Transcript
Home of the Panthers Pre-Game · Sat Nov 19, 2022
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Welcome to the Home of the Panthers podcast produced by News Talk 1540 KXCL and presented by I'm On Communications.
Experience the I'm On difference.
I'm Tim Harwood.
Stay tuned to this week's conversation with UNI Panther Spencer Covalier right after this.
I'm on communications.
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The UNI Panther football team plays their regular season finale this afternoon against the coyotes of the University of South Dakota.
The Panthers in Vermillion for the final game of the regular season.
I've said that a couple of times because UNI hoping that this is not the final game.
It'll take a win today and maybe a few other things to fall in place.
We're going to talk about today's game, about the last game the Panthers played, and about this season.
in general with UNI Panther senior linebacker Spencer Covalier Spencer.
It feels like it's been a long time.
We've been doing this weekly until the very late by week, but glad to have you back.
Yeah, it's good to be back, Tim.
And let's talk first about the game against the Jackrabbits, the other team from the state of South Dakota.
UNI came so close to pulling off the upset at home a couple of weeks ago.
3128 came down to a field goal in the last seconds.
Give us your general thoughts.
I thought we fought really hard that game.
A couple things didn't go our way, and a couple things probably didn't go South Dakota State's way.
I thought we went out there with a really good attitude and a good demeanor, and I thought we executed our game playing well.
I think offense and defense played about as tough as we could.
I think we're the biggest shift during the game was special teams, and we always talk about you have to win three phases of the game, offense, defense, and special teams to win games.
You know, when you play a team like South Dakota State, you know, number one in the nation, you have to be firing on all cylinders.
And if you only do two out of the three well, you end up in the wrong win-loss column.
So it came down to that field goal at the end.
Take us through the sequence that led up to that where the game was tied, you know, the...
hope then is either to get a turnover and maybe have a chance to go the other way or at least get to overtime.
What was that last drive like from your perspective?
Yeah, it was really just emptying the gas tank.
You know, that's kind of the attitude on defense that we had is everybody kind of looking around saying, you know, empty the clip, empty the gas tank.
I mean, this is, this is it.
We felt like the season was on the line and like I've talked about in the past, we felt each game since, you know, Illinois State game has been a playoff game for us and treating each game like that, you know, is.
There was no reason not to leave everything out on the field.
And so they took the ball over on our side of the 45 and it was really just time to bow up.
I think they had a short time, maybe a minute and a half left and really just trying to stop their run game, which is probably their strong suit.
And so really just trying to, like I said, bow up and try to get a stop.
What kinds of things were said after the game?
I know that we heard Coach Farley's comments about this is going to take.
several days to get over because you were that close.
The Panthers proved that they could play right there with the best team in the country in FCS football.
He just talked about how proud he was of us, you know, and then I felt the same way.
I was proud of how we fought as a team.
You know, we came in there and really with nothing to lose.
You know, we came in there trying to just do what we do every week, try to win a football game.
Number one team in the country's only came to the dome a couple times.
And so we knew
The opportunity that we had was, you know, once in every six years, you know, not everybody is going to get an opportunity to play against the number one team at home.
But with the opportunity at hand, you know, he was coached by, just kept on saying how proud he was of how he fought and you're exactly right.
You know, it took a couple of days after before I was even really comfortable going back and looking at the film.
You know, that one, that game really stung.
It was probably one of the most memorable football games I've ever been a part of.
We're talking with UNI Panther senior linebacker Spencer Covalier, the Panthers and the Coyotes today, but we're looking back on the Jackrabbit's game.
Now it's been two weeks, believe it or not, since that matchup at the Unidome.
And what has the last two weeks, I suppose now, been like in that bye week, which again was very late, challenging to adjust to being that late.
How did the team use the time?
Yeah, it was, I mean, it was very interesting.
You know, I don't think anybody on the team was necessarily
used to or have had this in the past where the bi-week was, you know, the second to last week of the regular season.
And so making small adjustments from the bi-week, it really wasn't anything over the top.
We had a, you know, a couple more days off than usual.
Had a couple of practices in there, just so that we don't get rusty, just making sure our bodies are moving around, just getting comfortable playing football again and things like that.
But had had plenty of time off to recover and get some guys back healthy.
People probably saw two weeks ago against South Dakota State where missing Christian Boyd.
