ST. LOUIS — The Northern Iowa football team will kick off its 2021 spring season with a home game against Illinois State on Feb. 20 at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

The game is the first of eight Missouri Valley Football Conference contests on the schedule, which was released Thursday by the league office.

The Panthers’ schedule contains the same eight opponents and locations as it originally did, but the dates have been changed to accommodate for weather and facility issues.

Northern Iowa will play four home games and four road contests against MVFC opponents, and the nine-week schedule includes an off-week on April 3.

UNI’s other home games include Missouri State on March 3 and back-to-back contests on April 10 against North Dakota State and April 17 against South Dakota State.

The Panthers’ road schedule starts on Feb. 26 at South Dakota and includes three consecutive trips to Western Illinois on March 13, Southern Illinois on March 20 and at Youngstown State on March 27.

On Tuesday, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors voted on a 16-team Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs system beginning on April 24 with a national championship game slated for May 14-16. Postseason playoff pairings will be announced on April 18.

Northern Iowa opened the year ranked No. 3 in the FCS by the STATS Perform Preseason Poll.