The Panthers suffered their first loss in the UNI-Dome this season at the hands of the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State, 31-28. While the Panthers defense, led once more by sophomore Brett McMakin with 14 tackles, kept the game close the offense was another story, struggling to barely reach the 300 yard mark.
SDSU took the opening drive 84 yards in 17 plays for a touchdown to give them an early 7-0 lead.
The Jackrabbits converted five third downs, only recording two more third down conversions the remainder of the game.
After a few failed drives to start the second quarter, Chad Owens returned a punt 27 yards to the 50-yard line. David Johnson waltzed into the endzone, nearly untouched for a 50-yard touchdown run the next play.
Jared Farley recorded his first career interception with 2:16 left in the half, setting up a Sawyer Kollmorgen two-yard touchdown pass to Barkley Hill.
The Panthers lone touchdown pass of the game gave them a 14-7 lead.
SDSU’s next drive came to end this time byway of a Jake Farley interception which effectively ended the half.
Kollmorgen threw two interceptions in the third quarter, both of which resulted in touchdowns.
“I’ll have to look over the game film to see what went wrong,” said UNI Head Coach Mark Farley on his team’s current quarterback battle.
The Panthers were unable to answer that quarter as Michael Schmadeke had his late quarter field goal blocked by Cole Langer. SDSU took a 21-14 lead heading into the last quarter.
SDSU marched down the field and scored on a Zach Zenner rush to go up 28-14 and left 8:58 on the clock in the final quarter.
Brion Carnes got the nod to go in the following possession and led a four minute drive that ended with a Johnson rushing touchdown from two yards out.
With under five minutes left punter Logan Bieghler hit a blooper of an onside kick which was recovered by Deiondre’ Hall to give the Panthers the ball back with 3:29 remaining.
SDSU however was able to force a turnover on downs.
Three plays later, the Panthers tipped a pass two times before it landed in Ray Mitchell’s hands and was returned for a 58-yard touchdown to tie the game at 28-28.
“I just happened to be in the right place,” Mitchell said. “It was pretty crowded in there and I got the ball and ran with it.”
Despite picking off SDSU quarterback Zach Lujan three times, the Panthers allowed the Jackrabbits to rack up 317 yards of total offense.
“Those interceptions are irrelevant, [because] we didn’t win,” Farley said.
Down by three, Carnes and the UNI offense were set up to drive down the field with 1:47 left to tie the game or take the lead.
Melvin Taveras picked off Carnes with 50 seconds left at the SDSU three-yard line before the offense ran the clock out on the Panthers.
UNI travels to Western Illinois on Saturday as they look for their second conference win. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
