UNI defense carrying the banner

CEDAR FALLS — Over the last month, there's been a lot go wrong for the Northern Iowa football team.

That turned around last week at South Dakota State, thanks to a sterling performance by the Mark Farley and Jeremiah Johnson-led defense. But despite focused criticisms from the head coach, in many aspects the defense was what was going right for the Panthers even during the three-game losing streak.

Yes, there's been some missed assignments and bad penalties along the way, but a unit that has defined UNI football for decades also kept the Panthers in each of the last four games — including coming up with the game-winning play last week.

'I think it's the belief in the culture of our defense,' Farley said. 'We gave up those seven points (last week) and there was actually guys that were — I don't want to say reprimanded — but there were guys that had to get fixed, because one play is too many.'

Their head coach is a former all-conference linebacker who played right where they're playing in the UNI-Dome. Their defensive coordinator has presided over some of the most successful defenses in Missouri Valley Football Conference history. Their defensive line coach was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1995.

Plenty of places have high expectations for good, or even great, defense, but it's in the fabric at UNI.

'That's just our expectation. We can never play to a perfect game, but you always try to coach and perfect it. I think part of the culture of our defense is our guys expect to stop people,' Farley said. 'Players expect to be able to line up and do what they do.

'When they do leak, it gets real frustrating because they're not used to it. They've got great pride in their defense.'

In the four conference games, the Panthers have allowed 343 yards per game to opposing offenses — 210.5 passing per game and 132.5 rushing per game. And while that rushing number is desired to be lower, it also comes at just 3.1 yards per carry in conference, as the Panthers have faced an average of 71.5 snaps on defense in those four conference games. UNI has also forced seven total turnovers in the last four games.

Aside from the fourth quarter against North Dakota State, in which the Bison scored 21 points to come back and win, the Panthers have allowed just 10 second half points in conference play. They shut out Illinois State in the second half, allowed just three to Western Illinois and South Dakota State's only seven points of the game came in the third quarter.

As Farley said, that's expected. And he's also the first to point out if the defense hadn't made mistakes to get them in a hole to begin with, maybe those three losses aren't losses. But ultimately those performances — from the second halves specifically — have to continue if UNI hopes to win out and have hopes for an FCS Playoff bid.

'We all know what we're working towards,' said defensive back Deiondre Hall. 'It's 10 out of 10 (important) all the way that we — in every aspect of the game — keep our play up like this for every game. Each week, we need to get better.

'I would definitely say so (that the defense drives the team), being a defensive captain. We get the game going. We come out with a smack.'

UNI defenders have no problem with belief in themselves or the talent on their side of the ball.

It may have taken a while for the execution to fully match the swagger, but when it did, it was like the 'ah-ha' moment for the Panthers. Now, with South Dakota coming into the UNI-Dome fresh off a drubbing of Missouri State and a colossal upset of North Dakota State at the FargoDome, it's vital they stay in-sync.

'All of us know — the coaches and the players — that we have an elite defense,' said defensive tackle Karter Schult. 'It's just a matter of breaking through the glass. We finally were able to do that (at SDSU).

'I like stingy (to describe us). It had maybe not shown up the last couple weeks, and we knew what happened at South Dakota State is what we're capable of. We're a team that's hard to score on, and on Sunday, you'll probably be hurting.'

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com