They came to earn a victory.
They nearly came away with both on Saturday.
The FCS No. 21 Panthers threw a major scare into No. 7 Iowa State before the Cyclones escaped with a 16-10 season-opening win.
UNI led for much of the first half and were within three points for most of the second half before falling short before a sellout crowd of 61,500 fans.
“I’m disappointed we lost,” UNI coach Mark Farley said. “We came here to win a football game. We were in position to do so. We didn’t finish two drives at the end and didn’t get where we wanted to be.