Week 2 - Sac State vs #21 Northern Iowa
The 21st ranked Northern Iowa Panthers (0-1, 0-0 MVFC) come to town off of a hard fought battle and a close
16-10 loss at 7th ranked Iowa State. UNI gave the Cyclones all they could handle and had a chance for the win late in the game.
UNI is a premier program among the FCS ranks and is well disciplined and very physical on both sides of the ball. The Panthers offense is very balanced and they have a monster of an offensive line that is built for the ground and pound. QB Will McElvain (21/34, 230 yds, 1 TD, 2 INT) is an elusive scrambler with a good arm. His main targets at WR are Quan Hampton (8 rec, 99 yds, 1 TD) and Deion McShane (5 rec, 65 yds). McElvain hit 8 different players against ISU. UNI rotated a trio of RBs last week with RB Dom Williams (12 car, 43 yds, 1 rec, 4 yds) getting the bulk of the work. This offense has plenty of talent that can make big plays.
Defensively, the Panthers have a stout defense that is anchored by NT Jared Brinkman (6 tkl) who is an All-American and is on the Buck Buchanan Award watch list. LB Alfonzo Lambert (9 tkl, 1 TFL) and DB Austin Evans (9 tlk) led the team in tackles last week. This defense is stacked with talent.
UNI has an All-American K in Matthew Cook (1/1 FG, 1/1 PAT). The Panther’s special teams played well at ISU and didn’t give up any big plays in the return game.
The Hornets have their work cut out for them this week. In all honesty, I don’t see this game being close unless the Hornet OL has tremendous improvement. I don’t anticipate the Hornets having much success trying to run inside against this UNI defensive front so I think we’ll see a game plan that attacks the edges with some shots taken down the field. For UNI, I expect to see some smash mouth football behind that massive OL and an aggressive attack to get after O’Hara on the other side of the ball. I’ve got a UNI win by 2+ TDs.
Stingers Up!