College Football: UNI needs to 'Let it Rip' against No. 2 SDSU

CEDAR FALLS - Let it rip.

That is the message Northern Iowa head football coach Todd Stepsis is giving his team before the Panthers' Missouri Valley Football Conference road game at No. 2 South Dakota State on Saturday.

Asked Monday what kind of message do you deliver to your team when everybody is calling you huge underdogs against the Jackrabbits, Stepsis said UNI (2-3 overall, 0-1 MVFC) has an unbelievable opportunity in front of it.

And UNI is decidedly an underdog against SDSU (5-0, 1-0). One betting site had UNI as a 25 ½ point dog.

Stepsis also said that to a man within his program, they all feel they are close to a breakthrough game before he transitioned into a quote from Lou Brown, the fictional manager of the Cleveland Indians in the movie Major League: ' All we need is something to bring it all together.'

"You know, here's an opportunity where all of a sudden, man, you get a great performance, a great outcome in an underdog scenario," Stepsis said. "That's the thing that can now tip the scales in your favor, and you really get some momentum generated.

"When you're the underdog, can you let it rip, let the chips go and can this opportunity create that one thing that leads us to many great things down the road?"

The challenge is big.

The Jacks are riding a 32-game home win streak and haven't lost at home since the Panthers beat them 26-17 on Oct. 23, 2021, at Dana J. Dkyhouse Stadium.

SDSU is led by first-year starter Chase Mason at quarterback, and Mason has completed nearly 66 percent of his passes for 1,099 yards and nine scores. He has also rushed for 163 yards. Julius Loughridge leads the Jacks' ground attack with 550 yards and six scores. Six different SDSU runners have scored at least once on the ground.

Defensively, the Jacks are allowing just 273 total yards per game, and just more than 100 yards rushing a game.

The Panther wide receiver group has been depleted by injuries, losing Tay Norman, Ben Gordon and Grant Larkin to season-ending injuries. Top receiver Jaiden Ellis-Lahey has yet to make the field as he works back from a knee injury.

Additionally, UNI's top receiving tight end, Brady McCullough, who began his career as a wide receiver, has yet to play.

That means a lot of new faces and those who have experience are getting heavy usage, which leads to some fatigue. That group as a whole has struggled recently to create separation consistently and slowed an offensive unit that showed early in the season explosiveness.

Stepsis said while the cavalry isn't near, it's getting closer in the form of Ellis-Lahey and McCullough.

"We are hoping to get those guys back here soon," Stepsis said. "You know, we are still waiting to see how they look this week, follow return to play protocols, and just making sure we are being smart with those injuries."

Stepsis said JC Roque Jr., Ayden Price and Tysen Kershaw give the Panthers a great starting group, and Graham Friedrichsen has stepped up and true freshman Quincy Morris is making good strides in practice, but more help for that group will be welcomed.

"We have some more guys that are left in the tank, and it's just a matter of making sure that we're getting them into positions where they're comfortable and can be successful," Stepsis said.

Late in UNI's loss to UND, the Panthers gave some fourth-quarter snaps to redshirt freshman running back Kaden Amigon-Suiter. He impressed, showing great burst and speed while rushing for 36 yards on six carries with a long of 14.

UNI likes its one-two punch of Harrison Bey-Buie and Bill Jackson, but Stepsis had been looking for another back to lighten the load of Bey-Buie and Jackson.

The Panthers also liked true freshman Christian Collins's performance in back-to-back games against Wyoming and Eastern Washington (11 carries for 50 yards), but Stepsis said Monday they'd like to save Collins’ redshirt. A player can play up to four games before losing his redshirt.

Amigon-Suiter, the 6-foot, 197-pound Columbus Junction native, was coming off an injury, saw some action at Utah Tech and then flashed against the Fighting Hawks.

"To have Kaden come back from injury and run like he did, he's got good burst, runs downhill and runs hard, and that's what you want in that third back," Stepsis said. "Of the three, he probably has the best long speed of the group."