Mark Farley excited about UNI football growth

CEDAR FALLS — Northern Iowa appears to be peaking just in time as it makes a back-against-the wall run for the FCS playoffs.

Sitting 2-4 just two weeks ago, the Panthers looked poised to fumble their season despite having a number of decorated returnees on defense and an offense quickly establishing itself as one of the FCS’s most dynamic.

Now, sitting 4-4 after back-to-back wins over Utah Tech and Missouri State, the Panthers are as confident as ever and getting close to their potential.

“A lot closer than they were five weeks ago,” UNI football coach Mark Farley said of his team reaching its potential. “They played really (well), across the board.”

Saturday’s 41-20 win against Missouri State displayed the potential of UNI’s offense, defense and special teams.

A season-high 522 yards was yet another statement from the Panthers that their new offense is legit.

Theo Day’s candidacy for Missouri Valley Football Conference offensive player of the year took another serious step forward as the junior passed for 291 yards, placing him alone in fifth among all FCS quarterbacks in yards.

Dom Williams ran for 101 yards and a career-high four touchdowns and Logan Wolf had a career-high 112 receiving yards.

On defense, ends Cannon Butler and Cordarrius Bailey registered a pair of sacks that factored heavily into Saturday’s result, and Farley acknowledged Monday that largely playing a three-man defensive front has helped the duo produce.

“For who we played and who we’re playing there’s no question it’s a better fit for the style of play of both,” Farley said. “Cordarrius (is) very comfortable in it because that’s all he played when he was at Iowa State. It even helps (Devin) Rice. It’s been effective for two weeks now.”

While a lot less seems to be working against the Panthers right now, the lack of a bye week has presented its challenges.

UNI’s unique schedule doesn’t provide a bye week until the second-to-last week of its regular season and Farley pointed out how that’s challenged his team.

“You had to have the ability to make the adjustments during a game week,” Farley said. “One, you had to make the decision to go for it. Two, the players had to do a great job of buying into it. Then, thirdly, with some new coaches and stuff you had to teach it. So, there’s a lot of stuff going on the last few weeks.”

After missing Saturday’s game against the Bears, defensive end Caden Houghtelling and right guard Justin Peine’s statuses for this Saturday at Southern Illinois (5-3, 4-1) remain questionable, according to Farley.

UNI at No. 24 SIU kicks off at 2 p.m. Saturday (ESPN3).