Panthers ready for rebound after heartbreaking Iowa loss

Mark Farley's laughter clattered down a 111-year old track Tuesday.

It felt like a rugged ride.

Asked about Saturday's 17-16, heartbreaking loss to Iowa, Northern Iowa's football coach put the season-opening game in perspective. The Hawkeyes blocked two Billy Hallgren field goal tries at the end of the fourth quarter, denying UNI its first victory in the series since Nov. 5, 1898.

“You do lose sleep at night, but it's not life-threatening or anything,” Farley said. “But ... 107 years for one freakin' kick.”

Farley grinned and laughed. Then he added, “In the end, you've gotta be pleased with the players but yet so disappointed in the opportunity lost because it took so long to get to that point.”

Farley's feeling weren't mixed on another front. The Panthers don't have 111 years to recover from the 2009 Iowa setback, because the next opponent is only a Saturday away. South Dakota comes to the UNI-Dome for the home debut at 4:05 p.m.

“We told the team yesterday in the meeting, the real world says we lost the football game,” Farley said, then added “that's why (South Dakota) becomes a critical football game for us. We're 0-1 as we stand right now.”

A year ago, UNI occupied roughly the same spot. Following a loss to a ranked team (Brigham Young) in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the Panthers returned home to play South Dakota.

It was far from an easy Saturday. Quarterback Noah Shepard led the Coyotes to 415 yards of total offense, but UNI's defense forced four turnovers. Behind 154 yards by Corey Lewis, the Panthers won, 24-13.

Shepard is back for South Dakota along with 15 returning starters - 10 on offense and five defensively. USD opened 2009 with a 52-0 blowout of William Penn.

“They had a chance to beat us last year, if you really go back and look at it,” Farley said of the Coyotes.

The UNI coach added, “They will be very difficult to play, coming off this last week - or any week, for that matter. It's a key game, quite honestly, because they are that good with the quarterback they have.”

Farley, asked about Hallgren's emotional state after the Iowa game said, “I don't even have an answer for that.”

He also said that many things happened in the first 59 minutes of action that could have altered the outcome before Iowa swatted down Hallgren's two kicks.

“Ultimately, that's what we'll remember,” Farley said. “It's unfortunate it came to that ... But at the same time (Hallgren) doesn't deserve to carry that burden. It was a great game.”

Farley did note that both game-ending attempts were low, although Iowa did get “a little bit of a surge” upfront on the final try.

-- Jim Sullivan, Waterloo Courier