out what you're not doing well. And that's what we're looking at: where can we find the piece of the puzzle in the next two days of practice instead of trying to redesign something.

'Let's find out where we can make an improvement on what we're already doing to make the biggest adjustment and improvement from last week to this week.'

To that end, Farley pointed out a few specifics on things that need to be addressed. He said there are situations in pass coverage that need to be fixed that 'people have been going after.' He also noted UNI's own passing game still needs work, specifically in the area of 'how we set some things up to let Aaron (Bailey) be more productive.'

With Kollmorgen likely done for the season with another concussion, this is now totally Bailey's offense under center.

There's long been the adage that if a team has two quarterbacks it has none. Farley and offensive coordinator Joe Davis played both, they said, in an attempt to best use the personnel they have. With just Bailey, they've fallen in line with that adage, if even for lack of an option. It made a difference Saturday and will going forward, Farley said.

Instead of going simple, he wants to expand what Bailey does. Find that improvement, win games and the style points will take care of themselves come selection time.

'If you think about it, he's not worried about if it's not going well that he won't get the next series or the next half. Right now he knows he has to find his way through the game. Maybe that gives you enough ease to learn as the game goes on,' Farley said of Bailey. 'It's easier for the coaches to know this is what you're working with, this is your support cast and how do you manage it to have the best chance. That's going on too, and maybe that's why the plan was a little cleaner last week.

'We know our personnel and we know the strength of it. … I explain it as putting more detail into the plan. If they can understand that detail, then I think it will function better.'

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