The best team didn’t win in Saturday afternoon’s Division I-AA first-round playoff game at O’Brien Stadium. However, the team that made the best plays did.

The Panthers saw their season come to an end with a 49-43 loss to Northern Iowa, but the purple Panthers from UNI weren’t the better team. Even after the loss, I’m still convinced Eastern took the field as the better team with better talent. The problem was that they didn’t quite play up to its full potential and Northern Iowa played a nearly flawless game. Coming into the game the hype was UNI and Eastern both entering the first round game as champions of their respective conferences – the Ohio Valley and the Gateway. Because the Gateway is traditionally respected as a stronger conference, many made the argument Northern Iowa was the better team.

They proved they were – at least on Saturday – with the win that advanced them to a second-round matchup at home against Maine, a 14-10 upset winner over McNeese State Saturday night. So what went wrong to send the Panthers packing in the first round of the playoffs for the second straight season? A crucial penalty, turnover and poor special teams play. Heading into Saturday’s game, I was certain the Panthers would win – and win convincingly by at least 10. It’s a good thing I didn’t place any bets on that, because the Panthers’ pathetic special teams play would make it difficult for any team to win – even with one of the nation’s most high-powered offenses.

Eastern started with the ball inside their own 20-yard line six times Saturday afternoon, while UNI’s average field position was their own 45-yard line. The purple Panthers started with the ball in Eastern territory five times. It’s hard to compete when you start off with that big of a disadvantage right off the bat.

And it wasn’t just field position either. The purple Panthers cashed in on the rarest of the rare special team plays when they blocked an Eastern PAT and ran it back 95 yards for a two-point score. But as has been the case on a few occassions this season, Eastern’s offense was able to overcome the disadvantage and keep the rest of the team in the game. While the offense kept the game close, it was only a matter of time before a pair of key plays would do the Panthers in.

Down 39-36, Eastern appeared to have made a defensive stand when UNI quarterback Griff Jurgens ran out of bounds well short of the first down. But senior defensive tackle Gonzalo Segovia hit Jurgens after the play, giving Northern Iowa an automatic first down and 15 yards on the personal foul penalty. UNI would go on to score on that posession, take a 46-36 lead and never look back.

“That call was just crucial. That to me, was a turning point. I’m really sorry for that, but that was something that never, ever should have happened,” Spoo said. “The quarterback was out of bounds and there was no excuse for that, and I think it really hurt us. That penalty just kills me because it kills the team. We had them in a punting situation, and who knows what would have happened after that.”

Senior defensive tackle Brad Metzger said Segovia tried to stop on the play, slipped, tripped and ran into the quarterback, forcing the call from the ref. While Segovia has had problems this season curtailing his unnecessary roughness, if Metzger’s words were as real as the tears in his eyes following the loss, than there’s no doubt that’s one of the most unfortunate breaks I’ve ever heard of.

But even after that Eastern had another opportunity to cut into UNI’s lead. Down 49-36 with just five minutes remaining Romo threw an uncharacteristic pass that was picked off in the endzone.

“Turnovers are a huge deal in a game like this, and that one was pretty big,” Romo said. “We actually got the ball back after that and probably would have taken the lead on the next position.”

But pondering the probable is all the Panthers can do for the next 12 months when they expect to have a third shot at pressing past the playoffs’ first round for the first time in 13 years and just the second time in school history.

“Right now it hurts. But now I’m real hungry,” Romo said. “We set one goal to win the OVC and we did that, but we didn’t get our other one – to move past the first-round. But we’ll come back ready to do it next year, that’s for sure.”

And when they do, they might not have to be the best team, but they certainly will have to make the best plays, that’s for sure.