No Iowa newspaper: Panther comeback falls short at MT

[Proud Griz Man]

UNI rallies, but fall short in 26-23 loss to Montana

. . . halftime adjustments were good. The second-half fight and grit was tremendous. A dismal first half, however, killed No. 13 Northern Iowa in a 26-23 loss to No. 24 Montana Saturday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

The Panthers booted the opening kick out of bounds, and things did not get much better in a first half that saw the Grizzlies lead 26-0 at halftime. "We didn't play with any intensity in the first half," UNI head coach Mark Farley said. "We were on our heels. We were on our heels the whole first half, that is all I really can say. "The second half changed when we started playing with intensity. That is the difference in anything. It is not just execution. It is how you make a play come to life, we played with a lot more urgency and that changed our demeanor." A switch at quarterback and a rejuvenated defensive effort saw UNI pull within three with 3 minutes, 14 seconds left before Montana, with the Panthers out of timeouts, converted on a third-and-short to get a first down and run out the clock.

Colton Howell replaced a struggling Eli Dunne early in the third quarter and engineered three long scoring drives, the final a 20-yard strike to Nick Fossey that made it 26-23 after Howell hit Briley Moore for the two-point conversion. Howell finished 11 of 22 for 140 yards and he rushed for 22 yards and a touchdown after Dunne completed just five of 20 passes for 24 yards and an interception. Trevor Allen rushed for 50 second-half yards, and Moore caught five passes for 78 yards in the second half. "I don't think we came out ready to play," Moore said. "It clearly was a wake up call in the first half. The second half, I think we got calmed down a little bit and started playing like ourselves. "We played UNI football in the second half, and it is not how we played in the first half"

Additionally, after giving up 273 first-half yards, UNI's defense held the Grizzlies to 75 in the second half. "I hope that second half put a spark into everyone," Howell said. "We lost the game so it is hard to feel good about anything, obviously. I just feel terrible that we lost. I feel there was more I could've done." For the first 30 minutes, No. 24 Montana dominated all phases of the game as the poor first half did the Panthers in. Montana outgained UNI 273-47 as Dunne completed just four of 17 passes and UNI managed just four first downs compared to 16 for the Griz. Dunne wasn't helped early as two potential first-down completions were dropped by wide-open receivers. Those were just two of many self-inflicted wounds by the Panthers. UNI committed seven first-half penalties for 67 yards, including four personal fouls.

The Panthers also struggled to contain Dalton Sneed, who completed 18 of 25 passes for 196 yards, hitting a bunch of quick, short pass plays. He also frustrated UNI with his scrambling ability as he scored Montana's first touchdown on a 17-yard run. Sneed extended several other plays by scrambling out of trouble. Sneed finished 26 of 39 for 248 yards and a touchdown, and he rushed 15 times for 58 yards.
. . . Panthers made things more interesting early in the fourth when Howell took UNI 77 yards in 10 plays for a Marcus Weymiller 1-yard TD run and two-point conversion run that made it 26-15 with 11:43 to go. "We fought. You can't quit. It's the first game of the year and you are down 26-0 and you quit, you're going to be crappy team. It was good we came out and fought."

 

[RobGriz]

Farley has just about got to be having nightmares about playing the Griz

 

[EverettGriz]

Farley has just about got to be having nightmares about playing the Griz

Couldn’t happen to a better guy.

That said, I was wildly impressed with UNI’s effort and grit in the second half. It would have been very easy to just roll over and go get on the charter to head home.

 

[Paytonlives]

This win will be very important come playoff selection time...

