2018 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

2018 Northern Iowa Panthers football
2018 Northern Iowa Panthers football
NCAA Division I Second Round, L 16–23 vs. UC Davis
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 23
Record	7–6 (5–3 MVFC)
Head coach	Mark Farley (18th season);
Offensive coordinator	John Bond (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Jeremiah Johnson (6th season)
Home stadium	UNI-Dome
	Seasons ← 2017 2019 →

Last updated December 13, 2023

2018 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 1 North Dakota State $^	8	–	0	15	–	0
No. 3 South Dakota State ^	6	–	2	10	–	3
No. 23 Northern Iowa ^	5	–	3	7	–	6
Indiana State	5	–	3	7	–	4
Western Illinois	4	–	4	5	–	6
Illinois State	3	–	5	6	–	5
Youngstown State	3	–	5	4	–	7
South Dakota	3	–	5	4	–	7
Missouri State	2	–	6	4	–	7
Southern Illinois	1	–	7	2	–	9

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2018 Northern Iowa Panthers football team represented the University of Northern Iowa in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The team was led by Mark Farley in his 18th season and played their home games in the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa as a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 7–6, 5–3 in MVFC play to finish in a tie for third place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs, where they defeated Lamar in the first round before losing to UC Davis in the second round.

Preseason

Preseason MVFC poll

The MVFC released their preseason poll on July 29, 2018, with the Panthers predicted to finish in third place.^[1]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	North Dakota State	390 (39)
2	South Dakota State	270
3	Northern Iowa	258
4	Youngstown State	248
5	Illinois State	248
6	South Dakota	206
7	Western Illinois	163
8	Southern Illinois	139
9	Missouri State	90
10	Indiana State	41

Preseason All-MVFC Teams

The Panthers placed six players on the preseason all-MVFC teams.^[2]

Offense

1st team

Briley Moore – TE

2nd team

Marcus Weymiller – RB

Isaiah Weston – WR

Cal Twait – OL

Defense

1st team

Rickey Neal Jr. – LB

2nd team

Xavior Williams – DB

Personnel

Roster

2018 Northern Iowa Panthers Football

Quarterback

11 Colton Howell – Senior (6'0", 213)
14 Eli Dunne – Senior (6'5", 238)
15 Jacob Keller – Freshman (6'1", 206)
17 Christian Ellsworth – Sophomore (6'2", 210)
18 John Sullivan – Freshman (6'1", 204)

Running back

8 Marcus Weymiller – Senior (5'10", 204)
13 Jon Nzombo – Senior (5'7", 205)
21 Christian Jegen – Junior (5'11", 205)
25 Trevor Allen – Junior (5'10", 203)
30 Alphonso Soko – Freshman (5'7", 179)
31 Tyler Hoosman – Freshman (6'0", 201)
32 Jack Wegher – Sophomore (5'10", 205)

Wide receiver

6 Terrell Carey – Freshman (5'10", 211)
35 Nick Phillips – Sophomore (5'7", 188)
37 Aaron Graham – Junior (5'11", 201)
80 Isaiah Weston – Sophomore (6'4", 207)
82 Nick Fossey – Sophomore (6'1", 199)
83 Jaylin James – Junior (6'3", 202)
87 Jalen Rima – Junior (6'0", 192)

Placekicker

58 Austin Errthum – Senior (5'10", 180)
62 Sam Drysdale – Junior (6'4", 180)
63 Nate Murphy – Freshman (6'0", 166)

Tight end

85 Elias Nissen – Senior (6'4", 243)
86 Briley Moore – Junior (6'3", 242)
89 Trey Recknor – Sophomore (6'0", 230)
Taylor Otterstatter – Sophomore (6'5", 251)

Offensive Lineman

55 Colton Lueck – Junior (6'4", 286)
59 Max Erpelding – Sophomore (6'0", 260)
61 Matthew Vanderslice – Sophomore (6'7", 257)
65 John Yount – Freshman (6'2", 295)
66 Philip Arendt – Sophomore (6'1", 303)
67 Erik Sorensen – Freshman (6'6", 320)
68 William Blaser – Sophomore (6'1", 281)
69 Tyus Phillips – Freshman (6'7", 285)
70 Trevor Penning – Freshman (6'6", 289)
71 Nick Ellis – Sophomore (6'4", 308)
72 Justin Peine – Freshman (6'5", 293)
73 Mason Beisen – Freshman (6'4", 329)
74 Jackson Scott-Brown – Junior (6'4", 312)
75 Cal Twait – Senior (6'5", 305)
76 Spencer Brown – Sophomore (6'8", 290)
78 Tyler Putney – Senior (6'6", 302)
79 Ezrah Szczyrbak – Senior (6'4", 299)

