Bryce Paup eyes defensive improvement for UNI football

CEDAR FALLS — A lot is on the table this week as Northern Iowa football looks for answers after falling to 2-4 with last Saturday’s home loss to Illinois State.

After the 23-21 loss UNI Coach Mark Farley said the scheme, play-calling and personnel would all be examined for adjustments after the Panthers defense struggled once again.

Absent from Monday's usual news conference for a doctor's appointment, assistant head coach Bryce Paup met the media in Farley’s place and began by addressing the defense’s struggles.

“There are times when we as coaches put them in a bad position,” Paup said. “We have to go back and look at that and make sure that we are eliminating those issues, because in the course of a game there’s going to be 10 great calls and there’s going to be 10 bad calls and hopefully we can win the great calls and the players can get us out of the 10 bad calls.

“If we can start to do that and start to make some of the corrections that we’ve seen on film then I think the defense will start to come around to the defense UNI is known for.”

Among the issues UNI’s defense faces is an inability to get off the field on third and fourth downs.

In their loss to Illinois State, the Redbirds converted 15 of their 22 combined third and fourth downs.

More than halfway through its regular season, the Panthers are allowing 424.3 yards and 28 points per game.

So, with only five regular-season games remaining, time is running out on the likelihood of there being a significant turnaround, and as a result Farley has essentially called all hands on deck, according to Paup.

“True to that he had us go back and look at every snap of the first half of the season and there are definite things — sometimes if you don’t go back and watch every snap you kind of gloss it over — when you start to stack it you start to see (bad) tendencies,” Paup said.

Saturday’s loss also included a controversial ending for UNI’s offense.

Facing third-and-10 at Illinois State’s 43-yard line with no timeouts remaining, quarterback Theo Day took a sack — the one result besides a turnover that didn’t allow for a long field goal attempt as time expired.

While hindsight might suggest some type of surprise run play to have made the long field goal attempt more makable, Paup explained how concerns with a second-string holder factored in.

“To me, we make a decision and we live with it,” Paup said. “Had we snapped the ball better the whole game for field goals and PATs (we) probably might have tried a field goal. But, those are the things people don’t see.”

UNI hosts Utah Tech (1-4, 0-2) Saturday at 4 p.m. (ESPN+).