# 2016 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

The 2016 Northern Iowa Panthers football team represented the University of Northern Iowa in the 2016 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The team was coached by Mark Farley in his sixteenth season and played their home games in the UNI-Dome. They were a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 5–6, 4–4 in MVFC play to finish in a tie for fourth place.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| September 3 | 7:00 pm | at Iowa State* | No. 5 | Jack Trice StadiumAmes, IA | Cyclones.tv | W 25–20 | 60,629 |
| September 10 | 4:00 pm | No. 14 Montana* | No. 3 | UNI-DomeCedar Falls, IA | PSN ESPN3 | L 14–20 | 12,346 |
| September 17 | 6:00 pm | at No. 8 Eastern Washington* | No. 10 | Roos FieldCheney, WA | SWX CSNC+ | L 30–34 | 9,111 |
| October 1 | 4:00 pm | Southern Illinois | No. 12 | UNI-DomeCedar Falls, IA | PSN ESPN3 | W 42–21 | 13,710 |
| October 8 | 2:00 pm | at South Dakota | No. 11 | DakotaDomeVermillion, SD | ESPN3 | L 25–28 | 10,221 |
| October 15 | 6:00 pm | at No. 14 Youngstown State | No. 21 | Stambaugh StadiumYoungstown, OH | ESPN3 | L 10–14 | 13,373 |
| October 22 | 1:00 pm | Missouri State | | UNI-DomeCedar Falls, IA | PSN ESPN3 | W 61–7 | 12,014 |
| October 29 | 6:00 pm | No. 4 North Dakota State | | UNI-DomeCedar Falls, IA | PSN ESPN3 | L 20–24 | 12,032 |
| November 5 | 12:00 pm | at Indiana State | | Memorial StadiumTerre Haute, IN | ESPN3 | W 39–6 | 3,409 |
| November 12 | 1:00 pm | at No. 19 Western Illinois | | Hanson FieldMacomb, IL | ESPN3 | W 30–23 | 3,412 |
| November 19 | 4:00 pm | No. 8 South Dakota State | | UNI-DomeCedar Falls, IA | ESPN3 | L 24–45 | 10,511 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from STATS Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Central time ||||||||
* Source: Schedule
* PSN (CFU Ch. 15/HD415; KCRG-TV Ch. 9.2; WHO-DT Ch. 13.2; KGCW Ch. 26, Comcast SportsNet Chicago)

## Game summaries
### At Iowa State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #5 Panthers | 0 | 16 | 3 | 6 | 25 |
| Cyclones | 7 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 20 |

### Montana

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #14 Grizzlies | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| #3 Panthers | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 14 |

### At Eastern Washington

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #10 Panthers | 10 | 14 | 0 | 6 | 30 |
| #8 Eagles | 0 | 7 | 14 | 13 | 34 |

### Southern Illinois

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Salukis | 0 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 21 |
| #12 Panthers | 14 | 21 | 0 | 7 | 42 |

### At South Dakota

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #11 Panthers | 14 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 25 |
| Coyotes | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 28 |

### At Youngstown State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #21 Panthers | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| #14 Penguins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 14 |

### Missouri State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bears | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Panthers | 17 | 17 | 20 | 7 | 61 |

### North Dakota State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #4 Bison | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 24 |
| Panthers | 0 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 20 |

### At Indiana State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Panthers | 13 | 14 | 6 | 6 | 39 |
| Sycamores | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |

### At Western Illinois

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Panthers | 7 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 30 |
| #19 Leathernecks | 0 | 3 | 6 | 14 | 23 |

### South Dakota State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #8 Jackrabbits | 14 | 7 | 7 | 17 | 45 |
| Panthers | 14 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 24 |

## Ranking movements

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking RV = Received votes т = Tied with team above or below ( ) = First-place votes :
| | 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 | 5 | 3 (5) | 10 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 21 | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | |
| Coaches | 5 | 3–T | 11 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 21 | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | |