Iowa State Slips Past UNI, 28-27

Saturday, September 30

Ames, Iowa

6:00 PM

University of Northern Iowa

2-2

Iowa State

3-2 , 0-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

UNI

Iowa State

Iowa State Slips Past UNI, 28-27

9/30/2006 8:00:00 AM | Football

Box Score

By: UNI Athletics Communications

Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery

AMES, Iowa - In front of the largest crowd in Iowa State's football history, the University of Northern Iowa football squad put on quite a show and nearly pulled off one of the program's greatest upsets before the Cyclones held on for a 28-27 victory.

An announced crowd of 55,518 watched as the Panthers had a chance to win the game on senior place kicker Brian Wingert's 51-yard field goal with six seconds left. But Wingert's kick, which had the distance, missed wide to the right.

"It's not Brian's fault," UNI head coach Mark Farley said in his post-game press conference. "Brian makes field goals like that all the time. I should have called timeout for him, hundreds of things should have been done, but that's not Brian's fault. We had our opportunities. We came down to win the football game. We came down to put a football team together for our conference. It was about as valiant an effort as I've ever seen as far as how we played. We got guys going down left and right, we've still got to hang in there and find a way to keep coming back to put us in position to win the game. We had a kicker, a holder and a snapper to get it done. I wouldn't put anyone else out there but Brian."

Iowa State used a fourth quarter rally of its own to take the lead with only 1:05 left in the game. Down 27-21, Iowa State moved the ball 74 yards in six plays with no timeouts as the Panthers tried to slow them down. The Cyclones scored on a 16-yard touchdown pass from ISU quarterback Bret Meyer to wide receiver Jon Davis to take a 28-27 advantage.

The Panthers received a gift from the Cyclones on the ensuing kickoff as kicker Josh Griebahn's kick went out of bounds to give UNI the ball on the 35-yard line with 1:00 remaining. UNI quarterback Eric Sanders hit wide receiver James Lindgren for a 15-yard gain on 3rd-and-2 to move the ball to the ISU 42-yard line. Sanders then found senior wide receiver Curt Bradley for an eight-yard gain to put the Panthers in Wingert's field goal range with 11 ticks left on the clock.

Farley was impressed by his team's effort throughout the game.

"That was a different football team today than we've played in the last three or four games," Farley said. "We knew we could win this football game when we left the UNI-Dome. We had to be a changed team coming in here. The test was how we were going to respond, how we were going to play a good football team. I'm proud of my team."

The contest started with Iowa State marching down the field on the opening drive of the contest and scored on a one-yard touchdown plunge by full back Ryan Kock. The Cyclones drove 80 yards in 14 plays and the drive consumed 6:12.

UNI showed they could control the clock as well by responding with a 14-play 79-yard drive on its opening possession. UNI took 8:25 off the clock and finished off the drive with a Sanders-to-Lindgren touchdown pass from eight yards out. The touchdown catch was Lindgren's fourth of the season. Sanders was perfect on the drive as he was 9-of-9 passing for 71 yards and the touchdown.

Senior cornerback Dre Dokes gave the Panthers their first lead of the game when he stepped in front of a Meyer pass and returned it 46 yards for a touchdown at the 13:20 mark of the second quarter. It was Dokes' 14th career interception and second career touchdown and put UNI on top 14-7.

Redshirt freshman defensive end James Ruffin sacked Meyer to force the Cyclones to punt and UNI again marched 80 yards in nine plays to take a 21-7 lead on a five-yard run by running back Corey Lewis. Running back Corey Lewis and Whitney Lewis. Sanders only passed the ball two times for 10 yards as UNI took a 14-point lead with just under seven minutes remaining in the first half.

The Panther defense again rose to the occasion as the Cyclones threatened to score late in the first half. UNI stuffed ISU running back Stevie Hicks on a 4th-and-2 from the UNI 10-yard line with just over a minute to play in the first half to give the ball back to the Panthers. UNI was able to run out the clock in the first half and took a 21-7 lead into the intermission.

Iowa State scored first in the third quarter but it took until only 43 seconds remained in the quarter to do so. Meyer hit wide receiver Todd Blythe on a 22-yard scoring play to pull Iowa State within seven points at 21-14. The drive took six plays and encompassed 50 yards in 2:43.

The Panthers offense was forced to punt early in the fourth quarter and the Cyclones took advantage. The Cyclones knotted the game at 21-21 on a 65-yard punt return by safety Ryan Baum at the 13:10 mark of the fourth quarter.

UNI was forced to punt again but this time the Panthers' luck changed as Baum fumbled the punt return. UNI's Grant Zielinski, who is the Panthers' long snapper, recovered the loose ball at the ISU 34-yard line with 10:54 remaining in the game.

The Panthers took advantage of the Cyclones' miscue and turned it into points. Wingert drilled a 43-yard field goal to put UNI on top, 24-21, with 8:54 left in the game.

Junior safety Chris Parsons came up with a huge play as the Cyclones were threatening to score. Parsons knocked the ball out of ISU wideout Austin Flynn's hands at the one-yard line and junior linebacker Araf Evans-Sykes fell on the fumble in the end zone to give the ball to the Panthers with 7:08 left in the game.

The Panthers tallied four first downs on the drive and worked the clock down to 2:20 when Wingert made his second field goal of the game. Wingert's kick put UNI on top, 27-21, and set the stage for the frantic final two minutes.

Sanders led the Panthers with 158 passing yards on 23-of-29 passing attempts. Lindgren led the UNI receivers with seven catches for 73 yards and a touchdown. Corey Lewis led the UNI ground attack with 84 yards on 19 carries and scored a touchdown. Junior linebacker Brannon Carter led the defense with nine tackles, including seven solo stops.

UNI will be in action next Saturday in its annual Homecoming contest against Missouri State. Kickoff is set for 4:05 p.m. in the UNI-Dome.