Our you know detackle the guy who does a lot for this team and he was he got banged up in the Southern Illinois game and wasn't able to Play against SDSC, which was too bad But you know with the extra week off letting guys recover and get healthy is Our you know is going into a bi-week your hope is to you know All the guys who are able to get back in that amount of time to come in to that that following game full force
Let me ask you about what you were doing last Saturday.
Were you plugged in watching a game, whether it was an MVFC game or whether it was some other game?
Were you kind of following scores?
Were you completely just thinking about different things since it was a bye week?
But again, since it's so late in the season, it's a much different bye week because these games right now
are all in the MVFC, if that's what you were watching.
If you're just watching the scores, they all have some level of significance.
They really do.
I woke up Saturday morning and got a little workout in, and then I came back home, and I don't know if I left my couch for the next six hours.
I really sat there and watched a lot of college football.
Missouri Valley teams in particular.
I watched South Dakota play North Dakota.
I watched SDSU play Illinois State.
I watched the Southern Illinois game against North Dakota State.
We'd foot between all of those.
with the playoffs, you know, playoffs hope we need some teams to lose and some teams lost that we felt that we needed to.
But ultimately, it's going to be in our own hands.
We just got to go into the game today and show the committee what the Panthers can do.
We're talking with UNI Panther senior linebacker Spencer Kuvaleer the Panthers and the coyotes of South Dakota coming up and UNI right now with a five and five record.
I don't want to necessarily get into all the specifics of if this happens or if that happens or what.
UNI needs to do I think that there's general agreement that for the UNI Panthers to have a chance at the playoffs They need to win this game against South Dakota, but let's talk about the body of work up till now that five and five record Take away the Air Force game with the challenges presented by Air Force uniquely and being a FBS team and and all that Really, how do you assess the season?
you know, I've been I've been thinking about that a lot lately and
And you know, I would never take it for granted.
You know, I think everything happens in the way it's supposed to at the end of the day.
However, looking back at the season, playing Air Force Week 1 was a little bit of a challenge because we spent two weeks prepping a defense for Air Force to play against the, you know, Wishbone triple option team.
You know, you install a defense that you then don't use again the rest of the season.
And so you spend two weeks prepping this defense where...
You're losing those two weeks of prepping the defense you're going to run the rest of the season, if that makes sense.
And so to go two weeks of prep, play Air Force, and then turn around and play a conference game, and then have three days to kind of reinstall what we had learned the first couple of weeks at camp, I think was difficult.
And not necessarily that we didn't know our assignments necessarily, but it does take time to really feel comfortable in the certain defense that you're playing.
you know, with us going from Air Force and turn around and play a conference game right after that.
And then in turn, play Sacramento State, the number two team in the country as of right now.
I don't think they've lost the game yet this season.
It was a difficult transition.
And so we got off to that rocky start of 0-3.
It takes time.
It takes time to get comfortable to what you do defensively and offensively.
You know, that continuity you have with your teammates, it takes time to...
Play together as as a team, you know learning how to how other guys play where they're going to be in certain defensive calls and really just gonna feel for the game again
Let me just come back to the Air Force game one last time Even though you couldn't use the scheme later Are there some things that came from playing that opponent when you look at the next nine games after that that you feel like did help?
Whatever they might have been
Well anytime you can go play football game you learn a lot about yourself and they always say from week one to week two is where teams make the biggest improvements and you know we went to Air Force and quite frankly we got we got throttled you know and I think that was my first time here at UNI where we really got whooped up on and I think that was a little bit of an eye-opener you know going into the season I think we're very confident defensively specifically based off of last year's results and how well we've played the past few seasons and
you know, going into Air Force and giving up 48 points to a team that we felt like we had a chance to beat was, like I said, it was an eye-opening experience.
We're talking with UNI Panther senior linebacker Spencer Kuvalier.
Let's talk about signature wins.
If there was one game that you wanted everybody on the FCS committee to have seen and been paying close attention to and have stuck with them, what game is it?
I would say there's two games.
Personally, I feel like one of the best games we've played as a team was against Missouri State.
They're a playoff team last year, if I'm not mistaken.
You know, they're a talented team.
They have talent all over the place.
They have lots of Division I FBS transfers at a lot of different skill positions.
And the way I thought we'd handily control that game and won that game, in my opinion, was very motivating, I guess, for the Panthers.
