Starting QB? New offense? 5 questions for UNI football in 2024

CEDAR FALLS — Look no further than Northern Iowa’s eighth-place prognostication in the Missouri Valley Football Conference’s preseason poll to know times are different in the FCS’ preeminent league.

Having not made the playoffs since 2021, or won more than six games since 2019, the Panthers have seen first-hand how teams beyond South Dakota State and North Dakota State have established themselves as perennial playoff contenders in a conference that typically puts four to six of its 11 teams in the postseason.

So, with only nine of its 22 starters returning from a season ago there are plenty of questions surrounding UNI heading into the 2024 season — and Tuesday’s annual media day.

1. Who wins the quarterback competition?

Redshirt junior Aidan Dunne, Arkansas State transfer Jaxon Dailey and redshirt sophomore Matthew Schecklman have been in a formal competition since spring practices.

Dunne’s familiarity with the program and its investment in him make him the favorite. Dailey — a 2022 Southeast Polk grad — was targeted by the staff when he entered the transfer portal after last season and has received praise since arriving on campus. Schecklman flashed in the spring game by climbing the pocket and displaying an ability to scramble and extend plays.

Coach Mark Farley was non-committal about a starter or even hinting at a front-runner after the Panthers’ annual spring game, so Tuesday’s media day will be the next opportunity to find out if a front-runner has emerged, or, if one of the three have been cut out of the competition.

2. How will the ‘Air Raid’ offense look?

Along with breaking in a new starting quarterback, the Panthers will be breaking in a new offensive scheme.

As Farley described during the MVFC’s media days earlier this month the “Air Raid” is a simplistic scheme, but it does ask plenty of the quarterback pre and post-snap.

First-year offensive coordinator Luke Falk resigned at the end of June to return home due to a family health matter, leaving quarterbacks coach Trey Tinsley and since-hired wide receivers coach Joel Filani — who both have intimate experience with the “Air Raid” — as the likeliest replacements for Falk as the play-caller.

3. Who is the next sack artist?

The graduations of Cordarrius Bailey, Khristian Boyd, Caden Houghtelling and Devin Rice left a considerable hole on UNI’s defensive line.

While all things that go into effective defensive line play must be addressed given the roster turnover, there’s no question the Panthers need someone to emerge as a pass rusher.

Redshirt junior Cannon Butler had four sacks in 2023 and is undoubtedly most poised for a breakout. However, after Butler it’s almost exclusively players who have limited to no game experience at defensive end.

4. How will the secondary shake-up play out?

Tate Sander is the only starter who returns in UNI’s secondary.

Graduation and the transfer portal hit the Panthers hard in their defensive backfield. Farley and his staff added four transfers to the group.

With a number of talented, experienced quarterbacks returning in the MVFC this season, can UNI have its starters, their positions and best schemes figured out by the season-opener on Aug. 31? Or, at least by the time conference play begins on Oct. 5?

5. How will UNI handle a demanding schedule?

UNI has taken on more than its share of formidable schedules the past decade, but will this season’s schedule prove too difficult to reckon with?

After opening the season at home on Aug. 31, the Panthers don’t play inside the UNI-Dome again until Oct. 5 — their MVFC opener against top-ranked, two-time defending national champion South Dakota State.

Their non-conference finale is a nearly 7,000-mile round trip to play at Hawaii.

Before facing the Rainbow Warriors, the Panthers play at Nebraska in front of 85,000-plus fans at Memorial Stadium.

And after its MVFC-opener against the top-ranked Jackrabbits, five of UNI’s final seven opponents are preseason top-25 teams and four of those games are on the road.