Where UNI football needs to improve in Week 2: Rhythm on offense, communication on defense

CEDAR FALLS — Rhythm and communication.

Those were the two words that kept coming out of Northern Iowa football coach Mark Farley’s mouth Tuesday after having studied the game film of the Panthers’ 30-9 loss at Iowa State last Saturday.

Rhythm, or a lack thereof, largely came up when analyzing the offense’s shortcomings against the Cyclones. And it’s something that’ll need to be fixed in practice this week if the No. 20 Panthers (0-1) are going to contend with No. 9 Weber State (1-0) in their home-opener on Saturday.

“They need to get in rhythm. They never got in rhythm (last) Saturday,” Farley said. “Even coming out of the huddle, getting to the line of scrimmage — all those things that create rhythm from the (play) call all the way to the execution.”

Communication, or a lack thereof, largely came up when discussing what he saw on film from the UNI defense. Playing mostly a three-man front against Iowa State, the Panthers had six new starters among the back two levels of their defense, which led to breakdowns.

“The back-seven — there was only two (returning) starters back there — and they had some errors in communication,” Farley said. “When they failed is a tough word, but when they failed it was a communication error of not having the entire group doing the same thing. They need someone really verbal and it’s hard to be verbal when you’re young (because) you’re just trying to do your own job, let alone trying to get a couple other guys on the same page.”

Although Saturday’s loss to the Cyclones was humbling, it wasn’t without bright spots.

Redshirt freshman Jahsiah Galvan made his first career start and finished with six tackles, one for a loss, before leaving the game in the second half with cramping.

Offensively Farley described transfer running back Tye Edwards’ debut performance — running for 72 yards in 16 carries — as “good.” Meanwhile, he thought four new starters on the offensive line played OK, despite being down one of their five best options in tackle Tristan Roper (undisclosed), who’s poised to return this week.

“To me, we ran the ball good. I wouldn’t say we ran it great, but we ran it good,” Farley said. “There were a couple (sacks) that we shouldn’t have gotten beat on. The (free) pressure is what got (us). The ones the guy looked like he’s coming clean and took a shot (at the quarterback), that shouldn’t have happened, those are errors. Those errors didn’t allow us to throw the ball. There were two of those.”

UNI’s game Saturday will be televised by KCRG 9.2 and streamed on ESPN+. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m.

“(Weber State) is always one of the four (playoff) teams in that (Big Sky) conference because of what they do,” Farley said. “Montana (and) Montana State have a lot of the financial edge, but Weber State always got the toughness to them that makes them one of those teams that’s always a contender in their own league to win it, as they are again this year.”