UNI football to host final, regular-season home game of season

Western Illinois vs. UNI football

1 p.m. Nov. 20, 2021
UNI-Dome | Cedar Falls, Iowa
TV: ESPN3 - The MVFC Game of the Week
Radio: Panther Sports Radio Network News/Talk KXEL 1540

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – UNI football will host its final, regular-season game against Western Illinois at 1 p.m. Saturday.

It will be Senior Day for the Panthers. It will also be the final game for Panthers Sports Radio Network play-by-play announcer Gary Rima. Rima has been the voice of the Panthers for nearly 30 years. He is synonymous with some of the greatest highlights in UNI Panther football history.
Gary has been on the call for an amazing 343 games. Gary's been a part of 10 conference championships, 15 NCAA post-season appearances and more than 220 Panther victories. He has missed just two regular-season games during his career.

Fans and media should plan for heavier than normal traffic on game day. UNI will be hosting three intercollegiate games as well as a high school football playoff game on Nov. 20. There is also a road closure on 27^th Street west of Greenhill Road for the next four weeks.

THE PANTHERS
• UNI's Brawntae Wells is being honored by the Missouri Valley Conference for his honorable achievements off the field. In an effort to honor the achievements of exceptional student-athletes, the MVC has created the State Farm MVC Good Neighbor Award. Ten student-athletes have been named by Commissioner Jeff Jackson as the honorees for the 2021-22 fall season.

• UNI ranks third in the Massey Index Strength of Schedule. The Missouri Valley Football Conference placed all 11 teams in the top 17.

• UNI football quarterback Theo Day is among the candidates on the 2021 midseason watch list for the CFPA FCS National Performer of the Year trophy.

• UNI football's Trevor Penning is the first offensive lineman to be named to this year's Walter Payton Award watch list, which now includes 46 players. The 2021 Stats Perform FCS Walter Payton Award is presented annually to the national offensive player of the year in college football's Division I subdivision.

THE LEATHRNECKS
• WIU is coming off a bye week after falling to South Dakota on Nov. 6 during the team's final fall showing at Hanson Field.

• Back during the Leathernecks' Senior Day showing, for the second time in as many games, a standout player broke a new single-season program record. Dennis Houston notched the feat in receptions, as his 85 total on the season tops Jaelon Acklin's 84-reception mark set in 2017. His new mark came a week after Connor Sampson became a new program holder in single-season pass completions, moving past Paul Singer's 239-mark set in 1987. He currently sits at 282 completions this year.

• Western Illinois holds the distinction of being the only non-military institution to officially have its nickname derived from a branch of the military service. The school began use of the Corps' official nickname, "The Fighting Leathernecks," in 1927 when then-athletic director and head baseball, basketball and football coach Ray "Rock" Hanson was granted permission by the U.S. Navy, based on his status as a Marine hero, to use the nickname.

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