The No. 8-ranked University of Northern Iowa Panthers will square off with the Central State University Marauders Saturday at 6 p.m. in the UNI-Dome for the team’s home opener. The Panthers are coming off a hard-fought 26-21 defeat at the hands of the University of Wisconsin Badgers in last weekend’s season opener. The Marauders, a Division-II team from Wilberforce, Ohio, dropped a 28-27 contest to Stillman College in their season opener.

Having won just two games in the past two seasons combined, the Marauders (0-1) will enter this weekend’s game as big underdogs against perennial Football Championship Subdivision powerhouse UNI.

However, despite being favored and playing a Division-II team sandwiched between two Big Ten Conference opponents, UNI head coach Mark Farley insists his team won’t be overlooking the Marauders.

“Everybody starts to talk to the players and all the attention starts to go past this game and we met yesterday … all our focus will go on (Central State),” said Farley. “This is a big game for us. We are at home and we need to win. Hopefully our players will stay focused.”

UNI (0-1) may not be overlooking CSU, but Farley did admit the Panthers don’t know “a whole lot” about their opponents.

“They’ve got a couple of new coaches. It’s personnel we have no familiarity with. The school, we’re not familiar with,” said Farley. “Say what you want about who we’re playing and who we’re going to play and who we did play. It doesn’t matter to us. We’re trying to find a plan so our players are comfortable in the game and playing the plan.”

The Marauders return 15 starters (six on offense, seven on defense, two on special teams) from last year’s one-win team and traditionally run a pro-style offense along with a 4-3 base defense.

Saturday could also mark a significant milestone in Farley’s head coaching tenure at UNI. He currently holds a 99-40 career record at UNI and will be trying for his 100th career victory as head coach of the Panthers.

Saturday’s game is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. UNI students can get into the game for free by showing their student ID.