It’s that time of the year, UNI. Homecoming. With a week full of activities for current, and former students, everything leading to the Panther’s football game on Saturday. After a disappointing loss to the Bison of North Dakota State, UNI is looking to bounce back against Western Illinois, a team that has won two straight against in-state rival Southern Illinois and South Dakota.

Western Illinois is in a three-way tie at 2-0 along with Illinois State and North Dakota State. Two teams that, with a few more made plays, UNI very well could have beaten.

Let’s look at a brief history of UNI homecoming football games.

Since 2005, the Panthers are 9-1, the only loss coming in 2013 from Southern Illinois in overtime, 24-17. Over the past decade, there have been some great players to pass through this program. The 2005 Panthers team was one of the top teams in program history.

Going into the FCS Championship, the Panthers were 11-3, led by Panther great, Eric Sanders. In the championship, UNI was faced with the tough task competing against FCS power Appalachian State. Unfortunately, the Mountaineers were too much, winning a close one, 21-16.

Another highlight was the ’07 team, which is possibly one of the best teams in program history, led by senior quarterback, Eric Sanders. After finishing the season, 11-0, the Panthers were poised for a run at the championship. After beating New Hampshire in the first round, 38-35, there sat Joe Flacco’s Delaware Blue Hens. In front of a packed UNI-Dome, the Panthers played a tough game but fell short, losing to Flacco.

Throughout middle school, my dad and I got season tickets to UNI football, and one of my favorite players to watch was quarterback Pat Grace. Joining Pat were players like Jonny Gray, Cory Lewis and Victor Williams. Pat Grace was a big dude, no doubt. But he could move, once nicknamed the “Tim Tebow of the FCS” by Panther’s broadcaster Gary Rima.    

One of the highlights of my childhood was going to Panthers games and listening to Rima yelling, “Oh Baby!” after every touchdown.

My favorite year by far was 2008. Making it all the way to the semifinals, they only had to win one more game and they were in. Playing Richmond at home, the Panthers were winning, 20-7, in the fourth quarter, and we were already making plans to make a trip to the championship game in Tennessee. But the game wasn’t over yet.

The Spiders of Richmond made stops on defense, and had the ball with less than two minutes left. The Panthers, having no more timeouts, were desperate to make a stop. I can remember that drive vividly even today- desperately cheering my team on from the crowd. I can remember the disappointment throughout the UNI-Dome as Richmond scored on that drive to win, 21-20.

It was a great decade to be a Panther. But let’s talk about the task at hand. This Saturday they are playing Western Illinois after starting out 2-3, and 0-2 in the conference, they need a bounce back this Saturday. The Panthers will look to be more consistent on offense, as they try to win for the 10th time in their last 11 homecoming games. The Panthers are definitely a playoff-caliber team. We are just waiting for them to put it all together.