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Footballs bounce in mysterious and unpredictable ways. They turn left when those in pursuit turn right. They go backward when logic dictates they should go forward. They spin, skip, skid and squirt around the field just out of reach. But sometimes, a team wraps its hands around the pigskin and refuses to let go until there is no more football to be played. |
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“This team has raised the bar at UNI,” said senior Kevin Stensrud (92). “Now the next step is to win the national championship.” 
Meet the 2005 University of Northern Iowa Panthers, who took the university, the Cedar Valley and the entire state for a white-knuckle ride with more twists and turns than one of Brad Penrith’s wrestlers. “I don’t know how we keep winning these close games,” said quarterback Eric Sanders (12) after the Texas State win. “Am I surprised? No, because I know the guys I’m around. The heart and determination of this team and these seniors is unbelievable.”
From the UNI-Dome to Bowling Green, Ky., Durham, N.H., San Marcos, Texas and Chattanooga, Tenn., Panther pride played long and loud during a remarkable 11-4 season that nearly culminated with the program’s first NCAA Division I-AA national championship. 
Fifth-ranked Appalachian State (12-3) ruined that dream, 21-16, on a chilly Dec. 16 night in Chattanooga, but success cannot always be measured on the scoreboard. “Through football, we got a chance to bring together thousands of UNI people from years past and put a little hop in their step because of the pride,” said Coach Farley. “And we did it, I think, through how we played and never gave up.”
The 2005 Panthers rallied from a 4-3 record with seven straight wins to reach the I-AA finals. In five of those games, UNI rallied from fourth-quarter deficits to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Two games went to overtime. The Panthers won their first ever quarterfinal playoff game on the road against No. 1-ranked New Hampshire. Then they broke down the semifinal barrier after five previous attempts by winning a shootout at Texas State. It was a season that was occasionally chaotic, often exhilarating, sometimes unbelievable and always unforgettable. “I’ve been on a lot of good football teams,” said senior Darin Heideman (41). “But something like this? No. This is unbelievable, just the emotions that have been going with this season. It’s been a heck of a ride.”
It was a season that served as a testament to a team’s will to succeed and the determination of 18 dedicated seniors. It was a season that validated the Panthers’ considerable gridiron tradition, which includes 12 postseason berths in 20 years at the I-AA level. It was a season that more than once brought tears to the eyes of fifth-year head coach Mark Farley, a 1986 UNI graduate and former all-American linebacker.  There was electricity in the UNI-Dome November 12 when the Panthers came from behind to beat Southern Illinois 25-24. “The Dome was the difference,” Coach Farley said.
Most of all, it was a season that brought a campus, the communities of Cedar Falls and Waterloo, and a state together like no other. Only coach Eldon Miller’s 1989-90 men’s basketball team that upset Missouri in UNI’s first NCAA Division I tournament can compare. The road to ChattanoogaUNI’s season began with routs over Division I-AA non-scholarship Drake and Division II Minnesota-Duluth. Game three took the Panthers to Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City where they made a solid showing in a 45-21 defeat. The Gateway Conference season opened with a 41-24 win at Western Illinois, but UNI stumbled at Missouri State, dropping a 24-21 decision and losing sophomore quarterback Eric Sanders to a severe high ankle sprain. With their offensive leader out of action, the Panthers took care of struggling Indiana State at home, but hit bottom the following week in a 38-3 loss at Illinois State. It was UNI’s most lopsided Gateway defeat ever, and it didn’t sit well with the Panthers. 
“We had a team meeting the next day,” said Sanders. “We said we had to take each week like a playoff game from there and just win each game. We all just pulled together and had this sense of urgency and we got it going.” The goal, Farley added, was to go from worst to first, and not just first in the Gateway. The Panthers nearly pulled it off. They handled 11th-ranked Youngstown State, 21-7, in the Dome, then won 23-20 in double-overtime at sixth-ranked Western Kentucky. UNI Athletic Director Rick Hartzell presents Panther Head Coach Mark Farley and his players with the 2005 Gateway Conference Championship trophy, before 13,000 fans at halftime of the UNI-Iowa basketball game.
They beat No. 4 Southern Illinois 25-24 in the UNI-Dome to clinch a share of the Gateway title and the league’s automatic playoff berth. After a rout of Northern Arizona in the regular-season finale, the playoffs featured dramatic wins over Eastern Washington (41-38), New Hampshire (24-21) and Texas State in overtime (40-37). Farley had a feeling about his Panthers all along. “I think it’s the most quality team that you could put together,” said Farley. “When I say a team, it was 56 guys who stepped up, put together a run and beat many teams, and we had to do it on the road. It’s hard to put together a team like this without any superstars, but with guys who were always there for you and believed in each other. It’s a special group.” The bandwagon swells
While the fans will remember the players and the plays that made the 2005 team special, the Panthers will remember the fans, as well. Nearly 16,000 packed the Dome for the Southern Illinois game and willed UNI to victory. The crowd for the first-round playoff game against Eastern Washington was no less important to the outcome. The support and enthusiasm continued to grow through wins at New Hampshire and Texas State. And once the Panthers had earned their spot in the national championship game, the entire state had taken notice. “I think it shows that if you set your heart on something and play with your heart, it will take you real far,” noted senior John Hermann (54).
“I went grocery shopping and I was stopped three or four times by people I didn’t even know saying congratulations, and that they’re rooting for us,” said Stensrud. “It’s awesome, knowing your whole community is behind you and they’re excited. I’m just proud to be part of this team. It’s fun to represent UNI the way the community wants.” When the Panthers left for Chattanooga, hundreds of fans gathered at the airport to see them off. From there, the UNI faithful converged on Chattanooga. An estimated 9,000 were in the stands for the game. A couple of hours before the Panthers took the field in Chattanooga, President Koob addressed several thousand amped-up fans gathered in a pavilion outside Finley Stadium. A few minutes later, the crowd erupted again when Farley stepped to the podium. In the end, the Panthers didn’t get everything they wanted. An outstanding Appalachian State team saw to that as it rallied from a 16-7 deficit in the second half. And while hindsight may be 21-16 in many eyes, it will also show a UNI football team unlike any other. “I said all along that this team was special,” Farley said. Editor’s note: Doug Newhoff graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in 1986 with a B.A. in English literature and a minor in journalism. He joined the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier sports department on a part-time basis in 1976 and took a full-time position in 1982 while working toward his UNI degree.
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