Season is history: Northern Iowa moving forward
CEDAR FALLS (MCT) — The time for postscripts and second thoughts has arrived at Northern Iowa.
Head coach Mark Farley doesn’t plan to stay on that clock very long.
The Panthers’ 2009 football season ended Saturday with a 22-20 loss to Illinois State, a decision that derailed their playoff drive. Had UNI won that game, Farley believes his team would have been part of the 16-team field for the Football Championship Subdivision tournament.
Instead, the Panthers stayed home at 7-4. Weber State, another 7-4 team, picked up an invitation to the FCS party.
Monday, Farley said his team dropped a chance to earn its way to the postseason at Hancock Stadium Saturday, when Illinois State scored the game-winning touchdown with six-tenths of a second to play.
“I haven’t talked to anybody to verify that, but I just assume it came down to us and Weber and they took Weber,” said the UNI head coach.
Farley added, “You can’t leave it up to the committee. It wasn’t in the committee’s hands in the fourth quarter (Saturday). It was in our hands. That’s the way we play the game. That’s the way UNI should think.
“You don’t point fingers at people, but you should expect more, and you should fight for more, and we will.”
While Missouri Valley Football Conference representatives Southern Illinois and South Dakota State have extended 2009 by going to the playoffs, UNI is kicking off 2010 as quickly as possible.
Following a break for Thanksgiving, Farley will begin working with his young returning players. He has his eye on the front lines, where five offensive starters and three on defense are out of eligibility.
“Next week, I can take those young freshmen, and we can do a lot for them before they leave in December,” he said. “We can start developing them. There will be some offensive linemen in that group and some defensive linemen that will play for us. We can do some things to make them better and try to get ahead of the curve.”
Relatively speaking, Farley and his staff will get a head start on recruiting. Thanks to two straight trips to the FCS playoffs, the Panthers have had to wait before hitting the road in search of the next generation of players.
Not this time.
“There is a positive to that,” Farley said. “This is the year, I think, we can broaden our perspective a little bit because we have a little more time to do so. We’ll take that and use that in some way to make the program stronger.”
And, added Farley, he fully expects UNI to emerge from a disappointing season as a stronger football team.
He called his 2009 freshman class “excellent,” a group well-stocked with skilled players.
Mentally and emotionally, Farley expects returning Panthers like cornerback J.J. Swain to learn and grow from what happened this season.
“A J.J. Swain will understand the difference of a good season and one that got away from us, even at 7-4,” Farley said.”
