UNI football happy to be home

CEDAR FALLS - Believe it or not, Northern Iowa football is finally going to play a game at the UNI-Dome.

OK, the Panthers have already played one there this season - but just that many, and it was exactly a month ago Monday. Thirty-five days later, UNI will be back for a home football game after three straight games on the road.

It's been a long time away, and the Panthers are pretty happy not to have to get on a bus or plane this week.

'Joy and relief - those are two good words. It's very good for our football team,” Coach Mark Farley said at his weekly press luncheon on Monday. 'We've played one game at home. I don't even know what day it is - it's almost the middle of October and we've had one game at home, which is not the easiest thing to do.

'We haven't said anything because we tell our players that's how we play, but this is an opportunity. There is an edge to playing at home. We've been the opponent for three sellouts now, the last three places we've been. I thought we played very well in two of the tougher ones. Now if we can just get our advantage to playing at home and use that advantage, then I think we've got a chance to play at another level.”

UNI (2-3, 0-2 MVFC) is 1-3 on the road this season, but as anyone who's followed the Panthers this season knows, all three have come against either top-five teams in FCS or FBS Iowa State.

With the seemingly endless barrage of ranked opponents this season, and still at least two more (plus three that are receiving votes) to go, getting any kind of advantage is more than welcome. Even more than just the UNI faithful cheering from the UNI-Dome seats, little things like sleeping in their own beds and not spending time with cramped travel arrangements can be a boost.

'It does make a difference,” said MVFC Defensive Player of the Week Brett McMakin. 'It was a rough early schedule with four top 25 teams and three being away. It'll be nice (being) back home. That tough schedule will make us better in the long run.

'We're figuring it out, and I think we're really motivated now. We're ready to get back into it.”

The schedule played out in a brutal way for the Panthers this season, and much of it was out of their hands.

UNI gets to set its non-conference schedule - typically one FBS opponent (Iowa or Iowa State) and two non-conference FCS opponents - and then the Missouri Valley Football Conference has control over the final eight games of the season. Given the schedule is set so far in advance, it was almost impossible to anticipate such a tough stretch for the Panthers, but it caught them in a tough spot this year regardless.

'It's set for the next three or four years. (Commissioner) Patty (Vivirito) sets those. I don't know what the rhyme or reason to it is, but she sets those,” Farley said. 'And if you play two (FBS schools), then that's another on the road. We're caught a lot of times with only five home games, where North Dakota State, Montana and those people get six home games. That's a big advantage in scheduling when you're playing the level we're playing at and the teams we play.

'We're caught in a Catch-22, trying to do right by the budget and right by the league, and yet put our team in a position we want to be in.”

Ultimately, Farley and the Panthers aren't making any excuses for anything. Farley plainly laid out how the last two weeks went - frustration following Illinois State because they felt they let themselves down and disappointment with a missed chance at North Dakota State.

He's not likely to complain to the MVFC, either, because they'd almost certainly dismiss any in regards to the schedule. All Farley wants going forward is a better system for home and away schedule equity.

'I think they would listen, but I don't know if they'd respond because it's scheduled out three or four years from now. It's kind of done,” Farley said. 'I don't care who (the opponents) are, I just wish the balance was better for Northern Iowa instead of all on the road and all at home in the back half. It would be nice to have a system - I don't care who they are - where it's home and away as best you can so you can get a rhythm and get some time on the road but not a month on the road.”

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