2008 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

The 2008 Northern Iowa Panthers football team represented the University of Northern Iowa in the 2008 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The previous year's team finished first (of nine) in the Gateway Football Conference. The Gateway Football Conference was renamed the Missouri Valley Football League in June 2008.^[3] The team was coached by Mark Farley and played their home games in the UNI-Dome. On November 14, Northern Iowa won its first back-to-back conference championships since the 1995 and 1996 seasons. Northern Iowa was awarded the third seed in the 2008 FCS playoffs.

2008 Northern Iowa Panthers football
MVFC co-champion
NCAA Division I Semifinal, L 20–21 vs. Richmond
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
Ranking
Sports Network	No. 4[1]
FCS Coaches	No. 4[2]
Record	9–3 (7–1 MVFC)
Head coach	Mark Farley (8th season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Bill Salmon (8th season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Mario Verduzco (3rd season)
Co-defensive coordinator	Scott Frost (1st season)
Co-defensive coordinator	Chris Klieman (1st season)
Home stadium	UNI-Dome
Seasons ← 2007 2009 →

2008 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 4 Northern Iowa +^		7	–	1					12	–	3
No. 11 Southern Illinois +^		7	–	1					9	–	3
South Dakota State		6	–	2					7	–	5
Western Illinois		4	–	4					6	–	5
North Dakota State		4	–	4					6	–	5
Missouri State		3	–	5					4	–	7
Youngstown State		3	–	5					4	–	8
Illinois State		2	–	6					3	–	8
Indiana State		0	–	8					0	–	12
+ – Conference co-champions ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from The Sports Network poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
August 30	5:00 pm	at No. 16 BYU*	No. 3	LaVell Edwards Stadium Provo, UT	mtn	L 17–41	64,108
September 6	4:05 pm	South Dakota*	No. 9	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	CFU	W 24–13	12,904
September 20	4:05 pm	No. 12 South Dakota State	No. 8	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	CFU/Mediacom	W 34–20	15,136
September 27	6:00 pm	at No. 15 Southern Illinois	No. 5	McAndrew Stadium Carbondale, IL	Mediacom	L 24–27	14,427	[4]
October 2	6:35 pm	Nicholls State*	No. 10	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	ESPNU	W 34–14	9,028
October 11	4:05 pm	Illinois State	No. 10	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	CFU/Mediacom	W 31–17	16,100	[5]
October 18	4:05 pm	No. 20 North Dakota State	No. 6	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	KFXA/Missouri Valley FB TV	W 23–13	13,416	[6]
October 25	3:00 pm	at Youngstown State	No. 5	Stambaugh Stadium Youngstown, OH		W 21–20	15,937
November 1	12:05 pm	at No. 12 Western Illinois	No. 5	Hanson Field Macomb, IL		W 30–6	10,258	[7]
November 8	4:05 pm	Missouri State	No. 4	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	CFU/Mediacom	W 42–0	13,426	[8]
November 15	11:00 am	at Indiana State	No. 4	Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN		W 28–0	2,381
November 22	2:00 pm	at Southern Utah*	No. 4	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT		W 34–24	3,145
November 29	4:05 pm	No. 21 Maine*	No. 4	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA (NCAA Division I First Round)		W 40–15	8,477
December 6	6:00 pm	No. 10 New Hampshire*	No. 4	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal)	ESPN360	W 36–34	9,055
December 13	3:00 pm	No. 7 Richmond*	No. 4	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA (NCAA Division I Semifinal)	ESPN	L 20–21	12,062
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from The Sports Network Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Coaching staff

Name	Position	Year at Northern Iowa	Alma mater (Year)
Mark Farley	Head coach	8th	Northern Iowa (1987)
Rick Nelson	Recruiting coordinator Offensive Line	9th	Northern Iowa (1984)
Bill Salmon	Associate head coach Offensive coordinator Receivers	8th	Northern Iowa (1980)
Mario Verduzco	Co-offensive coordinator Quarterbacks	8th	San José State (1988)
Atif Austin	Running backs	4th	Iowa State (2003)
Scott Frost	Co-defensive coordinator Linebackers	2nd	Nebraska (1997)
Chris Klieman	Co-defensive coordinator Secondary	3rd	Northern Iowa (1990)
Jerry Montgomery	Defensive line	3rd	Iowa (2001)
Erik Chinander	Tight ends	5th	Iowa (2003)
Bill Wilt	Defensive line	1st	Eureka College (1977)

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking

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

References

1. Sports Network's Final 2008 FCS College Football Poll Archived May 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
2. "2008 FCS Coaches Poll". Archived from the original on September 30, 2011. Retrieved October 30, 2009.
3. "Gateway Football Conference Changes Its Name". Gateway Football Conference. June 6, 2008. Archived from the original on November 21, 2020. Retrieved October 12, 2008.
4. Ecker, Jim (September 28, 2008). "Panthers fall short". The Gazette. p. 12C. Retrieved December 12, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
5. Gray, Rob (October 12, 2008). "Unlikely Reception Sparks Panthers". The Des Moines Register. p. 1C. Retrieved October 10, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
6. "Preseason snub lights fire as UNI stops Bison". The Courier. October 19, 2008. Retrieved October 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
7. Sullivan, Jim (November 2, 2008). "Top Cats". The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. p. C1. Retrieved January 29, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
8. "Panthers put a hurt on Missouri State". The Des Moines Register. November 9, 2008. Retrieved June 28, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.