It’s win or go home for UNI football Saturday against North Dakota State

CEDAR FALLS — Saturday’s loss at Missouri State sets up a de facto playoff game for Northern Iowa football at home this Saturday against No. 9 North Dakota State.

At 6-4 overall and 5-2 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, the only way the 22nd-ranked Panthers can ensure themselves an at-large playoff bid to the FCS’ 24-team field is to upset the Bison.

“I would assume (we) win, we’re in,” Farley said. “We let one get away from us last week after playing well for so long, so now we’re sitting here and North Dakota State is coming (to) the Dome.

“It was always going to come down to the North Dakota State game, it always does. (If) you’re playing big games in November you’re doing something and we are.”

The film review of Saturday’s 35-16 loss against the Bears wasn’t complicated. Farley said the Panthers passing game was outdueled by Missouri State.

“We never got in sync. We never got in rhythm,” he said. “They threw the ball better than we threw the ball and that was the difference in the game.”

A season-high 12 penalties for 103 yards and season-low completion percentage for quarterback Theo Day (40 percent) stand out most when it comes to UNI failing to establish any rhythm at Missouri State.

Farley mentioned Monday it was one of the most penalized games he can remember being a part of, but reiterated missed opportunities by his team were to blame for the loss.

“We had some dropped balls, but at the same time there were 21 or 22 penalties in (the) game,” he said. “You (have) 22 penalties and then throw on top of it all the timeouts for commercials and you couldn’t get anything going.

“We tried to swing the momentum. We went for it a couple times and tried to make something happen through play-calling. It just never caught fire.”

All signs point toward Saturday (4 p.m. on KCRG 9.2 and ESPN+) being a win-or-go-home scenario for UNI. Farley said despite the Bison (7-3, 4-3) having a loss or two more than usual they’re still a great team.

“Maybe they got caught off guard. I don’t know what happened to them in the games they (lost),” Farley said. “It’s the league. You’ve not only got to be good, you’ve got to be consistent. And you’ve got to be healthy.”