Mistakes haunt Panthers

BROOKINGS, S.D. - Pat Grace saw no strangers when he inspected South Dakota State at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium Saturday afternoon.

“They didn't show us anything we haven't seen,” Grace said.

He also saw a problem that's become too familiar to Northern Iowa's football team.

“We hands down beat ourselves today,” said the Panther senior quarterback.

Plagued by mistakes for the second consecutive week, UNI dropped a key Missouri Valley Football Conference game to South Dakota State, 24-14.

Last Saturday, the Panthers self-destructed in the fourth quarter of a 27-20 loss to Southern Illinois. Seven days later, UNI again served as its own worst enemy when it needed its best game the most.

Thus, Mark Farley's team finds itself in a hole. At 3-2 in MVFC play, UNI trails unbeatens SDSU and Southern Illinois by two games in the race for the league title. Winning the Valley Football crown would require plenty of help and a collapse by the Salukis and Jackrabbits.

Getting an at-large bid to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs is a possibility.

Twice since the league began play in 1985, the MVFC has sent more than two teams to postseason play. Four qualified in 2003 and a trio in 2006. UNI advanced both of those years.

“I think we're down, but not out,” said Panther senior linebacker Josh Mahoney.

Saturday, though, the Panthers looked disappointed and frustrated after turning the ball over three times and drawing five penalties, a couple of them effectively killing drives.

“We had a chance to win both of these last two games,” said Mahoney, referring to the Southern Illinois and SDSU defeats. “It came down to mistakes - not anything the other team did. But we put ourselves in position where we had to come out of a deficit or try to score late or give up a big play when we didn't need to.

“We put ourselves in the position we're in right now.”

-By Jim Sullivan, Waterloo Courier