College Football: UNI has to play with confidence at Wyoming

CEDAR FALLS It is a simple mentality.

Every time an FCS opponent has gone into an FBS home and came away with a victory, it went in not afraid.

That is the message Northern Iowa coach Todd Stepsis has delivered to his team ahead of its Saturday showdown with Wyoming.

It has to be confidence, Stepsis said of the one thing UNI must take into War Memorial Stadium ahead of the 3 p.n.

(Central) kickoff with the Cowboys.

I think that is the first thing you need to have.

Trust your ability, you are a Division I football player, too, so I think confidence is going to be a big thing.

I also think you have to have a little bit of us against the world mentality because theres not a whole lot of people outside of our program that believe we can get it done.

We have to embrace that mentality, take pride when that stadium goes silent.

UNI has lost its last eight games against FBS opponents with the Panthers last victory against a higher-level opponent coming in 2016 over Iowa State, 25-20.

Keys to the game : Stepsis said Wyomings season opening victory at Akron, a 10-0 win that was the Cowboys first defensive shutout since 2017, wasnt a true indication of how good of a team UNI is facing.

He said the shutout proved how talented the Cowboy defense is, but offensively Stepsis says they have a lot of weapons.

For the Panthers, Stepsis said a big key will how well his offense can sustain drives.

A year ago, Wyoming led the FBS in third down conversion defense allowing opponents to convert on just 37 of 143 third downs (.259 percent).

So, okay, when we get to third and four, third and five, we need to be able to convert those into first downs, Stepsis said.

They do a lot of great things on defense to create pressure, create some confusion.

So how can we control the clock, how can we keep our defense off the field, convert third downs...somehow we have to get guys free where we can convert those third downs.

Offensively, Stepsis said one thing he caught from Wyomings game with Akron is that they were almost strictly out of the gun in 2024 but got under the center a lot against the Zips.

Northern Iowa running back Bill Jackson runs the ball for yardage against Butler on Saturday at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

Jackson on Wyoming : The last time Northern Iowa played Wyoming none of the current Panthers were alive.

Kurt Warner started that 1993 game for UNI and the Panthers nearly pulled out the victory with 21 fourth quarter points before falling 45-42 in Laramie.

Saturdays game between the Panthers and Cowboys wont be the first time, however, that current UNI player has played at War Memorial Stadium.

Back in 2022, now senior running back Bill Jackson made his Tulsa debut rushing twice for four yards against Wyoming in front of 20,000 plus as the Golden Hurricane dropped a 40-37 overtime game to Wyoming.

The atmosphere was great, Jackson said.

I was a redshirt freshman and was finally getting my chance to play...I was actually open my second play of the game and thought I was going to get my first touchdown.

But it was just going out there and getting my feet wet, the best feeling I ever had playing college football.

Jackson said the Panthers will be entering a fun atmosphere to play a game in.

As for the game itself, Jackson says UNI just must be themselves.

Play hard, play fast and play physical, he said.

Jackson was a key to a 200 plus yard rushing game in UNIs season opening win over Butler rushing for 75 yards on 12 carries.

Harrison Bey-Buie also carried the ball 12 times for 74 yards and a score to highlight a strong 1-2 punch for the Panther run game.

Jackson enters the game five yards short of 1,000 career rushing yards, and Bey-Buie is 42 from 1,000.

Receiver depth takes hit : UNI lost yet another receiver for the season Saturday when senior Tay Norman, a Waterloo West grad, tore ligaments in a wrist.

Stepsis confirmed the news Wednesday.

Norman caught a career best three passes for 29 yards against Butler before suffering the injury.

Red shirt freshman Ben Gordon, who had been rising the depth chart and had seen some time in the backfield, tore ligaments in a foot during the Panthers last scrimmage of preseason camp and had surgery last Friday to repair the damage.

Junior Jaiden Ellis-Lahey, who has 21 career catches for 365 yards and a pair of scores, tweaked a knee last week during practice and missed the season opener and remains questionable for Wyoming.

That room, for whatever reason, is snake bitten, Stepsis said.

Against the Cowboys, Ayden Price, Tysen Kershaw and JC Roque Jr.

are the top three receiver targets for quarterback Matthew Schecklman, while Graham Friedrichsen and Qunicy Morris will play larger roles.

Stepsis also quipped that he had cornerback Fletcher Marshall Jr.

run some go routes Wednesday.

He looked pretty natural, Stepsis smiled.

Its kind of a situation where how can we solve our depth problems within...maybe we got a guy out there, like we did with Zach Mehmert (moved from defensive end to tight end) that can help us out.

Panthers need to build off strong second half against Butler as it heads to face FBS Wyoming.

UNI head coach enjoyed every moment of the Panthers victory over Butler in his debut inside the UNI-Dome.

CEDAR FALLS Matthew Schecklman threw four touchdown passes and Northern Iowas defense made great halftime adjustments as the Panthers pulled away from Butler for a 38-14 victory at the UNI-Dome Saturday in front of 9,079.

When: Saturday, 3 p.m., Central Where: Laramie, Wyo.

(War Memorial Stadium) Radio : 95.3 (The Mix) TV: Mountain West Network Series : Wyoming won the only previous meeting, 45-42, in 1993.

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