Defensive Lineman

44 Jared Brinkman – Sophomore (5'11", 290)
47 Elerson G. Smith – Sophomore (6'5", 230)
49 Desmond Chapple – Sophomore 6'3", 235)
64 Hezekiah Applegate – Junior (6'2", 285)
91 Brawntae Wells – Sophomore (6'2", 261)
94 Tim Butcher – Sophomore (6'2", 300)
95 Seth Thomas – Junior (6'5", 262)
97 Marcel Minniefield – Junior (6'2", 282)
98 Bryce Douglas – Senior (6'0", 304)

Long snappers

57 Joe Friedrich – Junior (6'0", 206)
96 Nick Simpson – Freshman (5'8", 203)

Linebacker

7 Rickey Neal Jr. – Senior (6'1', 241)
33 Jake Hartford – Sophomore (6'3", 226)
39 Duncan Ferch – Senior (6'1", 234)
40 Alfonzo Lambert – Sophomore (6'0", 209)
41 Blake Thomas – Senior (6'1", 224)
42 Kendrick Suntken – Senior (6'0", 240)
43 Cristian Perez – Senior (6'1", 246)
45 Brock Hadachek – Freshman (6'2", 208)
48 Chris Kolarevic – Freshman (6'0", 223)
50 Bryce Flater – Freshman (6'1", 224)
51 Riley Van Whye – Freshman (6'2", 215)
52 Zac Ebeling – Sophomore (6'0", 220)
53 Weston Schultz – Sophomore (6'3", 215)
56 Ricky Grimes – Junior (6'1", 228)
Jesse Cardenas – Sophomore (6'2", 225)

Defensive back

9 Xavior Williams – Sophomore (5'11", 175)
19 Suni Lane – Sophomore (6'3", 203)
22 Max Steffen – Sophomore (5'1", 185)
23 A.J. Allen – Senior (6'0", 215)
24 Nikholi Jaghai – Junior (5'7", 181)
26 Isaiah Nimmers – Sophomore ( 5'9", 185)
27 Austin Evans – Sophomore (6'0", 189)
29 Roosevelt Lawrence – Sophomore (6'0", 170)
36 Korby Sander – Sophomore (6'0", 212)
38 Zac Kibby – Sophomore (5'11, 203)

Punter

88 Michael Kuntz – Senior (5'11", 188)

^[3]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	8:00 p.m.	at No. 24 Montana *	No. 13	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	PSN^{[lower-alpha 1]}	L 23–26	25,018
September 15	6:30 p.m.	at Iowa *	No. 21	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA	BTN	L 14–38	69,250
September 22	4:00 p.m.	Hampton *	No. 25	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	PSN/ESPN3	W 44–0	9,116
September 27	6:00 p.m.	at Indiana State	No. 23	Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN3	W 33–0	5,487
October 6	1:00 p.m.	No. 1 North Dakota State	No. 22	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	PSN/ESPN+	L 31–56	9,899
October 13	6:00 p.m.	at No. 24 South Dakota		DakotaDome Vermillion, SD	ESPN+	W 42–28	9,513
October 20	4:00 p.m.	No. 2 South Dakota State	No. 25	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	ESPN3	W 24–9	12,013
October 27	1:00 p.m.	at Western Illinois	No. 17	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	ESPN+	L 17–37	2,832
November 3	1:00 p.m.	No. 14 Illinois State		UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	PSN/ESPN+	W 26–16	10,838
November 10	11:00 a.m.	at Youngstown State	No. 22	Stambaugh Stadium Youngstown, OH	ESPN+	L 10–31	8,407
November 17	4:00 p.m.	Missouri State		UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	PSN/ESPN+	W 37–0	10,072
November 24	4:00 p.m.	Lamar *		UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA (FCS Playoffs First Round)	ESPN3	W 16–13	4,082
December 1	9:00 p.m.	at No. 7 UC Davis *		Aggie Stadium Davis, CA (FCS Playoffs Second Round)	ESPN3	L 16–23	8,306
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Source: Schedule

↑ Panther Sports Network involves these channels (CFU Ch. 15/HD415; KCRG-TV Ch. 9.2; WHO-DT Ch. 13.2; KGCW Ch. 26, (NBC Sports Chicago or NBC Sports Chicago Plus)

