2016 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

2016 Northern Iowa Panthers football
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
Record	5–6 (4–4 MVFC)
Head coach	Mark Farley (16th season)
Offensive coordinator	Todd Sturdy (1st season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Bill Salmon (16th season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Ryan Mahaffey (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Multiple
Defensive coordinator	Jeremiah Johnson
Base defense	3–4
Home stadium	UNI-Dome

2016 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 3 North Dakota State +^		7	–	1					12	–	2
No. 6 South Dakota State +^		7	–	1					9	–	4
No. 2 Youngstown State ^		6	–	2					12	–	4
Illinois State ^		4	–	4					6	–	6
Northern Iowa		4	–	4					5	–	6
Western Illinois		3	–	5					6	–	5
South Dakota		3	–	5					4	–	7
Indiana State		2	–	6					4	–	7
Missouri State		2	–	6					4	–	7
Southern Illinois		2	–	6					4	–	7
+ – Conference co-champions ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2016 Northern Iowa Panthers football team represented the University of Northern Iowa in the 2016 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The team was coached by Mark Farley in his sixteenth season and played their home games in the UNI-Dome. They were a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 5–6, 4–4 in MVFC play to finish in a tie for fourth place.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 3	7:00 pm	at Iowa State*	No. 5	Jack Trice Stadium Ames, IA	Cyclones.tv	W 25–20	60,629
September 10	4:00 pm	No. 14 Montana*	No. 3	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	PSN ESPN3	L 14–20	12,346
September 17	6:00 pm	at No. 8 Eastern Washington*	No. 10	Roos Field Cheney, WA	SWX CSNC+	L 30–34	9,111
October 1	4:00 pm	Southern Illinois	No. 12	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	PSN ESPN3	W 42–21	13,710
October 8	2:00 pm	at South Dakota	No. 11	DakotaDome Vermillion, SD	ESPN3	L 25–28	10,221
October 15	6:00 pm	at No. 14 Youngstown State	No. 21	Stambaugh Stadium Youngstown, OH	ESPN3	L 10–14	13,373
October 22	1:00 pm	Missouri State		UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	PSN ESPN3	W 61–7	12,014
October 29	6:00 pm	No. 4 North Dakota State		UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	PSN ESPN3	L 20–24	12,032
November 5	12:00 pm	at Indiana State		Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN3	W 39–6	3,409
November 12	1:00 pm	at No. 19 Western Illinois		Hanson Field Macomb, IL	ESPN3	W 30–23	3,412
November 19	4:00 pm	No. 8 South Dakota State		UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	ESPN3	L 24–45	10,511
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

• Source: Schedule
• PSN (CFU Ch. 15/HD415; KCRG-TV Ch. 9.2; WHO-DT Ch. 13.2; KGCW Ch. 26, Comcast SportsNet Chicago)

Game summaries

At Iowa State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#5 Panthers	0	16	3	6	25
Cyclones	7	6	0	7	20

See also: 2016 Iowa State Cyclones football team

Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
#14 Grizzlies	10	10	0	0	20
#3 Panthers	7	0	0	7	14

See also: 2016 Montana Grizzlies football team

At Eastern Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
#10 Panthers	10	14	0	6	30
#8 Eagles	0	7	14	13	34

See also: 2016 Eastern Washington Eagles football team

Southern Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Salukis	0	14	7	0	21
#12 Panthers	14	21	0	7	42

See also: 2016 Southern Illinois Salukis football team

At South Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
#11 Panthers	14	3	0	8	25
Coyotes	14	7	7	0	28

See also: 2016 South Dakota Coyotes football team

At Youngstown State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#21 Panthers	0	10	0	0	10
#14 Penguins	0	0	0	14	14

See also: 2016 Youngstown State Penguins football team

Missouri State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	7	0	0	7
Panthers	17	17	20	7	61

See also: 2016 Missouri State Bears football team

North Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#4 Bison	7	7	7	3	24
Panthers	0	6	7	7	20

See also: 2016 North Dakota State Bison football team

At Indiana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	13	14	6	6	39
Sycamores	0	3	3	0	6

See also: 2016 Indiana State Sycamores football team

At Western Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	7	6	7	10	30
#19 Leathernecks	0	3	6	14	23

See also: 2016 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

South Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#8 Jackrabbits	14	7	7	17	45
Panthers	14	3	7	0	24

See also: 2016 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
RV = Received votes т = Tied with team above or below ( ) = First-place votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	5	3 (5)	10	14	12	11	21	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV
Coaches	5	3–T	11	14	12	11	21	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV