First Look: Northern Iowa’s brutal schedule ends with hosting No. 18 Missouri State continued

What

Missouri State (5-2, 3-0 Missouri Valley Football Conference), ranked No. 18 in the final FCS Coaches Poll, travels to Northern Iowa (2-5, 0-3 MVFC) for the Panthers’ homecoming.

Where

UNI Dome, Cedar Falls, Iowa

When

Kickoff is scheduled for Saturday, October 26th at 4:00 p.m. CT.

Where can I watch?

ESPN+

Who is preferred?

As of Tuesday, no betting line has been set for this game.

What happened last time?

Northern Iowa brought a No. 15 national ranking to Springfield a year ago before the Bears sent the Panthers back to Cedar Falls with a 35-16 upset loss.

In the penultimate game of the 2023 regular season, then-MSU quarterback Jordan Pachot (now at Southern Utah) completed 27 of 35 passes for 326 yards and four touchdowns. All-American receiver Raylen Sharpe (now at Fresno State) was productive, totaling 11 receptions for 160 yards and two touchdowns.

The Bears never backed down and appeared to have contributed to the Panthers not being called up to the FCS playoffs two weeks later.

UNI leads the all-time series 35-8, but Missouri State has had recent success in the series, winning three of its last four games.

Scouting Northern Iowa

Northern Iowa statistically has one of the worst offenses in all of Division I football. The Panthers are averaging 12.7 points and 297 yards per game, but their grueling schedule is a major contributor to the poor performance.

After UNI opened the season 2-0 with wins over Valparaiso (35-7) and a St. Thomas team (17-10) that was in Division III until 2021, the season reached its limits. The Panthers played their next five road games, falling 34-3 to Big Ten’s Nebraska and 36-7 to Mountain West member Hawaii to round out non-conference play. The Panthers’ Valley team was also discouraging, falling to two-time defending champion and then-No. 1 South Dakota State (41-3) and back-to-back losses to No. 4 South Dakota (32-17) and No. 10 North Dakota (31-7).

When the Panthers face their newest top-20 FCS opponent on Saturday, it will be their first home game since August 31st. Mark Farley, the Panthers’ 24-year head coach and winningest coach in conference history, is back to a more floor-oriented game after losing the bulk of his starters to transfer and graduation as well as his pass-oriented offensive coordinator Bodie Reeder to Middle Tennessee State a year ago had.

UNI employs two quarterbacks with very similar stats in Aidan Dunne and Matthew Schecklman, who have combined to complete 108 of 187 attempts (57.5%) for 1,117 yards, five touchdowns and five interceptions, creating a passing offense ranked last in the Valley stands.

Behind a sizable offensive line, running back Tye Ewards had 515 yards on 82 carries.

UNI’s defense, which gives up 28 points per game, will be tasked with slowing down three-time MVFC Offensive Player of the Week Jacob Clark, who ranks second in the FCS in passing yards per game (321).

What Northern Iowa said

Head coach Mark Farley: “(Missouri State) is really good. I could say that I get on the podium every week. The difference from last year is in their result (announcement of their move to FBS in 2025). You look at the guys they found in the portal that maybe they wouldn’t have gotten before because they’re going to be (FBS) next year and you see the result of that.”

What State of Missouri said

Head coach Ryan Beard: “(Northern Iowa) still runs the ball effectively and they have a good group of wideouts that are big, strong and fast. The (offensive) line is always big when you move up to UNI. They have big bodies, big presence. I’m not sure how they feel about their quarterback room. Two guys played a two-QB system, so we’ll see what happens on game day. The nice thing about this is that they are not different players, which makes it easier to make plans in defense. On their defense, they have a good pass rusher named Cannon Butler. He can influence a game and we need to know where he is at all times. They have some guys in their secondary that we recruited as well. It will be a good football game. They are hungry for a win. We are hungry to keep winning.”

Ryan Collingwood

Sports reporter

Ryan Collingwood covers college and high school sports in the Springfield area for the Daily Citizen. Do you have an idea or point of criticism? Email rcollingwood@sgfcitizen.org, call or 417-837-3660 or follow Ryan on social media at X.com/rwcollingwood. More from Ryan Collingwood