Game summaries

At Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 13 Panthers	0	0	7	16	23
No. 24 Grizzlies	16	10	0	0	26

At Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 21 Panthers	0	0	0	14	14
Hawkeyes	7	14	17	0	38

Hampton

	1	2	3	4	Total
Pirates	0	0	0	0	0
No. 25 Panthers	10	10	21	3	44

At Indiana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 23 Panthers	3	6	14	10	33
Sycamores	0	0	0	0	0

North Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 1 Bison	7	14	7	28	56
No. 22 Panthers	14	10	7	0	31

At South Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	0	21	7	14	42
No. 24 Coyotes	3	10	8	7	28

South Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 2 Jackrabbits	3	0	0	6	9
No. 25 Panthers	0	7	7	10	24

At Western Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 17 Panthers	3	7	0	7	17
Leathernecks	0	16	7	14	37

Illinois State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 14 Redbirds	3	0	0	13	16
Panthers	3	16	7	0	26

At Youngstown State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 22 Panthers	0	7	3	0	10
Penguins	7	7	14	3	31

Missouri State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	0	0	0
Panthers	10	10	7	10	37

FCS Playoffs

Lamar–First Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cardinals	13	0	0	0	13
Panthers	3	10	0	3	16

At UC Davis–Second Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	6	0	7	3	16
No. 7 Aggies	10	6	7	0	23

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
**Legend:**██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below.
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	13	21	21	25	23	22	RV	25	17	RV	22	RV	RV	23
Coaches	12	18	18–T	22	21	22	RV	RV	23	RV	24	RV	RV	RV

Related Research Articles

The Northern Iowa Panthers football represents the University of Northern Iowa in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level as member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC). The program began in 1895 and has fielded a team every year since with the exceptions of 1906–1907 and 1943–1944. The Panthers play their home games at the UNI-Dome on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa, in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

The 2010 Northern Iowa Panthers football team represented the University of Northern Iowa in the 2010 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Panthers are a members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference, were coached by Mark Farley and played their home games in the UNI-Dome. They finished the season 7–5, 6–2 in MVFC play to claim the conference championship. They earned an automatic berth in the FCS playoffs, where they lost in the first round to Lehigh, 14–7.

The 2011 Northern Iowa Panthers football team represented the University of Northern Iowa in the 2011 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Panthers were coached by Mark Farley and played their home games at the UNI-Dome. They are members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 10–3, 7–1 in MVFC play to share the conference championship with North Dakota State. They received an at-large bid into the FCS playoffs where they defeated Wofford in the second round before falling to Montana in the quarterfinals.

The 2012 Northern Iowa Panthers football team represented the University of Northern Iowa in the 2012 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The team was coached by Mark Farley and played their home games in the UNI-Dome. They are a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 5–6, 4–4 in MVFC play to finish in a tie for sixth place.

The 2014 Northern Iowa Panthers football team represented the University of Northern Iowa in the 2014 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The team was coached by Mark Farley and played their home games in the UNI-Dome. They were a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 9–5, 6–2 in MVFC play to finish in third place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Stephen F. Austin in the first round before losing in the second round to Illinois State.

The 2015 Northern Iowa Panthers football team represented the University of Northern Iowa in the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The team is coached by Mark Farley in his 15th season and played their home games in the UNI-Dome. They were a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 9–5, 5–3 in MVFC play to finish in a three–way tie for second place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Eastern Illinois in the first round and Portland State in the second round before losing in the quarterfinals to North Dakota State.

The 2016 Northern Iowa Panthers football team represented the University of Northern Iowa in the 2016 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The team was coached by Mark Farley in his sixteenth season and played their home games in the UNI-Dome. They were a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 5–6, 4–4 in MVFC play to finish in a tie for fourth place.

The 2016–17 Northern Iowa Panthers men's basketball team represented the University of Northern Iowa during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Panthers, led by eleventh year head coach Ben Jacobson, played their home games at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, IA as members of the Missouri Valley Conference. They finished the regular season 14–16, 9–9 in MVC play to finish in a tie for third place. As the No. 3 seed in the MVC tournament, they lost to Missouri State in the quarterfinals.

The 2017 Northern Iowa Panthers football team represented the University of Northern Iowa in the 2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The team was coached by Mark Farley in his 17th season and played their home games in the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa as members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 8–5, 6–2 in MVFC play to finish in a tie for second place. The Panthers received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Monmouth in the first round before losing in the second round to South Dakota State.

