With National Signing Day officially over, it’s time for all of the Nebraska football program’s focus to be on prepping for the 2024 season. And the Huskers aren’t the only ones who are excited about year two under Matt Rhule.
It turns out that Northern Iowa head coach Mark Farley has quite a bit of respect for the Cornhuskers that goes all the way back to his playing days. He showed that admiration on Thursday morning during his winter press conference when he offered up a bit of a sneak peak at the 2024 season.
Mixed in with comments about his team’s schedule were glowing remarks about the Nebraska football team. At the forefront was his firm belief that Rhule’s second season in Lincoln is going to be quite a bit better than his first.
“Man, we got to go to Nebraska,” Farley started. “Everybody reads about them, they’re on fire right now. They’re going to be going to their second year and they’ll take a quantum leap in their second year.”
Northern Iowa HC Mark Farley offered high praise for UNI’s wk 3 opponent Nebraska.
— Ethan Petrik (@ethan_petrik) February 8, 2024
“They are on fire right now. They are going to be going into their second year and they will take a quantum leap in their second year.”
He also praised Memorial Stadium.#EverLoyal | #GoBigRed pic.twitter.com/vQ9ugtYAY6
The Northern Iowa head coach went on to talk about the Huskers landing “the number one recruit in the country” in Dylan Raiola. He then talked about the hype going into their first couple of home games of the regular season.
That led him to heap praise on the Nebraska football team’s home in Memorial Stadium.
“All I know is that I’ve played there once and it’s probably one of the top two venues I’ve ever played in as far as walking in the door.”
Nebraska football will take 'quantum leap' in 2024, says opposing coach
Farley is a bit of a legend in Waukon, Iowa, considering that he’s spent most of his life around the Northern Iowa program.
He starred as a linebacker there from 1983 to 1985 before serving as a GA and linebackers coach from 1986 to 1996. He left the Panthers program for three years to coach the linebackers from 1997 to 2000 under Terry Allen.
He then returned to Northern Iowa as the head coach in 2001 and has been there ever since. Farley has posted a 179-101 record and won the Missouri Valley Conference seven times.
Now he’ll lead his Panthers against the Nebraska football team for the first time in the two programs’ histories.