2011 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

The 2011 Northern Iowa Panthers football team represented the University of Northern Iowa as a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) during the 2011 NCAA Division I FCS football season. Led by 11th-year head coach Mark Farley, the Panthers compiled an overall record of 10–3 with a mark of 7–1 in conference play, sharing the MVFC title with North Dakota State. Northern Iowa received an at-large bid to NCAA Division I Football Championship playoffs, where, after a first-round bye, the Panthers defeated Wofford in the second round before losing to Montana in the quarterfinals. The team played home games at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

2011 Northern Iowa Panthers football
MVFC co-champion
NCAA Division I Quarterfinal, L 10–48 at Montana
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
Ranking
Sports Network	No. 6
FCS Coaches	No. 5
Record	10–3 (7–1 MVFC)
Head coach	Mark Farley (11th season)
Co-offensive coordinators	Bill Salmon (11th season) Mario Verduzco (6th season)
Defensive coordinator	Jovan Dewitt (1st season)
Home stadium	UNI-Dome
Seasons ← 2010 2012 →

2011 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 1 North Dakota State +^		7	–	1					14	–	1
No. 6 Northern Iowa +^		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 20 Illinois State		5	–	3					7	–	4
Indiana State		4	–	4					6	–	5
Youngstown State		4	–	4					6	–	5
South Dakota State		4	–	4					5	–	6
Southern Illinois		2	–	6					4	–	7
Missouri State		2	–	6					2	–	9
Western Illinois		1	–	7					2	–	9
+ – Conference co-champions ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from The Sports Network poll

L. J. Fort was named MVFC defensive player of the year.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 3	6:00 pm	at Iowa State*	No. 7	Jack Trice Stadium Ames, IA		L 19–20	54,672
September 10	6:00 pm	at No. 16 Stephen F. Austin*	No. 4	Homer Bryce Stadium Nacogdoches, TX		W 34–23	8,741
September 24	4:00 pm	Western Illinois	No. 2	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA		W 38–10	16,059
October 1	1:00 pm	at Missouri State	No. 2	Plaster Sports Complex Springfield, MO		W 42–7	14,827
October 8	4:00 pm	No. 17 Indiana State	No. 2	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA		W 23–9	16,890
October 15	6:00 pm	at South Dakota State	No. 2	Coughlin–Alumni Stadium Brookings, SD	ESPN3	W 31–14	11,131
October 22	4:00 pm	Southern Illinois	No. 2	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	Panther Sports Network	W 17–10	15,265
October 29	3:00 pm	at No. 3 North Dakota State	No. 2	Fargodome Fargo, ND	FCS	L 19–27	18,886	[1]
November 5	4:00 pm	Youngstown State	No. 6	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	Panther Sports Network	W 21–17	11,523
November 12	6:00 pm	Southern Utah*	No. 5	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA		W 34–21	12,480
November 19	11:00 am	at No. 14 Illinois State	No. 4	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	ESPN3	W 23–20 2OT	6,092
December 3	4:00 pm	No. 12 Wofford*	No. 2	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA (NCAA Division I Second Round)	ESPN3	W 28–21	6,915
December 10	7:05 pm	at No. 5 Montana*	No. 2	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal)	ESPN	L 10–48	23,049
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from The Sports Network Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

^[2][3]

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
т = Tied with team above or below

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Final
The Sports Network	7	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	6	5	4	2	6
FCS Coaches	7	T–3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	6	5[4]	4	3	5

Game summaries

Game 1: vs. Iowa State Cyclones

Game One: Northern Iowa Panthers at Iowa State Cyclones – Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	3	3	7	6	19
Cyclones	0	7	0	13	20

at Jack Trice Stadium, Ames, Iowa

• Date: September 3
• Game time: 6:00 p.m. CDT
• Game weather: Temperature: 71 • Wind: W 5-10 • Weather: humid, scat. showers
• Game attendance: 54,672
• Referee: Referee: Greg Burks • Umpire: Scott Campbell • Linesman: George Gusman • Line judge: Doug Moore • Back judge: Brian Ernest • Field judge: Nick Lave • Side judge: Gene Semko • Scorer: Shuey/Pope

Game information

First quarter UNI - 12:09 Tyler Sievertsen 42 yd field goal (UNI 3-0) Second quarter UNI - 08:55 Tyler Sievertsen 24 yd field goal (UNI 6-0) ISU - 00:00 Steele Jantz 1 yd run, Zach Guyer XP good (ISU 7-6) Third quarter UNI - 02:30 David Johnson 1 yd run, Tyler Sievertsen XP good (UNI 13-7) Fourth quarter ISU - 04:30 John Lenz 27 yd pass from Steele Jantz, Zach Guyer XP good (ISU 14-13) UNI - 04:17 David Johnson 80 yd pass from Tirrell Rennie, Tirrell Rennie pass failed (UNI 19-14) ISU - 00:40 Steele Jantz 1 yd run, Steele Jantz pass intercepted (ISU 20-19) Top passers UNI – Tirrell Rennie 15/32, 181 yards, 1 TD ISU – Steele Jantz 18/40, 187 yards, 1 TD, 3 INT's Top rushers UNI – Tirrell Rennie 18 attempts, 127 yards ISU – Steele Jantz 20 attempts, 80 yards Top receivers UNI – David Johnson 2 receptions, 83 yards, 1 TD ISU – Aaron Horne 7 receptions, 69 yards Top tacklers UNI – L.J. Fort 13 tackles ISU – Jake Knott 15 tackles

Personnel

Coaching staff

Name	Position	Year at Northern Iowa	Alma mater]] (year)
Mark Farley	Head coach	11th	Northern Iowa (1987)
Rick Nelson	Recruiting coordinator Offensive Line	12th	Northern Iowa (1984)
Bill Salmon	Associate head coach Offensive coordinator Receivers	11th	Northern Iowa (1980)
Mario Verduzco	Co-offensive coordinator Quarterbacks	11th	San José State (1988)
Jeremiah Johnson	Recruiting coordinator/Asst. Defensive Coach	5th	Kansas (2000)
Dan Clark	Tight ends	2nd	Simpson (1995)
Jovan Dewitt	Defensive coordinator Linebackers	3rd	Northern Michigan (1999)
Matt Entz	Defensive line	2nd	Wartburg (1995)
Eric Sanders	Running backs	2nd	Northern Iowa (2008)
Blue Adams	Defensive backs	1st	Cincinnati (2003)