 

[IdaGriz01]

UNI rallies, but fall short in 26-23 loss to Montana

. . . halftime adjustments were good. The second-half fight and grit was tremendous. A dismal first half, however, killed No. 13 Northern Iowa in a 26-23 loss to No. 24 Montana Saturday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

The Panthers booted the opening kick out of bounds, and things did not get much better in a first half that saw the Grizzlies lead 26-0 at halftime. "We didn't play with any intensity in the first half," UNI head coach Mark Farley said. "We were on our heels. We were on our heels the whole first half, that is all I really can say. "The second half changed when we started playing with intensity. That is the difference in anything. It is not just execution. It is how you make a play come to life, we played with a lot more urgency and that changed our demeanor." A switch at quarterback and a rejuvenated defensive effort saw UNI pull within three with 3 minutes, 14 seconds left before Montana, with the Panthers out of timeouts, converted on a third-and-short to get a first down and run out the clock.

Colton Howell replaced a struggling Eli Dunne early in the third quarter and engineered three long scoring drives, the final a 20-yard strike to Nick Fossey that made it 26-23 after Howell hit Briley Moore for the two-point conversion. Howell finished 11 of 22 for 140 yards and he rushed for 22 yards and a touchdown after Dunne completed just five of 20 passes for 24 yards and an interception. Trevor Allen rushed for 50 second-half yards, and Moore caught five passes for 78 yards in the second half. "I don't think we came out ready to play," Moore said. "It clearly was a wake up call in the first half. The second half, I think we got calmed down a little bit and started playing like ourselves. "We played UNI football in the second half, and it is not how we played in the first half"

Additionally, after giving up 273 first-half yards, UNI's defense held the Grizzlies to 75 in the second half. "I hope that second half put a spark into everyone," Howell said. "We lost the game so it is hard to feel good about anything, obviously. I just feel terrible that we lost. I feel there was more I could've done." For the first 30 minutes, No. 24 Montana dominated all phases of the game as the poor first half did the Panthers in. Montana outgained UNI 273-47 as Dunne completed just four of 17 passes and UNI managed just four first downs compared to 16 for the Griz. Dunne wasn't helped early as two potential first-down completions were dropped by wide-open receivers. Those were just two of many self-inflicted wounds by the Panthers. UNI committed seven first-half penalties for 67 yards, including four personal fouls.

The Panthers also struggled to contain Dalton Sneed, who completed 18 of 25 passes for 196 yards, hitting a bunch of quick, short pass plays. He also frustrated UNI with his scrambling ability as he scored Montana's first touchdown on a 17-yard run. Sneed extended several other plays by scrambling out of trouble. Sneed finished 26 of 39 for 248 yards and a touchdown, and he rushed 15 times for 58 yards.
. . . Panthers made things more interesting early in the fourth when Howell took UNI 77 yards in 10 plays for a Marcus Weymiller 1-yard TD run and two-point conversion run that made it 26-15 with 11:43 to go. "We fought. You can't quit. It's the first game of the year and you are down 26-0 and you quit, you're going to be crappy team. It was good we came out and fought."

Saw that article myself. And they do have every right to be encouraged about their team. To get that far down and come back to make it close says a lot.

And let's not forget that there was a reason that team was ranked #13, preseason. They went two deep in the playoffs last year and, while their offense had some turnover, they returned 9 of 11 starters on defense. That was a D that was in the top-25 nationally (I believe) against the run ... playing in a conference that prefers to run the ball, and is good at it.

Edit: BTW, Jim Nelson had the byline for this article. If you quote an entire article, you should always credit the author.

 

[AZGrizFan]

With the Griz’s luck lately UNI will go about 3-7 the rest of the season.

 

[4theluvofgriz]

UNI rallies, but fall short in 26-23 loss to Montana

. . . halftime adjustments were good. The second-half fight and grit was tremendous. A dismal first half, however, killed No. 13 Northern Iowa in a 26-23 loss to No. 24 Montana Saturday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

The Panthers booted the opening kick out of bounds, and things did not get much better in a first half that saw the Grizzlies lead 26-0 at halftime. "We didn't play with any intensity in the first half," UNI head coach Mark Farley said. "We were on our heels. We were on our heels the whole first half, that is all I really can say. "The second half changed when we started playing with intensity. That is the difference in anything. It is not just execution. It is how you make a play come to life, we played with a lot more urgency and that changed our demeanor." A switch at quarterback and a rejuvenated defensive effort saw UNI pull within three with 3 minutes, 14 seconds left before Montana, with the Panthers out of timeouts, converted on a third-and-short to get a first down and run out the clock.

