2018 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

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.

2018 Northern Iowa Panthers football
ConferenceMissouri Valley Football Conference
Ranking
STATSNo. 23
2018 record7–6 (5–3 MVFC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorJohn Bond
Defensive coordinatorJeremiah Johnson
Home stadiumUNI-Dome (c. 16,324, Field-Turf)
2018 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
Conf  Overall
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

Previous season

The Panthers finished the 2017 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[1][2] in the first round before losing in the second round to South Dakota State.[3][4]

Preseason

Preseason MVFC poll

The MVFC released their preseason poll on July 29, 2018, with the Panthers predicted to finish in third place.[5]

Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1North Dakota State390 (39)
2South Dakota State270
3Northern Iowa258
4Youngstown State248
5Illinois State248
6South Dakota206
7Western Illinois163
8Southern Illinois139
9Missouri State90
10Indiana State41

Preseason All-MVFC Teams

The Panthers placed six players on the preseason all-MVFC teams.[6]

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)

Runningback

  • 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)

[7]

Schedule
DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 18:00 p.m.at No. 24 Montana*No. 13
PSN[lower-alpha 1]L 23–2625,018
September 156:30 p.m.at Iowa*No. 21
BTNL 14–3869,250
September 224:00 p.m.Hampton*No. 25
PSN/ESPN3W 44–09,116
September 276:00 p.m.at Indiana StateNo. 23
ESPN3W 33–05,487
October 61:00 p.m.No. 1 North Dakota StateNo. 22
  • UNI-Dome
  • Cedar Falls, IA
PSN/ESPN+L 31–569,899
October 136:00 p.m.at No. 24 South Dakota
ESPN+W 42–289,513
October 204:00 p.m.No. 2 South Dakota StateNo. 25
  • UNI-Dome
  • Cedar Falls, IA
ESPN3W 24–912,013
October 271:00 p.m.at Western IllinoisNo. 17
ESPN+L 17–372,832
November 31:00 p.m.No. 14 Illinois State
  • UNI-Dome
  • Cedar Falls, IA
PSN/ESPN+W 26–1610,838
November 1011:00 a.m.at Youngstown StateNo. 22
ESPN+L 10–318,407
November 174:00 p.m.Missouri State
  • UNI-Dome
  • Cedar Falls, IA
PSN/ESPN+W 37–010,072
November 244:00 p.m.Lamar*
ESPN3W 16–134,082
December 19:00 p.m.at No. 7 UC Davis*
ESPN3L 16–238,306
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Central time
  1. 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
See also: 2018 Montana Grizzlies football team

at Iowa
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 21 Panthers 0 0 0 14 14
Hawkeyes 7 14 17 0 38
See also: 2018 Iowa Hawkeyes football team

Hampton
1 2 3 4 Total
Pirates 0 0 0 0 0
No. 25 Panthers 10 10 21 3 44
See also: 2018 Hampton Pirates football team

at Indiana State
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 23 Panthers 3 6 14 10 33
Sycamores 0 0 0 0 0
See also: 2018 Indiana State Sycamores football team

North Dakota State
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 1 Bison 7 14 7 28 56
No. 22 Panthers 14 10 7 0 31
See also: 2018 North Dakota State Bison football team

at South Dakota
1 2 3 4 Total
Panthers 0 21 7 14 42
No. 24 Coyotes 3 10 8 7 28
See also: 2018 South Dakota Coyotes football team

South Dakota State
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 2 Jackrabbits 3 0 0 6 9
No. 25 Panthers 0 7 7 10 24
See also: 2018 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team

at Western Illinois
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 17 Panthers 3 7 0 7 17
Leathernecks 0 16 7 14 37
See also: 2018 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

Illinois State
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 14 Redbirds 3 0 0 13 16
Panthers 3 16 7 0 26
See also: 2018 Illinois State Redbirds football team

at Youngstown State
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 22 Panthers 0 7 3 0 10
Penguins 7 7 14 3 31
See also: 2018 Youngstown State Penguins football team

Missouri State
1 2 3 4 Total
Bears 0 0 0 0 0
Panthers 10 10 7 10 37
See also: 2018 Missouri State Bears football team

FCS Playoffs

Lamar–First Round
1 2 3 4 Total
Cardinals 13 0 0 0 13
Panthers 3 10 0 3 16
See also: 2018 Lamar Cardinals football team

at UC Davis–Second Round
1 2 3 4 Total
Panthers 6 0 7 3 16
No. 7 Aggies 10 6 7 0 23
See also: 2018 UC Davis Aggies football team

Ranking movements
Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
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

References
  1. "Monmouth vs. Northern Iowa - Game Recap - November 25, 2017 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  2. Courier, JIM NELSON Waterloo. "UNI romps to playoff victory over Monmouth". The Quad-City Times. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  3. "FCS playoffs: South Dakota State Jackrabbits beat Northern Iowa 37–22". Argus Leader. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  4. "Northern Iowa vs. South Dakota State - Game Recap - December 2, 2017 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  5. http://www.valley-football.org/news/2018/7/19/football-north-dakota-state-tabbed-as-favorite-to-win-2018-mvfc-title.aspx
  6. http://valley-football.org/documents/2018/7/31//2018_MVFC_Preseason_Team_and_Poll.pdf?id=41
  7. "2018 Football Roster". UNI Athletics. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
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