UNI football looking for right combination on defense to prevent big plays

CEDAR FALLS — Plenty of work remains despite Northern Iowa winning its second straight football game this past Saturday.

Similar to UNI’s 41-17 win at Idaho State three weeks ago, Saturday’s 44-41 Missouri Valley Football Conference-opening win over Youngstown State showed as many positives as things the Panthers still need to work on.

Perhaps most obvious among those is the Panthers’ defense.

While two key stops from its defense set the stage for Saturday’s comeback win against Penguins, UNI Coach Mark Farley described Monday what’s most important for UNI to improve upon quickly.

“We’re giving up big plays that should not be given up,” Farley said. “Most of the time it’s a communication error between two guys that are on the wrong side of the coin, they’re doing opposite things, and thus you create a void and a good team will take advantage of your voids.”

Beyond scheme, technique and execution improvements, there continues to be some personnel uncertainty.

Corry Thomas Jr. started at cornerback in Saturday’s win, but was quickly relieved by Jonathan Cabral-Martin after blown coverage allowed a 61-yard YSU completion on the game’s first play from scrimmage.

“You might see a different (cornerback) this weekend,” Farley said. “At the end of the day you’ve got to win at (cornerback). You’re exposed, man. You’re out there in front of the world, by yourself, it’s like being a kicker. So, absolutely there’s competition at the position.

“You got to be able to (forget) an error to move on to the next week, but you’ve also got to compete for your position everyday of the week as well.”

Farley pointed out the offense isn’t satisfied and has things to clean up, too.

Senior quarterback Theo Day received co-MVFC offensive player of the week honors Monday after completing 21 of his 29 passes for 337 yards and five combined touchdowns. Despite that performance, Farley pointed out during his postgame news conference Saturday that the All-American still has things to fix.

“He’s back to where we’ve seen him in the past, that he’s got some rhythm to him and he’s got a good group of receivers to throw to,” Farley said. “Now he just needs to continue to take what is there, because it’s not there every time. But, you got to be like that if you’re going to win, man.

“The great ones know how to challenge it and I think that balance is the difference between good and great.”

Next up for the Panthers (2-2, 1-0) is their first MVFC road game at Indiana State. The Sycamores (0-4, 0-1) are coming off an MVFC-opening loss at Murray State, 30-28. Kickoff at Memorial Stadium is at 6 p.m. (CT) Saturday.

“I don’t care where you play or who you play, you better bring your A-game, because this league has got enough talent in it, and it’s got enough coaching talent in it, that it’s a tough league,” Farley said. “If you catch momentum it isn’t ‘you’re supposed to win,’ it’s ‘find a way to win.’”