UNI Coach Mark Farley still frustrated after lopsided football loss

CEDAR FALLS — Northern Iowa football coach Mark Farley didn’t mince words Monday in his weekly news conference that came two days after the Panthers’ 41-3 home loss to No. 1 South Dakota State.

“It was as painful as the first time I watched it,” Farley said of the game film. “Too many critical errors. We all saw the same thing. You can’t fumble the ball. You can’t give up four turnovers and a punt block.”

Having now lost three straight games, UNI (2-3, 0-1) finds itself at a possible tipping point in its season with ranked opponents awaiting in its next five games.

“To battle yourself back you can’t hide from it, you can’t run from it, you gotta deal with it,” Farley said. “That’s what the players have to do. That’s what the coaches have to do. I think you have to absorb what happened to get better from what happened.”

Part of what UNI has to deal with is its quarterback position.

For the third consecutive game, backup Matthew Schecklman entered for starter Aidan Dunne.

Dunne threw two interceptions in the loss to South Dakota State, however, while Schecklman didn’t turn the ball over in the three drives he directed Saturday. He did, however, suffer two sacks and the offense generated no points.

Farley said Monday he’s yet to make a decision on a starter for this Saturday’s game at No. 4 South Dakota (2 p.m., ESPN+), but anticipated doing so later Monday and giving that player all the repetitions in practice this week with the starting offense.

“It’s on the tip of my tongue, but I’m not going to (stand) here on a Monday at noon (and) decide that until I sit through a full day of watching (film) because this is the players day off,” Farley said.

Perhaps as important as deciding on a quarterback moving forward is addressing the blocked punt from last Saturday’s loss that was returned for a touchdown.

It was the second punt blocked by a UNI opponent this season and when asked about what needs work to fix the issue the frustration was obvious.

“Everything. Everything,” Farley said. “So, that one — I’m working on that one. Hard. Everything is wrong with that and we haven’t been good at that and it’s not all player related. It’s a group thing that I have to fix.”

The Panthers suffered what appeared to be two serious injuries in their loss to the Jackrabbits. Linebacker Ben Belken (shoulder) and offensive lineman Hayden Amos (lower body) both left the game in the first half and didn’t return.

“(Amos’) was probably more serious than Belken’s, but Belken’s was fairly serious too just because of the multiple times it’s happened to him,” Farley said.

Running back Amauri Pesek-Hickson is somewhere between questionable and probable for this week’s game with an undisclosed injury and third string running back Harrison Bey-Buie didn’t dress for Saturday’s game. Farley’s description of his status was long, but ambiguous, before ultimately designating him “doubtful” and revealing freshman Titus Cram will get work in practice this week.