Panthers aim to keep ball off turf in MVFC game at the Dome

CEDAR FALLS - You hate to say it's a must win. That's not accurate.

The Northern Iowa Panthers are 1-0 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference going into a game at 4:05 p.m. today in the UNI-Dome against South Dakota State. They're still in TSN's FCS Top 25 at No. 17.

But the Panthers have lost two straight, including a disheartening 27-0 throttling by Iowa State last weekend. And there are back-to-back MVFC road games coming up.

OK, maybe not must win here. How about much better off with a win.

“I still feel behind the eight ball with the schedule we have,” UNI Coach Mark Farley said. “There are a lot of similarities between South Dakota State and ourselves. Having a bye the opening week, playing week two and now in a very tough grind of the schedule. We're both trying to put this thing together.”

UNI is trying not to put this thing on the ground, truth be told. The Panthers have seven lost fumbles in three games and four interceptions for an awful turnover ratio of minus-eight.

Running back Carlos Anderson has shown big-play capabilities, averaging 8 yards per touch. But he has fumbled four times, at least once in each game.

That's the kind of stuff UNI needs to stop if it wants to gets things turned around, let alone beat a South Dakota State club that's 0-3 but played Nebraska to a 17-3 game last week.

“There's emphasis there, of course, but we're not going to overemphasize it and try to make it something that's all that's talked about,” Farley said. “We've had Carlos in our system here for three years. ... The bottom line is for whatever reason we're putting the ball on the ground in poor situations and tough spots. ... So we're going to continue to execute and work on those things. We will emphasize ball security.”

And emphasize getting a victory.

“I think we're behind,” Farley said. “I think that we're behind where we think we should be in every phase of the game. And we're trying to make that ground up.”