And then the other game I'd tell them to look at would be the Southern Illinois game.
It was a battle throughout the entire game.
Our offense in the first half was unbelievable.
It was a battle to the end.
Not only would they learn a lot about us throughout that game, but I think they'd thoroughly enjoy watching the Southern Illinois UNI game.
So regardless of what happens today, regardless of what might happen in the weeks that follow as the playoffs get going, tell me about...
Spencer Kuvalier's last season as a UNI Panther and how you feel like this year has been what you might have hoped, maybe what you might not have hoped from your personal perspective, having a chance to get one more season of college football.
Yeah, it was it was really a blessing.
You know, I wasn't supposed to be playing this season.
You know, with COVID happening, everyone got granted another year of eligibility.
And just to think that I wasn't supposed to be able to play these 11 games that we were fortunate enough to play this year.
You know, it's just very thankful.
And obviously the season being five and five right now isn't what we had foresaw us doing.
We didn't expect this.
However, it is what it is.
You know, life is a lot more than just football.
There's a lot of different takeaways you can take through a season like this, you know, where you think everything should be good and things kind of turn out in a little bit of a sour way.
And so I think there's a lot of different takeaways.
from this season that'll last much longer than the football season, but maybe throughout a lifetime of some of the guys on the team.
Well, the South Dakota coyotes are awaiting.
They've not had the season that they were hoping for.
We're talking with UNI Panther, Linebacker, Spencer, Cuvillier.
They have had some success at home.
How do you go to Vermillion and pick up a victory when it really is essential at this point?
Yeah, just knowing that everything's on the line.
You know, it's not gonna... You don't want to leave anything out there.
You want to go out there and...
have everybody play the best football they've played all year.
You know, we've got 10 games under our belt and each time we step on the field, we try to make it our best game of the season.
And so going under every million, you know, it might be a difficult place to play.
It'll be their last game of the season and they know that.
So I'm sure they're going to come out firing and you know, want to get that last one of the season for them too.
So we're going in there expecting a battle and we're excited for it.
And with the way the weather has turned, not necessarily a bad thing to be going to a different dome.
How do the two buildings compare from your perspective?
So, oddly enough, I've actually never been to South Dakota, Vermillion in particular.
We're supposed to go there during the COVID season, but that game got canceled due to COVID.
They had a couple of outbreak cases on their team, and so that game got canceled.
I had forgotten that.
Yeah, so we've played South Dakota at home.
My career is twice now, and so this will be my first time traveling there.
But from the way it looks on film, it kind of looks like they have similar turf to what the dome has.
It looks like it'll be, you know, it'll be home away from home in a way.
You know, we're in a dome, we're on similar turf, just a different color background really.
What has made the difference in the past when the coyotes have come to UNI, thinking about last season, what was the tipping point?
So yeah, they came into the dome last year and actually beat us.
We know at watching the film afterwards,
what happened and kind of how to adjust to that.
And we put in a game plan this week and hoping to execute it a lot better this Saturday than, you know, years past or last year in particular.
We're talking with you and I panther senior linebacker Spencer Kuvaliere.
It's the only game that's still assured for you at this point.
Is there something that you want to say to the team in the locker room or on the field before kickoff?
Is there something that you want to make sure that you do today?
I would say that everybody kind of knows.
I don't think there's anything that would be said that's going to change the way somebody plays.
I think everybody understands what's on the line.
Everybody has an understanding of kind of what's going on.
But it would be the same thing I would tell them in the other game of the year.
And it's just take advantage of every opportunity that you have.
Because you don't really know when your last one's going to come.
And I know this is the last guaranteed game.
And so the last one of the regular season.
You know, I expect guys to put a lot of heart and a lot of emotion.
Well, you don't have to say this.
I'll say it.
It's the power of positive thinking, right?
So after the Panthers win today, what happens next?
What's the process for you and I the rest of the weekend waiting to find out what's going to happen?
Take us through the timeline that you'd anticipate.
Yeah, go come back home after the win in Vermillion.
Take it easy Saturday night and then wake up Sunday morning and watch selection Sunday You know, I think they have they make all the playoff brackets and things that that that next day So I'm sure myself and all our roommates will be huddled in front of the TV kind of waiting to see what happens And you know at that point it's going to be out of our control.
