The Hawkeyes and Panthers get set to renew their in-state battle for the first time in eight years.
After an emotional 16-13 triumph over archrival Iowa State last weekend, Iowa football turns the page towards another in-state foe - Northern Iowa.
Though UNI is located just 90 minutes north of Iowa City, this will be the first meeting between the two programs in nearly a decade.
We'll have your full preview of this matchup in the coming days, but while you wait for that, here are five fast facts about the Panthers:
An in-state battle renewed
Iowa and Northern Iowa have been battling it out on the gridiron since 1898, but the modern series began in 1995. The Hawkeyes won that game 34-13, and though they've won all seven meetings in the modern era, the Panthers have notoriously been a thorn in Iowa's side.
Just look at the 2009, 2012, and 2014 matchups. Iowa needed to block two field goals to beat Northern Iowa in 2009, and the latter two contests saw the Panthers play four quarter games in Iowa City. The modern series has always seen this matchup appear every 1-5 years on the schedule, but the current eight-year break between games is the longest of the modern era.
What happened in the last meeting?
After that wild three-year span, things were back to reality in 2018. The Hawkeyes raced out to a 38-0 lead and never looked back. Northern Iowa scored two cosmetic touchdowns to make it a 38-14 final, but that certainly didn't take away an outstanding outing from quarterback Nate Stanley. The junior tossed 309 passing yards and tallied two touchdowns.
UNI is a completely different program now
The proud Panther program was slowly beginning to crumble when these two teams last met, but UNI is in the middle of a complete rebuild now. Longtime coach Mark Farley won no more than six games over his final four seasons and retired after a 3-9 season in 2024.
Drake head coach Todd Stepsis was tabbed as Farley's replacement, and though he led the non-scholarship Bulldogs to consecutive FCS Playoff appearances, it's going to take time to see similar results in Cedar Falls. UNI matched its 3-9 record in 2025 - the first time its had back-to-back losing campaigns since 1971-72.
While South Dakota State gets the bulk of the attention in the FCS, it's worth mentioning that the Panthers have the third-most FCS Playoff appearances of all-time, so this is a program with high expectations of returning to contention.
Jaxon Dailey provides experience at quarterback
There's certainly a lot of moving pieces on this UNI roster right now, but the one constant it has at this point in time is quarterback Jaxon Dailey. Dailey took over as the starter near the end of the 2025 season and the continuity has carried over to the early portion of this year, as he's tallied 529 yards, three touchdowns, and completed 70% of his passes.
UNI-Dome will sell naming rights
While most Iowa fans don't know much about the Panthers on the field, any sports fan in this state has heard of UNI's home venue - the UNI-Dome. Besides hosting Panther home football games, the dome has hosted the IHSAA state football championships for 50 years.
The venue has held the UNI-Dome name ever since its 1976 opening, but it might not be named that for much longer. Northern Iowa has opened a naming rights partnership for the dome, so we'll see what happens on that front.
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HawkeyeRoundtable publisher Brad Schultz has covered the Iowa Hawkeyes since 2023. To send him story ideas, scoops, or criticize his writing, reach him at [email protected]
