UNI football vs. Youngstown State: TV, live stream, prediction, 3 keys to the game

CEDAR FALLS — After a 44-3 home-opening win against St. Thomas and a bye week, No. 13 Northern Iowa (2-1, 0-0) hosts Youngstown State (1-2, 0-1) Saturday for its Missouri Valley Football Conference opener.

Picked ninth in the MVFC’s preseason poll, the Penguins are coming off a 38-35 loss at home to Western Illinois last week. YSU led the Leathernecks 35-7 late in the second quarter, but WIU scored 31 unanswered points, capped by Mason Laramie’s game-winning 20-yard field goal as time expired.

The Panthers lead the all-time series against the Penguins, 24-8, most recently defeating YSU, 21-0, during the spring season.

Here’s three keys for UNI’s homecoming match up against Youngstown State:

1. Bye week bounce

UNI Coach Mark Farley said his team’s body of work through a 2-1 non-conference slate gave the coaching staff a lot of much-needed film on new personnel.

Defensively, Farley mentioned adding to their defensive playbook with more formations and personnel groupings. On offense he pointed toward better utilizing their four running backs and tailoring the scheme to new starting quarterback Theo Day.

With the Penguins being one of the Valley’s few unranked teams and the Panthers having the benefit of a bye week, this homecoming match up should be a good conference tune-up before heading to Fargo, N.D., next week for the annual rivalry game against No. 5 North Dakota State.

2. Prime the play-action

Running the ball has become a theme. Now that UNI has proven it has taken a step forward with its run game — averaging 152.3 yards per game — it’ll be key moving forward to keep it productive enough to create a dynamic play-action passing game to get the most out of Day and his wide receivers’ talent.

The Penguins are allowing 160.7 rushing yards per game, so it would be a surprise if the Panthers run game is unable to set the offense up for success this week.

3. Stop the run, win the game

As important as the run game is for UNI’s offense, its defense stopping YSU’s run game should be the trump card.

The Penguins average just 108.3 passing yards per game, but have made their offense go with 270.3 yards per game on the ground.

Perhaps it’s apples to oranges with how YSU employs its run game, but UNI’s defense limited Heisman Trophy candidate Breece Hall to 69 yards and 3 yards per carry in week 1, so as long as the execution is there the Penguins should have their hands full to get anywhere near their per game average.

Prediction: UNI 30, Youngstown State 17

How to watch UNI vs. Youngstown State

Kickoff time: 4 p.m. CT

Line: UNI -16

TV: KCRG 9.2

Live stream: ESPN+