It's up in the air It's in the it's in the eyes of the committee and so we just got to kind of sit there and Except and you know our fate is going to be in their hands
That's you and I, Panther senior linebacker Spencer Covalier.
Game time coming up, Spencer.
Before you go, thank you for bringing us your insights, your perspective from the sidelines, from the field, all throughout this season.
It's been really a lot of fun to get to know Panther football through your eyes.
Absolutely.
I appreciate the opportunity, Tim.
Thank you very much.
Thanks for listening to the Home of the Panthers podcast with UNI Panther Spencer Covalier presented by Imon Communications.
Experience the Imon difference.
Join us again before next week's UNI football game for the Home of the Panthers podcast and listen to the game live on the Home of the Panthers News Talk 1540 KXEL.
I'm
Tim Harwood.
Insulate your home and save big money with Knauf fiberglass insulation at Menards.
From cut to length rolls to pre-cut bats and blown-in insulation, Menards has everything you need to add comfort and energy savings to your home.
Saving money on our great selection of Knauf fiberglass insulation.
Plus, check out our weekly flyer on menards.com for all the great deals happening now.
Welcome to the Home of the Panthers podcast produced by News Talk 1540 KXCL and presented by Imon Communications.
Experience the Imon difference.
The UNI Panther men's basketball team has had an unexpectedly long stretch without any games.
We're going to talk with Bowen Bourne as the Panthers get ready to take the court this morning for the first of a couple of games as part of a tournament in Kansas City.
We're talking with Bowen the UNI.
Panthers sophomore ahead of each Panther Men's Basketball broadcast here on News Talk 1540 KXCL.
Bowen thanks for being back with us.
Appreciate you having me on.
Well the reason for the long layoff since you and I took on Richmond back on November the 11th was the unfortunate circumstances of the shooting on the campus at the University of Virginia.
The Panthers had been scheduled to play the Cavaliers last Monday.
That game was canceled because of the Sunday night shooting on campus.
I'm sure it's a story.
I'm sure you've told it many times to friends, to other people at UNI, relatives, all kinds of folks probably have asked you about this, but for our listeners, tell us what the experience was like, what you remember about it.
Yeah, it was a super crazy experience.
played yeah, obviously played at Richmond on a Friday and Stay the night in Richmond and then traveled to Charlottesville to play Virginia on Monday so
We were there Saturday morning and then all through Sunday, so prepared just like we would for any other game.
Woke up on Monday morning and the shooting had obviously happened on Sunday night.
And so woke up Monday morning to coach Jake knocking on everybody's doors saying, hey, there's been a shooting.
We're currently on lockdown inside the hotel.
All the doors are locked.
You guys need to stay in your rooms.
And so at the time,
They had not found the guy yet.
They didn't end up finding him until about 11 or 1130, I think.
And so, yeah, we were basically kind of in our hotel rooms kind of up until that point.
I think we maybe had went down and had breakfast.
There was a point in there where they had, you know, they had basically searched the entire campus.
And so,
from what we understood the police department had basically made sure or felt confident enough that he was not on campus anymore and so I don't know what time exactly that would have been but kind of yeah was just like not super scary because we were about a mile from where it had happened but you know for us it was still yeah like more
man like because at the time in the morning we didn't necessarily know who had who was involved you know what had necessarily happened if it was a if it was a random shooting or if it was a conflict you know type thing and so because nobody really knew any of that information we obviously took took the event pretty serious and obviously it's super upsetting and super sad um and especially being close to it uh it just yeah it was a little
more eye-opening and a little more, you know, we took it a little bit more serious and so being so close to it, it was definitely, I feel like, hitting me a little bit harder, being right there, traveling on a bus, you know, like, you know, some of the things that had happened and then ultimately finding out that it was a couple of football players involved and the shooter was a former football player and so it was, yeah.
Not necessarily super crazy, but I feel like it was definitely a scary experience.
Not that we feared that he was going to be anywhere around us, but more just for their community and everything that now follows the death of three football players.
It's definitely something that I feel like they did the right thing in canceling the game and just allowing that community and those students to heal.
We're talking with UNI Panther men's basketball sophomore Bowen Bourne.
The Panthers did not get to play their game last Monday because of the shooting at the University of Virginia on their campus.
Coach Jacobson comes and knocks on everybody's door, delivers the news.
At what point did you think we're not going to play this game?
Or was it all the way up until that became the official situation and the game was canceled?
