2008 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

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2008 Northern Iowa Panthers football
MVFC co-champion
ConferenceMissouri Valley Football Conference
Ranking
Sports NetworkNo. 4[1]
FCS CoachesNo. 4[2]
Record9–3 (7–1 MVFC)
Head coach
Co-offensive coordinatorBill Salmon (8th season)
Co-offensive coordinatorMario Verduzco (3rd season)
Home stadiumUNI-Dome
Seasons
← 2007
2009 →
2008 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
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

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.

Schedule[edit]

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendanceSource
August 305:00 pmat BYU*No. 3mtnL 17–4164,108
September 64:05 pmSouth Dakota*No. 9CFUW 24–1312,904
September 204:05 pmNo. 12 South Dakota StateNo. 8
  • UNI-Dome
  • Cedar Falls, IA
CFU/MediacomW 34–2015,136
September 276:00 pmat No. 15 Southern IllinoisNo. 5MediacomL 24–2714,427[4]
October 26:35 pmNicholls State*No. 10
  • UNI-Dome
  • Cedar Falls, IA
ESPNUW 34–149,028
October 114:05 pmIllinois StatedaggerNo. 10
  • UNI-Dome
  • Cedar Falls, IA
CFU/MediacomW 31–1716,100[5]
October 184:05 pmNo. 20 North Dakota StateNo. 6
  • UNI-Dome
  • Cedar Falls, IA
KFXA/Missouri Valley FB TVW 23–1313,416
October 253:00 pmat Youngstown StateNo. 5W 21–2015,937
November 112:05 pmat No. 12 Western IllinoisNo. 5W 30–610,258[6]
November 84:05 pmMissouri StateNo. 4
  • UNI-Dome
  • Cedar Falls, IA
CFU/MediacomW 42–013,426
November 1511:00 amat Indiana StateNo. 4W 28–02,381
November 222:00 pmat Southern Utah*No. 4W 34–243,145
November 294:05 pmNo. 21 Maine*No. 4
W 40–158,477
December 66:00 pmNo. 10 New Hampshire*No. 4
  • UNI-Dome
  • Cedar Falls, IA (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal)
ESPN360W 36–349,055
December 133:00 pmNo. 7 Richmond*No. 4
  • UNI-Dome
  • Cedar Falls, IA (NCAA Division I Semifinal)
ESPNL 20–2112,062

Coaching staff[edit]

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[edit]

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
Week
PollPre12345678910111213Final
The Sports Network39985101065544444
FCS Coaches4587510844444444

References[edit]

  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. ^ Sullivan, Jim (November 2, 2008). "Top Cats". The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. p. C1. Retrieved January 29, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.