The UNI football team is in the midst of a four-game homestand at the UNI-Dome and will take on the Trail Blazers of Utah Tech this Saturday in the third straight home contest. The Trail Blazers play in the Western Athletic Conference, or WAC, making this matchup a rather unorthodox non-conference game in the midst of the season. The Panthers will be looking to bounce back from a tough loss to Illinois State on Homecoming weekend while Utah Tech is coming off of a bye week last weekend. The Panthers come into this game with a 2-4 overall record and a 2-2 record in conference play, while Utah Tech is 1-4 overall and 0-2 in their conference. The game can be viewed on ESPN+ and KCRG 9.2 and can be heard on the radio on AM 1540 KXEL. 

Utah Tech is led by Kobe Tracy under center. So far this year he has completed about 51 percent of his passes for 1,229 yard and nine touchdowns, along with three interceptions thrown. His favorite target this season is wide receiver Joey Herbert, who leads the team by far with 38 catches for 636 yards and five touchdowns, all team-highs. Quail Conley is the lead running back for the Trail Blazers as he’s accumulated 460 rushing yards and five touchdowns on the season so far. 

The offense from Utah Tech has shown signs of promise early on this season, but has since regressed a bit. They put up a combined 89 points in their first two games of the year, the first being a  56-33 loss to Sacramento State and a 56-10 win against Chadron State in week two. However, the Trail Blazers have only scored 14, 17 and 10 points respectively in their last three games, which could make this an opportunity for the UNI defense. 

The defense for the Blazers has not been great so far in 2022. They average 33.6 points allowed per contest, and have particularly struggled against the run in their last three games, giving up an average of over 130 yards against opponents.

Look for the Panthers to utilize their duo of running backs against the Utah Tech run defense. Dom Williams and Vance McShane have similar running stats, with Williams leading the way at 377 yard this year and McShane at 334. Keeping with the trend of the typical hard-nosed running style of UNI football, expect this tandem to have big days on Saturday.

Playing in the UNI-Dome is almost always an advantage for the Panthers, and this will be especially true against Utah Tech. The Blazers are winless on the road so far this season, and in fact, have only won a single road game in the last three years. This should easily play to the advantage of UNI. 

The Panthers will round out their stretch of home games on Saturday, Oct. 22 against Missouri State for family weekend, with kickoff scheduled for 4 p.m. Utah Tech will return home to play host to Sam Houston State the same day, Oct. 22. Both games can be viewed on ESPN+.