Yeah, for me, I didn't really think about the game directly until probably
You know, I kind of had a little bit of time to kind of sit down and then I kind of gather the information.
But because they hadn't found the guy and that he could be anywhere, that was kind of my thought was like, if they don't find him, there's no way we're going to play.
So if they found him, you know, then I thought, you know, there might be a, you know, a possibility.
But then obviously, the more information we learned that it was students involved that, you know, that it was an on-campus shooting that, you know, so like the more information that we got
the more I was like, yeah, there's no way we're going to get to play tonight.
And I think that's the right call.
It was a horrible thing.
And so I think a lot of the guys wouldn't have wanted to play with it, not only for us, but just for them, the basketball team.
We were looking at it as if it was us, how would that impact us?
Obviously not knowing any of the football players that were involved, but knowing that a lot of the guys in the basketball team are close with them and have talked with them and our friends with them.
Then it became, yeah, like the game was no longer at the front of the priority list.
It was, yeah, their community.
So you're expecting to play a Monday game.
You don't play a Monday game.
How has that affected the last week or so and what would have been the normal routine around Panther Men's basketball once you got back to Cedar Falls?
Yeah, it didn't affect it too much.
You know, the biggest thing was that we were just in the hotel, you know, for a long time.
We were there, yeah, Saturday.
Well, basically starting from Richmond, we had been a hotel for, you know, almost five days now.
And so it gets to be a little, a little.
longer just because you're yeah sitting in the hotel room and and then especially Monday being cooped up in your room for most of the day and and so we kind of hung out you know as a group a little bit but yeah the
The trip just got, yeah, a little bit long, just because, yeah, when you go from expecting Monday to have, you know, a game and to be preparing and yet shoot around and all this stuff, to then you have nothing, the day gets to be a little long, especially when you've been there, you know, for a couple days already.
But once we traveled back, now we're just, yeah, back to kind of our normal schedule.
We're talking with UNI Panthers, sophomore Bowen Bourne, the Panthers, finally back on the court this morning against San Francisco,
at the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City.
And what do you know about San Francisco other than, of course, it's a program with really deep roots and that at times in the past has created some really legends of the game.
What do you know about the current San Francisco team?
Yeah, I mean, they got a good squad.
Last year, I think they finished, you know, top.
top 30 in the net so they have a really good team they've obviously lost some guys but I got some solid guards and some solid bigs and so we kind of took the approach of you know like we were obviously looking forward to playing Virginia but these guys are not too far of a step down you know from them and so
Yeah, definitely going to be a really good game.
And it's just fun to now get involved in some of these tournaments where you're getting to play some different opponents.
And like we've talked about before, our non-conference schedule is really good.
And these guys are one of the better teams of our non-conference schedule.
What do you think of the early start, the relatively early start on a Monday?
It's certainly early to be playing before noon.
Yeah, it's a little weird.
It's always an adjustment when you're not.
playing at the typical time, but I like to always look at it like they have the same schedule that we do.
So it's all about just the preparation and they have to deal with the same stuff we do.
So it's going to be a little bit of an adjustment starting at 11, but we'll be ready to go.
Kansas City not that far away.
I've got to imagine that it's a place that you might have been for a you basketball for other kinds of events any any fun memories of Kansas City
Yeah, I mean I've played there, you know a couple times with with the barnstormers and
went in AAU stuff and actually had a tournament down there.
I don't remember what year it would have been in my junior year maybe, that we went 7 and 0 and won a tournament down there.
And so I remember that.
And that was obviously with some of my teammates, you know, Titan.
And so yeah, I definitely have some kind of just some fun memories.
So it's good to be back down here and playing another tournament.
Well, we'll certainly hope that that kind of success follows if you've got that
sort of
record already
built
up in Kansas City.
We'll certainly hope that that carries through today against the University of San Francisco and then tomorrow against, we'll find out, either Grand Canyon or Wichita State.
Bowen, thanks for being back with us.
Glad that the UNI Panthers got back from Virginia safely.
Really, we're on the periphery of the tragic events that happened there and that now
the opportunity has returned to get back onto the court and to think about basketball top of mind.
Yeah, for sure.
Thank you very much.
Thanks for listening to the Home of the Panthers podcast presented by I'm On Communications.
Experience the I'm On difference.
I'm Tim Harwood.
