UNI falls in final seconds to No. 18 Western Illinois

CEDAR FALLS - Northern Iowa (2-3, 1-1) came up just short after an epic second half in its homecoming tilt, falling 38-29 to 18th-ranked Western Illinois (4-1, 1-1) at the UNI-Dome Saturday.

After allowing Western Illinois to go 68 yards on its opening drive that ended in a field goal, the UNI defense forced five punts and one turnover on downs in a dominant first half. Rickey Neal helped bring what's been a dormant pass-rush back to life with two sacks of Sean McGuire, both on 3rd-and-short situations.

While Western Illinois' offense struggled, UNI's battled struggles of its own for much of the half. Three punts - with two of those drives being three-and-outs - an interception and a safety was the tale of the tape for the Panthers first five drives. Similar run-game struggles cropped up with ball-carriers having little room to run, and quarterback Eli Dunne battled many unclean pockets to throw from.

With just over 6 minutes remaining in the first half the Panthers showed some life and put together back-to-back 54-yard touchdown drives.

After taking over on their own 46, the Panthers quickly moved their way downfield with 19 and 30 yard passes from Dunne to Daurice Fountain and Elias Nissen. Nissen's 30 yard reception - a perfectly placed pass in tight coverage by Dunne - went for a touchdown to put the Panthers up 7-5 with 4:53 left in the half.

Another stop by the defense gave UNI the ball back with 2:33 left in the half. Seven plays and 54 yards later, the Panthers were back in the end zone. Dunne capped the drive with a 14-yard pass to Fountain, who fumbled at the goal line. Thankfully for the Panthers, Nissen fell on the fumble and the Panthers took a 14-5 lead into halftime, but head coach Mark Farley didn't go into the break with a great feeling about his team.

'Too many inconsistencies (in the first half). We popped the big (97-yard) run, got called back. A lot of things got called back,” Farley said. 'It was more the mental errors that cost us some of our bigger plays that got called back. We had played good defense in the first half, and it was a matter of what adjustments the two teams were going to make for the second half.”

The offensive troubles didn't completely go away for UNI in the second half. Dunne was intercepted deep in his own territory on the second drive of the second half which led to a Western Illinois touchdown. The score pulled the Leathernecks within two with 25 minutes to play and set the stage for an epic second half.

Western Illinois scored its second touchdown just 5 1/2 minutes after its first. A five-play, 79-yard drive was capped by a 46-yard pass from McGuire to Isaiah LeShure. The Leathernecks added another score 4 minutes into the fourth quarter, making it 20 points unanswered and a 25-14 lead, but the Panthers made a comeback.

Nine play, 81-yard and 16-play, 86-yard scoring drives by Dunne and the Panthers had the 12,642 in attendance on their feet and biting their nails. UNI converted on two fourth downs in the 16-play drive that earned a 29-25 lead with only 1:12 remaining, and the homecoming classic appeared to be headed in the Panthers' favor.

Led by McGuire, who threw for 334 yards and three touchdowns, the Leathernecks marched 65 yards in nine plays and took the air out of the UNI-Dome when McGuire found Jaelon Acklin on a 20-yard post pattern for the score and the win as only 6 seconds remained.

'We didn't make enough plays. They made a nice drive, give them total credit. They should not be able to do that. We were too inconsistent on offense and defense all night long,” Farley said. 'We just stay the course. You've got to believe what you're doing. That was the conversation (with the team) at the end. We can't have inconsistencies. You're always going to play a strong enough team that they'll take advantage, or, you'll lose your advantage if you make your own errors. That was the story tonight.”

Western Illinois added a final score when on UNI's desperation kickoff return, bringing a fumble back for a TD and 38-29 victory.