Senior defensive tackle Xavier Williams and junior placekicker Michael Schmadeke earned Missouri Valley Football Conference Player of the Week honors after UNI's 23-3 win over No. 1 North Dakota State, it was announced today.

Williams dominated the trenches in leading UNI to victory, finishing with seven tackles, a quarterback sack and 1.5 tackles-for-loss. This is Williams' first player of the week selection this season.

He helped the Panther defense limit NDSU to only 43 rushing yards. The Bison came into the game ranked No. 10 in the country averaging 244.4 yards per game. He also helped slow down NDSU's top running back John Crockett as the Panthers allowed Crockett to gain only 41 yards on Saturday.

Schmadeke finished with 11 of UNI's 23 points against the Bison after he knocked in three field goals and two PATs. He leads the team in points with 103 off 23 field goals and 34 PATs, also leading all kickers in the FCS in scoring.

The Waterloo, Iowa native sent in a 43-yarder in the second quarter to give the Panthers a 10-point advantage, followed by two in the fourth quarter to add to the UNI lead. He also covered kickoff duties, averaging a staggering 62.7 yards per kick with two touchbacks for a total of 376 yards.

UNI will return to action on Saturday, Nov. 15 when they travel to Carbonale, Ill. to take on Southern Illinois. The game is set to kick off at 2 p.m.

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