CEDAR FALLS, Ia. — Time after time Friday, Northern Iowa football coach Mark Farley laid out a goal for his team that was both simply stated and exceptionally difficult to achieve.
Winning the Missouri Valley Conference title, Farley said, means you’ve conquered the country’s best league, and that means you’re ready to aim higher once the playoffs start.
What Farley didn’t mention was the biggest obstacle, both for his Panthers and the entire FCS field, in North Dakota State: the five-time defending national champions and the team that has beaten Northern Iowa in five of six meetings during that stretch, including twice last year.