UNI’s road loss to NDSU in ‘hurt category’

FARGO, N.D. - This one hurts.

It's not frustrating, it's not mistake-filled and it's not as if the Northern Iowa football team can point to any one thing that cost them.

For No. 10 UNI, a 31-28 loss to No. 2 North Dakota State stings as no other loss could this season after leading three different times in the FargoDome.

'I'd put that one in the hurt category,” said head coach Mark Farley. 'When you battle like that, it's not frustrating because you didn't do anything wrong. You're frustrated when you do something wrong. Tell me what they did wrong.

'It was our 60 guys versus the building, and I thought they didn't do anything wrong. They played their ass off and so did North Dakota State.”

The Panthers (2-3, 0-2 Missouri Valley Football Conference) came out firing against a raucous, sellout crowd in Fargo, N.D., with Sawyer Kollmorgen getting his first start of the season.

UNI carried a 14-10 lead into halftime, and the slugfest that was the first half carried through the third quarter. The fourth quarter, though, was one for the memory bank - albeit great for Bison fans and painful for Panther fans.

Kollmorgen didn't return after halftime with a concussion, and Aaron Bailey stepped in. He guided two scoring drives - to equal Kollmorgen from the first half - of five- and one-play varieties. UNI's two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter represented two of five lead changes in the final stanza alone - the first capped off by a Darrian Miller touchdown run and the second an 83-yard touchdown run from Bailey.

The read-option exposed an NDSU defense that had allowed minus-8 rushing yards over its previous nine quarters. UNI rushed for 277 yards and had a chance to extend a 28-24 lead to seven with 2:30 to go, but a missed 38-yard Michael Schmadeke field goal gave the Bison (4-1, 2-0) the time it needed to win the game.

What followed was a game-winning 10 play, 79-yard drive, led by NDSU quarterback Carson Wentz. The Bison converted two fourth downs on the final drive, both on pass plays in which Wentz took a big hit. In the end, it was an 18-yard TD pass in the corner to Darrius Shepherd - with two UNI defenders draped all over him - that won it for NDSU.

Farley's demeanor after the game was of pure disappointment in coming so close. UNI's 435 yards of offense and three forced turnovers - two interceptions of Wentz and a recovery on a Wentz fumble - simply weren't enough. His thoughts were in awe of what he'd seen on the field.

'That was just a great football game,” Farley said. 'You can look for rationale all the way through and whoever was going to lose that game would have rationale to say whatever. That was two good football teams playing against each other.

'That last drive, the kid made some nice throws. The 4th and 7 catch on the boundary (by Shepherd) and the catch in the end zone were nice coverage. They made nice plays. Sometimes this is a game of inches.”

The contrast to last week's loss to Illinois State and this week's loss were very different for Farley.

He pointed to specific mistakes after the loss to the Redbirds, but refused to do so after Saturday. He acknowledged there were things they might've done differently, but unlike a performance in which the Panthers felt they gave it away, it was more about coming up short.

And while he and NDSU Coach Chris Klieman may not be bosom buddies anymore, both expressed a deep appreciation for the other afterward.

'My feeling on this is when you have two teams that I feel really respect each other - we fight and battle and do all that stuff during the week - but you've got two teams who respect each other and play their tails off against each other,” Farley said. 'You've always got good football games every time you line up. It's a game of inches, and you just saw they made some nice plays going down the stretch.

'You all just saw a great football game between two very good football teams. Instead of picking it apart, we should just appreciate the effort of these two football teams.”

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