The 2017–18 Northern Iowa Panthers men's basketball team represented the University of Northern Iowa during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Panthers, led by 12th-year head coach Ben Jacobson, played their home games at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa as members of the Missouri Valley Conference. They finished the season 16–16, 7–11 in MVC play to finish three-way tie for seventh place. As the No. 7 seed in the MVC tournament, they defeated Evansville in the first round before losing to Loyola–Chicago in the quarterfinals.

The 2018 Indiana State Sycamores football team represented Indiana State University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by second-year head coach Curt Mallory and played their home games at Memorial Stadium. They were a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 7–4, 5–3 in MVFC play to finish in a tie for third place. Despite being ranked in the top 25 at the end of the regular season, they were not selected to participate in the FCS Playoffs.

The 2018 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team represented South Dakota State University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by 22nd-year head coach John Stiegelmeier and played their home games at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium in Brookings, South Dakota as members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 10–3, 6–2 in MVFC play to finish in second place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Duquesne in the second round and Kennesaw State in the quarterfinals, before losing in the semifinals to North Dakota State.

The 2018 Southern Illinois Salukis football team represented Southern Illinois University Carbondale as a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) during the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. Led by third-year head coach Nick Hill, the Salukis compiled an overall record of 2–9 with a mark of 1–7 in conference play, placing last out of ten teams in the MVFC. Southern Illinois played home games at Saluki Stadium in Carbondale, Illinois.

The 2018 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by first-year head coach Jared Elliott and played their home games at Hanson Field. They were a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC). They finished the season 5–6, 4–4 in MVFC play to finish in fifth place.

The 2018 Youngstown State Penguins football team represented Youngstown State University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by third-year head coach Bo Pelini and played their home games at Stambaugh Stadium. They were a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 4–7, 3–5 in MVFC play to finish in a three-way tie for sixth place.

The 2018–19 Northern Iowa Panthers men's basketball team represented the University of Northern Iowa during the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Panthers, led by 13th-year head coach Ben Jacobson, played their home games at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa as members of the Missouri Valley Conference. They finished the season 16–18, 9–9 in MVC play to finish in a three-way tie for fifth place. As the No. 6 seed in the MVC tournament, they beat Southern Illinois and Drake before losing to Bradley in the championship.

The 2019 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team represented South Dakota State University in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by 23rd-year head coach John Stiegelmeier and played their home games at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium in Brookings, South Dakota as members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 8–5, 5–3 in MVFC play to finish in a three-way tie for third place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where, after a first round bye, they lost in the second round to Northern Iowa.

The 2019 Northern Iowa Panthers football team represented the University of Northern Iowa in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The team was led by Mark Farley in his 19th season and played their home games in the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa as a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 10–5, 6–2 in MVFC play to finish in second place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they defeated San Diego and South Dakota State to advance to the quarterfinals where they lost to James Madison.

The 2020 Northern Iowa Panthers football team represented the University of Northern Iowa in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The team was led by Mark Farley in his 20th season and played their home games in the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa as a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

The 2019 Missouri Valley Football Conference season was the 34th season of college football play for the Missouri Valley Football Conference and part of the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. This was the MVFC's 8th consecutive season with 10 teams, and would be their last for now as they added North Dakota in the following offseason.

References

↑ "North Dakota State Picked to Win 2018 MVFC Title".
↑ "Preseason All-Conf and Team (PDF) - Missouri Valley Football Conference" (PDF).
↑ "2018 Football Roster". UNI Athletics. Retrieved July 23, 2018.

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[4] Panther Sports Network involves these channels (CFU Ch. 15/HD415; KCRG-TV Ch. 9.2; WHO-DT Ch. 13.2; KGCW Ch. 26, (NBC Sports Chicago or NBC Sports Chicago Plus)

[1] "North Dakota State Picked to Win 2018 MVFC Title".

[2] "Preseason All-Conf and Team (PDF) - Missouri Valley Football Conference" (PDF).

[3] "2018 Football Roster". UNI Athletics. Retrieved July 23, 2018.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[lower-alpha 1]

v t e Northern Iowa Panthers football
Venues	O. R. Latham Stadium (1936–1975) UNI-Dome (1976–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Drake
Culture & lore	"UNI Fight"
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
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v t e 2018 NCAA Division I FCS playoff participants
Colgate Delaware Duquesne East Tennessee State Eastern Washington Elon Incarnate Word Jacksonville State James Madison Kennesaw State Lamar Maine Montana State Nicholls North Dakota State Northern Iowa San Diego South Dakota State Southeast Missouri State Stony Brook Towson UC Davis Weber State Wofford
Champion – North Dakota State