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On the Prowl: Expectations
There’s something about the start of August that makes college football fans feel different. More and more airtime starts to be devoted to college football, and prognosticators blather on about the expectations of certain teams for the upcoming season. Who should expect what? Well, that’s what those savior-like analysts are there to help you out with. Who could expect any less?
Luckily for the fans of the University of Northern Iowa Panthers, they don’t need a Kirk Herbstreit or a Lee Corso telling them what to expect from their team in 2007. They already know. It seems to be Chattanooga or bust once again.
First there’s an expectation of class out of the football team, which the Cats have fulfilled. “Obviously there are huge expectations on the field for this team,” said Athletic Director Rick Hartzell, “The expectations off the field are exactly the same and they’ve delivered in those regards.” The team accumulated close to a 2.85 GPA last semester. “They keep our football program on the sports page instead of the front page,” said Hartzell.
Head Coach Mark Farley echoed the same sentiment. “As we go into this next season, our expectations have never changed from the first season we came back in 2001. Our expectations will always be the same here… as they should be.”
A lot of the optimism comes from the fact that UNI returns nine starters on offense and seven starters on defense, but there’s even more to it than that. “We’ve got fourteen seniors that will be playing key roles for us this season. Those fourteen… have a lot of experience and have an opportunity to lead and display what they’ve done in the past two and three years. They’re not just one-year starters, they’ve been here for a while,” said Farley.
Even junior wide receiver Johnny Gray has been seeing significant minutes since his freshman year. Senior Eric Sanders will have plenty of veteran role players to keep the offense moving, including a highly-touted offensive line that will continue to be a huge asset for the Panthers in 2007. Offensive Coordinator Bill Salmon will continue to expect big things from his offense, which was in the top ten most of last year in total offense.
“They understand playing in the big game, whether it’s the first game or the last game,” said Farley. That’s reassuring, since UNI will have plenty of big games in the 2007 season, including a Gateway slate that is arguably one of the most vicious in history, along with non-conference games against future Gateway competitor South Dakota State and in-state rivals Drake and Iowa State.
All in all, this should be an exciting and memorable season for the Panthers. Hopefully we’ll all be toasting the Purple Cats down in Chattanooga once again. One has to believe that if the Cats get back, they won’t fail this time.
There’s something about the start of August that makes college football fans feel different. More and more airtime starts to be devoted to college football, and prognosticators blather on about the expectations of certain teams for the upcoming season. Who should expect what? Well, that’s what those savior-like analysts are there to help you out with. Who could expect any less?
Luckily for the fans of the University of Northern Iowa Panthers, they don’t need a Kirk Herbstreit or a Lee Corso telling them what to expect from their team in 2007. They already know. It seems to be Chattanooga or bust once again.
First there’s an expectation of class out of the football team, which the Cats have fulfilled. “Obviously there are huge expectations on the field for this team,” said Athletic Director Rick Hartzell, “The expectations off the field are exactly the same and they’ve delivered in those regards.” The team accumulated close to a 2.85 GPA last semester. “They keep our football program on the sports page instead of the front page,” said Hartzell.
Head Coach Mark Farley echoed the same sentiment. “As we go into this next season, our expectations have never changed from the first season we came back in 2001. Our expectations will always be the same here… as they should be.”
A lot of the optimism comes from the fact that UNI returns nine starters on offense and seven starters on defense, but there’s even more to it than that. “We’ve got fourteen seniors that will be playing key roles for us this season. Those fourteen… have a lot of experience and have an opportunity to lead and display what they’ve done in the past two and three years. They’re not just one-year starters, they’ve been here for a while,” said Farley.
Even junior wide receiver Johnny Gray has been seeing significant minutes since his freshman year. Senior Eric Sanders will have plenty of veteran role players to keep the offense moving, including a highly-touted offensive line that will continue to be a huge asset for the Panthers in 2007. Offensive Coordinator Bill Salmon will continue to expect big things from his offense, which was in the top ten most of last year in total offense.
“They understand playing in the big game, whether it’s the first game or the last game,” said Farley. That’s reassuring, since UNI will have plenty of big games in the 2007 season, including a Gateway slate that is arguably one of the most vicious in history, along with non-conference games against future Gateway competitor South Dakota State and in-state rivals Drake and Iowa State.
All in all, this should be an exciting and memorable season for the Panthers. Hopefully we’ll all be toasting the Purple Cats down in Chattanooga once again. One has to believe that if the Cats get back, they won’t fail this time.
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