Hlas: Better team didn't win this one

It's more than “could have.” Northern Iowa should have defeated Iowa.

You get not one, but two chances at game-winning field goals from inside 41 yards in the last seven seconds for the best win in your school's history? You surely make one, not get both blocked.

The Panthers did all else in their power Saturday to try to create America's college football upset of the day (Month? Year?) and a world-turning day in a state's sports history.

Two kicks, two thuds. One Hawkeyes celebration that was premature. One that wasn't.

Iowa 17, UNI 16. The finish was beyond bizarre. But what happened in Kinnick Stadium during the first 59 minutes and 53 seconds wasn't weird, just unexpected.

Unexpected by everyone but the Panthers, anyway.

Northern Iowa, so good for so long, came to Kinnick Stadium and exerted its will on the all-dwarfing icon of Iowa sports, Hawkeyes football.

“I think we outplayed them across the board,” Northern Iowa Coach Mark Farley said.

UNI scored four times, Iowa three. UNI had more yards, had the ball for more time, had fewer turnovers, sacked the opposing quarterback twice as much.

What do you tell your team after a loss like this? The truth.

“You tell them it hurts and it never goes away,” Farley said.

“At the same time you're very proud of how they played. Because I felt they represented our program as well as any football team could represent our program.

“The attitude of any UNI football team ... I think it's pretty clear. I've told everybody a hundred times. The attitude of any

UNI football team is that we can win any game on any field we step foot on.

“The irritation comes from the loss, knowing that we know we should have won that thing hands down.”

That wasn't said in anger or arrogance. It was Farley rationally saying what he believes and will always believe.

“This team was confident,” he said. “This team was very, very prepared.”

Had this game been played in the UNI-Dome with most of the fans cheering for the Panthers, this might have been a two-TD Panthers win.

In Kinnick, UNI held Iowa to three points in the first half. It wrested momentum back from the Hawkeyes in the fourth quarter when it looked like the program with the much-larger budget and 22 extra scholarships was about to pull away.

It boldly kicked a field goal rather than tried to go for a first-down with 4:26 left in the game to pull within 17-16. It had faith it could stop Iowa's offense and regain possession with enough time to forge a winning drive.

UNI indeed got that ball back, at its 8-yard line with 2:14 remaining. What followed was a brilliant display of poise and talent. Led by quarterback Pat Grace, the Panthers diced the Hawkeye defense and got to field goal range in time.

“We don't really practice the two-minute drill that much,” Grace said. “To be honest, I really never had to do that since I've been quarterback at Northern Iowa. It was kind of fun for me trying a new experience. It ran smoothly for us, really good.”

Was anyone truly surprised at that point?

For those of the Hawkeye persuasion who had any previous sort of snobbery toward their smaller-school brothers, stow it or look stupid.

“Hopefully, when this day is done and this week is done,” Farley said, “the state of Iowa will understand how good UNI is.”

Farley, please know, raves about the Hawkeyes and how they go about their business. He interjected his postgame remarks a few times with such praise.

“I really think you've got a neat thing going here,” he said. “At the same time, we line up against you and we think we can beat you.”

The Panthers will think so the next time they show up at Kinnick's gates, too.

“It's not a matter of if UNI will beat Iowa,” Farley said. “It's a matter of when

it's going to happen. It should have happened today and we didn't make the play at the end.”Two kicks, two thuds. One very fortunate winning team. One team with heartache as big as its heart.