The 2011 Northern Iowa Panthers football team represented the

University of Northern Iowa The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) is a public university in Cedar Falls, Iowa, United States. UNI offers more than 90 majors across five colleges. The fall 2024 total enrollment was 9,283 students. The university was initially founded in 1 ...

in the

2011 NCAA Division I FCS football season The 2011 NCAA Division I FCS football season, part of college football in the United States, was organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division I, Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level. T ...

. The Panthers were coached by

Mark Farley Mark Farley (born April 5, 1963) is a former American football coach. He was the head coach at the University of Northern Iowa, a position he held from 2001 until his retirement in 2024. Farley started at inside linebacker at Northern Iowa from 1 ...

and played their home games at the

UNI-Dome UNI-Dome (pronounced "YOU-nih-dome") is a multi-purpose stadium on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa, United States. It opened in 1976 as the home of the UNI Panthers basketball and football teams. The facility' ...

. They are members of the

Missouri Valley Football Conference The Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC), formerly the Gateway Football Conference, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the National Collegiate A ...

. They finished the season 10–3, 7–1 in MVFC play to share the conference championship with

North Dakota State North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota, United States. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural Colle ...

. They received an at-large bid into the FCS playoffs where they defeated Wofford in the second round before falling to

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

in the quarterfinals.

L. J. Fort Larry Fort Jr. (born January 3, 1990) is an American former professional football linebacker. He played college football at Northern Iowa and was signed by the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent in 2012. Fort was also a member of the D ...

was named MVFC defensive player of the year.

Schedule

Game summaries

Game 1: vs. Iowa State Cyclones

Personnel

Roster

2011 Roster

Coaching staff

Rankings

References

{{Missouri Valley Football Conference champions

Northern Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

Northern Iowa Panthers football seasons Missouri Valley Football Conference champion seasons

Northern Iowa Panthers football The Northern Iowa Panthers football program represents the University of Northern Iowa in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level as member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC). The pro ...