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.

2016 Northern Iowa Panthers football
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
2016 record	5–6 (4–4 MVFC)
Head coach	Mark Farley (16th season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Bill Salmon (16th season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Ryan Mahaffey (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Multiple
Defensive coordinator	Jeremiah Johnson
Base defense	3–4
Home stadium	UNI-Dome (c. 16,324, Field-Turf)

2016 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 3 North Dakota State +^		7	–	1					12	–	2
No. 6 South Dakota State +^		7	–	1					9	–	4
No. 2 Youngstown State ^		6	–	2					12	–	4
Illinois State ^		4	–	4					6	–	6
Northern Iowa		4	–	4					5	–	6
Western Illinois		3	–	5					6	–	5
South Dakota		3	–	5					4	–	7
Indiana State		2	–	6					4	–	7
Missouri State		2	–	6					4	–	7
Southern Illinois		2	–	6					4	–	7
+ – Conference co-champions ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Personnel

Roster

• 2016 Roster

Coaching staff

Name	Position	Year at Northern Iowa	Alma Mater (Year)
Mark Farley	Head Coach	16th	Northern Iowa (1987)

Season

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 3	7:00 pm	at Iowa State*	No. 5	Jack Trice Stadium Ames, IA	Cyclones.tv	W 25–20	60,629
September 10	4:00 pm	No. 14 Montana*	No. 3	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	PSN ESPN3	L 14–20	12,346
September 17	6:00 pm	at No. 8 Eastern Washington*	No. 10	Roos Field Cheney, WA	SWX CSNC+	L 30–34	9,111
October 1	4:00 pm	Southern Illinois	No. 12	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	PSN ESPN3	W 42–21	13,710
October 8	2:00 pm	at South Dakota	No. 11	DakotaDome Vermillion, SD	ESPN3	L 25–28	10,221
October 15	6:00 pm	at No. 14 Youngstown State	No. 21	Stambaugh Stadium Youngstown, OH	ESPN3	L 10–14	13,373
October 22	1:00 pm	Missouri State		UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	PSN ESPN3	W 61–7	12,014
October 29	6:00 pm	No. 4 North Dakota State		UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	PSN ESPN3	L 20–24	12,032
November 5	12:00 pm	at Indiana State		Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN3	W 39–6	3,409
November 12	1:00 pm	at No. 19 Western Illinois		Hanson Field Macomb, IL	ESPN3	W 30–23	3,412
November 19	4:00 pm	No. 8 South Dakota State		UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	ESPN3	L 24–45	10,511
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS FCS at time of game Poll released prior to the game All 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.
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	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

References