# 2018 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

The 2018 Northern Iowa Panthers football team represented the University of Northern Iowa in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The team was led by Mark Farley in his 18th season and played their home games in the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa as a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 7–6, 5–3 in MVFC play to finish in a tie for third place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs, where they defeated Lamar in the first round before losing to UC Davis in the second round.

## Preseason
### Preseason MVFC poll

The MVFC released their preseason poll on July 29, 2018, with the Panthers predicted to finish in third place.
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | North Dakota State | 390 (39) |
| 2 | South Dakota State | 270 |
| 3 | Northern Iowa | 258 |
| 4 | Youngstown State | 248 |
| 5 | Illinois State | 248 |
| 6 | South Dakota | 206 |
| 7 | Western Illinois | 163 |
| 8 | Southern Illinois | 139 |
| 9 | Missouri State | 90 |
| 10 | Indiana State | 41 |

### Preseason All-MVFC Teams

The Panthers placed six players on the preseason all-MVFC teams.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| September 1 | 8:00 p.m. | at No. 24 Montana* | No. 13 | Washington–Grizzly StadiumMissoula, MT | PSN | L 23–26 | 25,018 |
| September 15 | 6:30 p.m. | at Iowa* | No. 21 | Kinnick StadiumIowa City, IA | BTN | L 14–38 | 69,250 |
| September 22 | 4:00 p.m. | Hampton* | No. 25 | UNI-DomeCedar Falls, IA | PSN/ESPN3 | W 44–0 | 9,116 |
| September 27 | 6:00 p.m. | at Indiana State | No. 23 | Memorial StadiumTerre Haute, IN | ESPN3 | W 33–0 | 5,487 |
| October 6 | 1:00 p.m. | No. 1 North Dakota State | No. 22 | UNI-DomeCedar Falls, IA | PSN/ESPN+ | L 31–56 | 9,899 |
| October 13 | 6:00 p.m. | at No. 24 South Dakota | | DakotaDomeVermillion, SD | ESPN+ | W 42–28 | 9,513 |
| October 20 | 4:00 p.m. | No. 2 South Dakota State | No. 25 | UNI-DomeCedar Falls, IA | ESPN3 | W 24–9 | 12,013 |
| October 27 | 1:00 p.m. | at Western Illinois | No. 17 | Hanson FieldMacomb, IL | ESPN+ | L 17–37 | 2,832 |
| November 3 | 1:00 p.m. | No. 14 Illinois State | | UNI-DomeCedar Falls, IA | PSN/ESPN+ | W 26–16 | 10,838 |
| November 10 | 11:00 a.m. | at Youngstown State | No. 22 | Stambaugh StadiumYoungstown, OH | ESPN+ | L 10–31 | 8,407 |
| November 17 | 4:00 p.m. | Missouri State | | UNI-DomeCedar Falls, IA | PSN/ESPN+ | W 37–0 | 10,072 |
| November 24 | 4:00 p.m. | Lamar* | | UNI-DomeCedar Falls, IA (NCAA Division I First Round) | ESPN3 | W 16–13 | 4,082 |
| December 1 | 9:00 p.m. | at No. 7 UC Davis* | | Aggie StadiumDavis, CA (NCAA Division Second Round) | ESPN3 | L 16–23 | 8,306 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from STATS Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Central time ||||||||
* ↑ Panther Sports Network involves these channels (CFU Ch. 15/HD415; KCRG-TV Ch. 9.2; WHO-DT Ch. 13.2; KGCW Ch. 26, (NBC Sports Chicago or NBC Sports Chicago Plus)

## Ranking movements

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking RV = Received votes т = Tied with team above or below :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Final |
| STATS FCS | 13 | 21 | 21 | 25 | 23 | 22 | RV | 25 | 17 | RV | 22 | RV | RV | 23 |
| Coaches | 12 | 18 | 18–T | 22 | 21 | 22 | RV | RV | 23 | RV | 24 | RV | RV | RV |

## Game summaries
### At Montana

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 13 Panthers | 0 | 0 | 7 | 16 | 23 |
| No. 24 Grizzlies | 16 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 26 |

### At Iowa

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 21 Panthers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 14 |
| Hawkeyes | 7 | 14 | 17 | 0 | 38 |

### Hampton

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Pirates | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No. 25 Panthers | 10 | 10 | 21 | 3 | 44 |

### At Indiana State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 23 Panthers | 3 | 6 | 14 | 10 | 33 |
| Sycamores | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### North Dakota State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 1 Bison | 7 | 14 | 7 | 28 | 56 |
| No. 22 Panthers | 14 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 31 |

### At South Dakota

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Panthers | 0 | 21 | 7 | 14 | 42 |
| No. 24 Coyotes | 3 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 28 |

### South Dakota State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 2 Jackrabbits | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 9 |
| No. 25 Panthers | 0 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 24 |

### At Western Illinois

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 17 Panthers | 3 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 17 |
| Leathernecks | 0 | 16 | 7 | 14 | 37 |

### Illinois State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 14 Redbirds | 3 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 16 |
| Panthers | 3 | 16 | 7 | 0 | 26 |

### At Youngstown State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 22 Panthers | 0 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 10 |
| Penguins | 7 | 7 | 14 | 3 | 31 |

### Missouri State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bears | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Panthers | 10 | 10 | 7 | 10 | 37 |

### Lamar—NCAA Division I First Round

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Cardinals | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| Panthers | 3 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 16 |

### At UC Davis—NCAA Division I Second Round

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Panthers | 6 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 16 |
| No. 7 Aggies | 10 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 23 |