UNI football learns key lessons from big win over North Dakota: ‘Just need to be consistent’

CEDAR FALLS — The result two Saturdays ago was as different as it gets, but the path forward after an upset win over North Dakota this past week is the same.

Learn, grow and move forward.

“(We) just need to be consistent,” UNI football coach Mark Farley said. “When you have youth at some areas they tend to get out of position to make the play. The consistency to stay in position (let’s us) coach to your strength.

“We’re (coaching) to them, more so than we’re (coaching) to a scheme.”

Farley went on to compliment his staff for the bevy of personnel changes that were made ahead of last Saturday’s upset of the then-ninth-ranked Fighting Hawks.

Most notable among them was linebacker Amauri Pesek-Hickson being switched back to running back and racking up 180 yards and one touchdown in 31 carries. It was an effort so good it earned him the Missouri Valley Football Conference’s offensive player of the week award.

“We moved him (to linebacker) because he is a good athlete,” Farley said. “Through his discipline of defense and moving him back to offense, it made him have the kind of day that he had (last Saturday).

“Tremendous athlete, but instinctively what he did as a running back after only working there from Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday was tremendous. He deserved to be the (MVFC) player of the week.”

Along with the boost UNI got from Pesek-Hickson, moving defensive back Edwin Dearman from safety back to nickelback also proved valuable against North Dakota.

The junior recorded six tackles, half a tackle for loss and routinely filled the correct gaps against UND’s reputable short passing game.

“It did (provide dividends),” Farley said of Dearman’s move. “There (was) a lot going on last week, from start to finish, as far as not just offensively (with) Amauri.”

A number of Panthers showed up on the injury report ahead of UNI’s game this Saturday against Illinois State.

Running back Harrison Bey-Buie (upper body) was officially ruled out for the season on Monday by Farley, while starting running back Tye Edwards (lower body) remains questionable. Linebacker Ben Belken (undisclosed) also remains questionable, while defensive end Cordarrius Bailey (undisclosed) — who left Saturday’s game in the first quarter but remained on the sideline in pads — is probable for Saturday’s game against the Redbirds.

Farley is well aware his team has lost its last two games against Illinois State, which sits alone in second place in the MVFC.

“They’re really good,” Farley said. “They’re always tough in the size of players they have. Their quarterback (Zack Annexstad), I think, is excellent. That’s why they can score like they did last week. Their running back (Mason Blakemore), you can see him getting better every week.

“We just gotta take what we did the other day, build from it, but also learn from it like we had to learn from the South Dakota State game.”