Last Saturday, the UNI Panthers traveled to Plaster Field to take on the Missouri State Bears and left victorious with a final score of 41-0.

The 17th-ranked Panthers, 6-4 overall, earned their fourth consecutive win and will play Southern Illinois at home in Cedar Falls Saturday, Nov. 14.

Panther Tyvis Smith opened the game with a 56-yard touch down carry, just 46 seconds into the first quarter.

“The hole was open,” Smith said. “The offensive line created it and I just ran through it. It was a big, big early play.”

MSU was ranked 122 out of 123 for rush defense, and the Panthers took advantage of this position with Smith rushing for 146 yards on 16 carries. Quarterback Aaron Bailey added to the ground game with 161 yards on 19 carries, four of which he was able to break through into the end zone.

“We wanted to come in here and do business and that was our goal,” Bailey said. “We didn’t want to do anything we didn’t have to. We just wanted to play our game like we have been doing.”

UNI led 28-0 at halftime and already had 309 of their 439 total rushing yards.

Defensively, the Panthers only allowed six MSU first downs and held the Bears to a total of 139 yards. The Bears rushed for 43 yards, making this the fourth consecutive week the Panther defense held their opponent to under 100 rushing yards.

“The defense is playing good right now,” Farley said. “They are a solid group. Overall, the defense is playing very steady and very good right now.”

Deiondre Hall caught his sixth interception of the season, and is now tied for fourth all-time at UNI for interception return yards at 243.

The Panther’s final regular season game will take place this Saturday at the UNI-Dome as they take on Southern Illinois at 4 p.m.