2015 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

The 2015 Northern Iowa Panthers football team represented the University of Northern Iowa in the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The team is coached by Mark Farley in his 15th season and played their home games in the UNI-Dome. They were a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 9–5, 5–3 in MVFC play to finish in a three–way tie for second place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Eastern Illinois in the first round and Portland State in the second round before losing in the quarterfinals to North Dakota State.

2015 Northern Iowa Panthers football
FCS Playoffs Quarterfinals, L 13–23 vs. North Dakota State
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 8
FCS Coaches	No. 6
2015 record	9–5 (5–3 MVFC)
Head coach	Mark Farley (15th season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Bill Salmon
Co-offensive coordinator	Mario Verduzco
Offensive scheme	Multiple
Defensive coordinator	Jeremiah Johnson
Base defense	3–4
Home stadium	UNI-Dome (c. 16,324, Field-Turf)

2015 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 1 North Dakota State +^		7	–	1					13	–	2
No. 5 Illinois State +^		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 8 Northern Iowa ^		5	–	3					9	–	5
No. 15 South Dakota State ^		5	–	3					8	–	4
Western Illinois ^		5	–	3					7	–	6
Indiana State		3	–	5					5	–	6
Youngstown State		3	–	5					5	–	6
South Dakota		3	–	5					5	–	6
Southern Illinois		2	–	6					3	–	8
Missouri State		0	–	8					1	–	10
+ – Conference co-champions ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Personnel

Roster

• 2015 Roster

Coaching staff

Name	Position	Year at Northern Iowa	Alma Mater (Year)
Mark Farley	Head Coach	15th	Northern Iowa (1987)

Season

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 5	7:00 pm	at Iowa State*	No. 10	Jack Trice Stadium Ames, IA	Cyclones.tv	L 7–31	61,500
September 12	1:00 pm	No. 7 Eastern Washington*	No. 14	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	ESPN3	W 38–35	12,292
September 19	9:30 pm	at No. 17 Cal Poly*	No. 9	Alex G. Spanos Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	ASN	W 34–20	11,075
October 3	12:00 pm	at No. 4 Illinois State	No. 7	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	MVC TV/ESPN3	L 13–21	13,391
October 10	1:00 pm	at No. 3 North Dakota State	No. 10	Fargodome Fargo, ND	ESPN3	L 28–31	18,954
October 17	4:00 pm	Western Illinois	No. 12	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	ESPN3	L 19–24	16,324
October 24	2:00 pm	at No. 6 South Dakota State	No. 22	Coughlin–Alumni Stadium Brookings, SD	ESPN3	W 10–7	16,042
October 31	1:00 pm	South Dakota	No. 18	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	ESPN3	W 20–7	10,476
November 7	4:00 pm	No. 23 Indiana State	No. 17	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	ESPN3	W 59–13	13,224
November 14	2:00 pm	at Missouri State	No. 17	Plaster Sports Complex Springfield, MO	ESPN3	W 41–0	5,223
November 21	4:00 pm	Southern Illinois	No. 15	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	MVC TV/ESPN3	W 49–28	9,915
November 28	5:00 pm	No. 24 Eastern Illinois*	No. 15	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA (FCS Playoffs First Round)	ESPN3	W 53–17	7,062
December 5	9:00 pm	at No. 5 Portland State*	No. 15	Providence Park Portland, OR (FCS Playoffs Second Round)	ESPN3	W 29–17	8,022
December 12	11:00 am	at No. 2 North Dakota State*	No. 15	Fargodome Fargo, ND (FCS Playoffs Quarterfinals)	ESPN	L 13–23	18,041
*Non-conference game Rankings from STATS FCS at time of game Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

• Source: Schedule

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	10	14	9	7	7 (1)	10	12	22	18	17	17	15	15	8
Coaches	10	14	11	6	6	10	14	25	21	20	19	15	14	6

References