UNI ready for Round 2 against Illinois State

CEDAR FALLS - Since the clock hit 0:00 last Saturday against Stephen F. Austin, Northern Iowa football coach Mark Farley has, essentially, been asked one question - save for a few about David Johnson.

How do you beat a team for a second time in one season?

It's the natural question when the No. 10 Panthers hit the road to Normal, Ill., Saturday to face No. 7 and fifth-seeded Illinois State in the second round of the FCS Playoffs and for the second time in just a little more than a month.

'It's probably the biggest question of the day is what you do when you play a team for the second time,” Farley said. 'It has never happened to us, so it'll be the first time we line up against the same team in the same season.

'We've never tried, so I don't have the answer to that. There's no question it's hard to beat them the first time, let alone the second time.”

It's a fairly unique situation, brought about by the regional preferences the FCS committee uses to determine matchups in the early rounds. Conference opponents are no stranger to playing each other. Southeastern Louisiana and Sam Houston State, which shared the Southland Conference title, played each other in the first round.

Those teams, at least, hadn't played already once this year. The Panthers and Redbirds, as any Missouri Valley Football Conference fan knows, aren't even the only MVFC teams playing for a second time this season this weekend. North Dakota State hosts South Dakota State after beating them at home Nov. 1 - the same day UNI beat Illinois State at the UNI-Dome.

Even if the situation isn't unique, the challenge is. There's the risk of overthinking and attempting to outthink your opponent.

Maybe it was because both coaches knew the other would read or hear it, or maybe they're firm in what they do, but neither Farley nor Illinois State Coach Brock Spack said major changes or wrinkles would come Saturday.

'At this time of the season, you kind of are what you are. It's hard to change a lot of things because our philosophy is what the players are used to,” Spack said. 'Obviously we're on a big stage, and you want your players to execute. That's the most important part. It's very difficult to change a lot of things. There might be small tweaks on both sides of the ball on both teams. But I don't think it'll be a whole lot different than what you saw in Cedar Falls last time we played.”

Farley said essentially the same thing, but added nothing is off the table in terms of a plan.

He and his staff started from square one in planning for the Redbirds, with Farley saying he 'probably wasted half a day” redoing his play charts simply to make sure he was treating Illinois State like a new team.

The 16-year veteran has been around enough to know no options can be thrown away completely, and was coy enough Monday to leave plenty on the table - even if he hedged just a little bit.

'Now it comes down to, if we're going to put a spin on it, if they're going to put a spin on it, and I'm sure both of us will do something to tweak our plans and to make them something different than what they were last time,” Farley said. 'All those things are being thought about because you're playing a team for the second time. So yes, we have to do some things we haven't done before. What that is, I'm not sure right now. There's some ideas on the table.

'Yet, we have to look at who we have and how we're playing right now, too. That's why I like to go back and look at it from a clean slate. It's a new week, a new game and to me a new football team.”

The short answer to the question of a second win? Execute the same or better than last time. It's likely there won't be room for many surprises because of how well they know each other.

Whatever happens in between is the fun of this time of year.

'I'm sure both sides are going back and forth,” Farley said. 'As a coach, you have to kind of temper it a little bit in your scheme, but you don't want to handcuff them. You want to let them be themselves and let the player come out of them - particularly this time of year. That's what November is. That's when you kind of take the reins off and let them run, come November and hope you can run the full race to the end.”

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com