2007 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

The 2007 Northern Iowa Panthers football team represented the University of Northern Iowa in the 2007 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The team was coached by Mark Farley and played their home games in the UNI-Dome. The Panthers clinched a share of the Gateway Football Conference and a playoff berth with a win against Missouri State on November 3.

2007 Northern Iowa Panthers football
Gateway co-champion
NCAA Division I Quarterfinal, L 27–39 vs. Delaware
Conference	Gateway Football Conference
Ranking
Sports Network	No. 4^[1]
FCS Coaches	No. 5^[2]
Record	12–1 (6–0 Gateway)
Head coach	Mark Farley (7th season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Bill Salmon (7th season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Mario Verduzco (2nd season)
Home stadium	UNI-Dome
Seasons ← 2006 2008 →

2007 Gateway Football Conference standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 4 Northern Iowa $^		6	–	0					12	–	1
No. 3 Southern Illinois ^		5	–	1					12	–	2
No. 16 Youngstown State		3	–	3					7	–	4
Western Illinois		3	–	3					6	–	5
Missouri State		2	–	4					6	–	5
Illinois State		2	–	4					4	–	7
Indiana State		0	–	6					0	–	11
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from The Sports Network poll

Facts

• The Panthers moved into the top spot in The Sports Network's FCS Top 25 poll on October 15. It marked the first time the Panthers had been perched in the No. 1 spot in the nation since the Sports Network's poll on November 5, 1992.^[3]
• On November 19, UNI became the consensus No. 1-ranked team in the nation after taking over the top spot in the FCS Coaches poll.
• On November 8, Northern Iowa was ranked 30th in the nation in the Sagarin ratings. The Sagarin ratings take into account all members of Division I football.^[4]
• UNI became the first-ever Gateway Football Conference school to win all six of its regular season road contests in a single season.
• University of Northern Iowa (11–0) topped the bracket as the top seed after capturing the automatic qualifying berth from the Gateway Football Conference. The Panthers are making their 13th tournament appearance.^[5]
• For the first time in school history the University of Northern Iowa football team drew a seed for the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.^[6]
• In scoring its first win over Iowa State since 1994, UNI improved its record against teams from the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) to 9–15 since 1985.^[3]
• On November 18, Northern Iowa received points in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. They received 1 point; that vote came from Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Chronicle.^[7] The Panthers became the second FCS school to receive votes in the poll, following Appalachian State who had received up to 19 votes earlier in the season.
• In 23 years of league play, UNI has now captured at least a share of the Gateway Football Conference title in 13 of those seasons with nine of those being outright championships.
• UNI completed the first-ever perfect regular season in the 23-year history of the Gateway Football Conference with a record of 11–0. UNI's 6–0 mark in Gateway play marked the ninth time in league history a team went undefeated against conference competition. It was the fifth time UNI has completed Gateway play with an unblemished record.
• OL Chad Rinehart was named to the Senior Bowl North team.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
August 30	7:05 pm	Minnesota State*	No. 9	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA		W 41–14	15,056
September 8	6:00 pm	at Iowa State*	No. 7	Jack Trice Stadium Ames, IA		W 24–13	56,795
September 15	7:00 pm	at South Dakota State*	No. 5	Coughlin-Alumni Stadium Brookings, SD		W 31–17	10,844
September 22	4:00 pm	at Drake*	No. 4	Drake Stadium Des Moines, IA	Mediacom	W 45–7	10,216
September 29	1:30 pm	at No. 16 Illinois State	No. 3	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL		W 23–13	10,473	^[8]
October 13	4:05 pm	Southern Illinois	No. 2	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	Mediacom/CFU	W 30–24	17,074	^[9]
October 20	6:35 pm	at Western Illinois	No. 1	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	FSNM/FCS/MS-KC/CFU	W 42–3	15,330	^[10]
October 27	4:05 pm	Youngstown State	No. 1	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	KFXA/KDSM/WFMJ/FCS/MS-KC	W 14–13	16,528
November 3	1:00 pm	at Missouri State	No. 1	Plaster Sports Complex Springfield, MO	Mediacom	W 38–17	10,590
November 10	5:05 pm	Indiana State	No. 1	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	CFU	W 68–14	16,624
November 17	5:05 pm	Southern Utah*	No. 1	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	CFU	W 48–10	15,724
November 24	6:35 pm	New Hampshire*	No. 1	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA (NCAA Division I First Round)	Mediacom/CFU	W 38–35	16,015
December 1	1:00 pm	Delaware*	No. 1	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal)	ESPNGP/Mediacom/CFU	L 27–39	15,803
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from The Sports Network Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
The Sports Network	9^[11]	7^[12]	5	4^[13]	3	2^[14]	2^[15]	1^[16]	1^[17]	1^[18]	1^[19]	1^[20]	1^[21]	N/A	N/A	N/A	4^[1]
FCS Coaches	9^[22]	7^[23]	5^[24]	5^[25]	4^[26]	4^[27]	3^[28]	2^[29]	2^[30]	2^[31]	2^[32]	2^[33]	1^[34]	N/A	N/A	N/A	5^[2]
AP	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	38^[35]	—	—	—

Coaching staff

Name	Position	Year at Northern Iowa	Alma Mater (Year)
Mark Farley	Head coach	7th	Northern Iowa (1987)
Rick Nelson	Recruiting coordinator Offensive Line	8th	Northern Iowa (1984)
Bill Salmon	Associate head coach Offensive coordinator Receivers	7th	Northern Iowa (1980)
Mario Verduzco	Co-offensive coordinator Quarterbacks	7th	San José State (1988)
Atif Austin	Running backs	3rd	Iowa State (2003)
Scott Frost	Linebackers	1st	Nebraska (1997)
Chris Klieman	Secondary	2nd	Northern Iowa (1990)
Jerry Montgomery	Defensive line	2nd	Iowa (2001)
Keith Harms	Defensive assistant	4th	Buena Vista (1979)
Erik Chinander	Tight ends	4th	Iowa (2003)

Team players drafted into the NFL

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
Chad Rinehart	Tackle	3	96	Washington Redskins
Brandon Keith	Tackle	7	225	Arizona Cardinals

^[36]

References

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2. . Archived from the original on August 26, 2008. Retrieved October 30, 2009.
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4. . University of Northern Iowa Department of Athletics. November 8, 2007. Archived from the original on December 28, 2007. Retrieved November 22, 2007.
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35. "College Football FBS AP Top 25". ESPN. November 18, 2007. Retrieved November 26, 2010.
36. . Archived from the original on May 1, 2008.