The daunting schedule might’ve hurt Northern Iowa’s chances for an FCS playoff seed, but at the same time the slate has only bolstered the confidence of the Panthers.

A Friday trip to Bridgeforth Stadium to face second-seeded James Madison in the national quarterfinals shouldn’t drastically differ from the challenges Northern Iowa experienced during the regular season.

Massey Ratings ranks the strength of schedule for Northern Iowa as the second toughest in all of FCS.

“They weren’t easy games by any means,” Panthers senior running back Trevor Allen, who rushed for 90 yards and a touchdown against South Dakota State this past Saturday, said. “But I think they helped us grow as a team.”

Northern Iowa (10-4) has already played road games at FBS Iowa State, at Weber State, at North Dakota State, at Illinois State, at South Dakota State in the regular season and again in the second round of the postseason last week. Weber State, North Dakota State and Illinois State are all still alive in the FCS playoffs.

The Panthers are 2-4 in those contests with a victory over Illinois State, having avenged the regular-season loss to South Dakota State with a 13-10 playoff win in Brookings, S.D., last Saturday, and a triple overtime loss to Iowa State.

“It showed us our faults early in the year and it showed us what we were good at,” Allen said. “I think it’s led us to where we are now with being able to battle every game. We come ready to fight, ready to play and do what we got to do to get Ws.”

Nineteenth-year Northern Iowa coach Mark Farley said the schedule provided more tests than just the ones from the opponents that pop up each week.

“We just play who they tell us to play and we line up,” Farley said. “And I don’t know if we’ve weathered it because it takes a lot of people to play that kind of schedule since there’s a lot of intensity in that schedule, and that’s probably why we have the injuries that we do.”

Briley Moore, a first-team All-Missouri Valley Conference tight end in 2018, got hurt in the season opener at Iowa State and hasn’t played since. Wide receiver Isaiah Weston, who leads Northern Iowa with 1,053 receiving and 10 touchdowns, was injured last week against the Jackrabbits.

“What we told our team goes back to when we lost our All-American tight end the first game of the season,” Farley said. “We get to the third or fourth game of the year and there are guys who haven’t even played yet, but you’re telling ‘em the most valuable player on our football team may not have even taken a snap yet.

“And as it’s played out, it’s probably come true for the most part. There’s a lot of guys that were not starters at the beginning of the year, but are making plays for us now, getting us to this point.”

Freshman defensive back Omar Brown earned his starting job prior to the opener, and has been relied on as much as any player for the Panthers this fall. Garnering first-team All-MVC honors, Brown has 74 tackles and six interceptions.

“Before the season Coach Farley was saying how our schedule was tough and how it was one of the best schedules,” Brown said. “But I liked it because I think it prepared us for a lot. It prepares us for what we’re in right now and that’s big because I feel like if we didn’t have that tough of a schedule, we probably wouldn’t have been ready for the teams we’ve played against.”

Brown said he believes it’s one of the reasons why Northern Iowa was able to rally from a 10-0 first-quarter deficit to knock off South Dakota State 13-10 last week.

“And South Dakota State I think prepared for this one coming up,” Brown said. “We’ve been watching JMU and this will be the best team we played against so far. I think, honestly, we’re going to have to play one of our hardest games. We’ll have to go our hardest because this is not going to be easy at all. No game is going to be handed to us, but we have to really communicate because this will be one of our toughest games.”

Allen said what he knows is him and his teammates plan to play with the same effort against the Dukes, who have won 12 straight, as they played with against all the other ranked foes they matched up with earlier this year.

“Not intimated by any means,” Allen said. “It’s football and we’ll play anybody, anywhere, anytime. It doesn’t matter who they are, so we’ll come ready to go and I’m sure JMU will be ready to go. It should be a good game.”