Panthers crush Western Illinois in home opener

CEDAR FALLS - Tuba section members of Northern Iowa's band wandered around the concourse of the UNI-Dome during the third quarter of Saturday afternoon's football game.

They stopped as they got to the north end zone, letting loose with a short, sudden blast from their horns that startled fans standing along a railing in front of them. It was almost as startling as quarterback Tirrell Rennie's performance.

Almost. Bottom line is that five touchdowns, three rushing and two passing, in a 38-10 win over Western Illinois in the home opener before 16,059 fans is worth blowing your horn about.

“It was more fun to see the scoreboard, seeing that we won,” he said with a bright smile. “Stats are always nice, and they make you look good sometimes and bad sometimes. But at the end of the day, this year all we're worried about is that scoreboard. We got the ‘W,' and that's all we can think about right now.”

UNI (3-1) won its Missouri Valley Conference opener by immediately putting away an opponent that was crushed last week by FBS member Missouri, 69-0. Terrell Sinkfield blocked a punt to give the Panthers the ball for the first time on the WIU 12, and Rennie eventually ran in on a shotgun option play from 2 yards out.

“They play a more normal-style punt (formation),” UNI Coach Mark Farley said. “There are some flaws in that one, so we thought we could expose those.”

An interception by linebacker Jordan Smith off a tipped pass set up another Rennie option touchdown from 12 yards to make it 14-0. He connected with running back David Johnson for a 30-yard TD pass in the second quarter, spun and sprinted his way down the sideline 35 yards to make it 28-3 at halftime and hit tight end Darion Howard for a 4-yard touchdown pass early in the third.

Just another day's work for the senior from Florida.

“We started off just the way we need to,” said Rennie, who ran for 106 yards and completed 10 of 14 passes for 142. “We got the first win in conference. From here, it's conference in and conference out. This game was bigger than Iowa State, bigger than Stephen F. Austin, our first two games.”

Johnson, a talented freshman from Clinton, scored for the third time in three college games, finishing with 132 yards rushing on 21 carries. He started for Carlos Anderson, who tweaked his sprained right ankle on a first-half carry.

Farley did not think the re-injury was as serious as it appeared.