Colton Howell replaced a struggling Eli Dunne early in the third quarter and engineered three long scoring drives, the final a 20-yard strike to Nick Fossey that made it 26-23 after Howell hit Briley Moore for the two-point conversion. Howell finished 11 of 22 for 140 yards and he rushed for 22 yards and a touchdown after Dunne completed just five of 20 passes for 24 yards and an interception. Trevor Allen rushed for 50 second-half yards, and Moore caught five passes for 78 yards in the second half. "I don't think we came out ready to play," Moore said. "It clearly was a wake up call in the first half. The second half, I think we got calmed down a little bit and started playing like ourselves. "We played UNI football in the second half, and it is not how we played in the first half"

Additionally, after giving up 273 first-half yards, UNI's defense held the Grizzlies to 75 in the second half. "I hope that second half put a spark into everyone," Howell said. "We lost the game so it is hard to feel good about anything, obviously. I just feel terrible that we lost. I feel there was more I could've done." For the first 30 minutes, No. 24 Montana dominated all phases of the game as the poor first half did the Panthers in. Montana outgained UNI 273-47 as Dunne completed just four of 17 passes and UNI managed just four first downs compared to 16 for the Griz. Dunne wasn't helped early as two potential first-down completions were dropped by wide-open receivers. Those were just two of many self-inflicted wounds by the Panthers. UNI committed seven first-half penalties for 67 yards, including four personal fouls.

The Panthers also struggled to contain Dalton Sneed, who completed 18 of 25 passes for 196 yards, hitting a bunch of quick, short pass plays. He also frustrated UNI with his scrambling ability as he scored Montana's first touchdown on a 17-yard run. Sneed extended several other plays by scrambling out of trouble. Sneed finished 26 of 39 for 248 yards and a touchdown, and he rushed 15 times for 58 yards.
. . . Panthers made things more interesting early in the fourth when Howell took UNI 77 yards in 10 plays for a Marcus Weymiller 1-yard TD run and two-point conversion run that made it 26-15 with 11:43 to go. "We fought. You can't quit. It's the first game of the year and you are down 26-0 and you quit, you're going to be crappy team. It was good we came out and fought."

Saw that article myself. And they do have every right to be encouraged about their team. To get that far down and come back to make it close says a lot.

And let's not forget that there was a reason that team was ranked #13, preseason. They went two deep in the playoffs last year and, while their offense had some turnover, they returned 9 of 11 starters on defense. That was a D that was in the top-25 nationally (I believe) against the run ... playing in a conference that prefers to run the ball, and is good at it.

Edit: BTW, Jim Nelson had the byline for this article. If you quote an entire article, you should always credit the author.

Defense will win many games for a team, and there is no doubt in my mind that NIU has a great defense. They will win plenty of games this season.

 

[RobGriz]

With the Griz’s luck lately UNI will go about 3-7 the rest of the season.

LOL. I was thinking the same thing.

 

[Da Boyz Mom]

I hope UNI wins lots of games the rest of the season. We need them to be good for this game to remain meaningful, especially come playoffs.

 

[RayWill]

I hope UNI wins lots of games the rest of the season. We need them to be good for this game to remain meaningful, especially come playoffs.

Exactly.

 

[IdaGriz01]

I hope UNI wins lots of games the rest of the season. We need them to be good for this game to remain meaningful, especially come playoffs.

Exactly.

I have posted the details on a couple of other threads, but with their schedule I'm seeing a strong case for them to go 7-4 and possibly 8-3. With 7-4, probably in the playoffs (it is the MVFC,after all), with 8-3, for-sure playoffs.