That's the bad news. The good news is: Lehigh will be playing a member of the royalty of FCS in Northern Iowa in the Patriot League's first non-CAA first round game since Lehigh beat Western Illinois 37-7 in Macomb, Illinois in 2000.
All things considered, it's a interesting matchup for the Mountain Hawks. (more)
The Northern Iowa Panthers won the Missouri Valley Football Conference championship this year. They did so, however, with two conference losses, including last weekend's 30-14 loss to Western Illinois, who is also playing a first-round game in the FCS playoffs.
DE Ben Boothby is the sack leader on their extremely tough defensive line, with eight, and the Panthers are seventh nationally in sacks averaging 3 per game, and also near the top of the subdivision in tackles for loss, averaging 6 - not a typo - per game. Their tough front seven, including LB Jamar Thompson and LB L.J. Fort, is particularly tough on the run, 15th nationally and only allowing 107 yards per game.
But offensively, the Panthers have not been as consistent as they would like to be. They are a run-heavy team, led by mobile QB Tirrell Rennie and RB Carlos Anderson, and rely on a monstrous offensive line to move the pile.
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More importantly, though, than my brief introduction to UNI Panthers, is that Northern Iowa is a part of FCS royalty. FCS football is defined by teams like Delaware, Montana, Appalachian State... and Northern Iowa.
The Panthers' reputation is one that has come so close to the FCS championship, but have been unable to do so. There's no Steve Bartman in their history, but at times it's seemed awfully close to being the case. The 21-16 last-quarter loss to Appalachian State in the FCS National Championship game in 2005. The 39-27 defeat at home to Delaware in 2007. The 21-20 loss to Richmond in 2008 - on a miracle final Spider drive.
The UNI-Dome is a great venue for FCS college football, seating 16,000 and once being the home of QB Kurt Warner. (No word if the "Greatest Show on Turf" was really the UNI-Dome's turf.) This year, they've installed a brand-new HD video board. They've averaged more than 14,000 per game this year - and while Thanksgiving should hold down attendance some, it should still be a rocking time in the Dome this weekend.
While I'm not thrilled that Lehigh will be playing so far away from Bethlehem, this matchup has a lot of juice in the sense that it's a brand-new opponent - Lehigh has never faced Northern Iowa - and that should Lehigh prevail in this game, they will travel to No. 3-seeded Delaware to face the Blue Hens. (A home game would have been better, but...)
It's going to be an exciting week, preparing for an elite Missouri Valley football team in front of a packed stadium. Let's hope Lehigh has a chance to win this game, against a team that is the type of school that embodies FCS football perfectly.
Comments
Coach C for Offensive coordinator of the year. Should be a lock!
Nice work coach......
As evidence of the student stands early in the L-L game being pretty empty until well into the game, students just seem to care about the party and tailgate aspects....
If the Coen led group have another good season next year, student interest will probably increase... It became less cool to be at the games when they kept losing at home in past years...
who make many negative comments on our fan site, but I won't..am very tired of them, but I say good luck in representing our league! We could all use some positive news! And Happy Holidays everyone! (to the creator and moderator of this site... Great job!)
We got no respect before that game too (until they lost the game). Let's see if Coen can learn from the past...