After coming up short while blocking, tackling, rushing and passing last week in a one-sided loss to Division II Sioux Falls, the focus for the University of St. Thomas football team on Saturday at O’Shaughnessy Stadium will be rebounding.

And, after falling flat in the season opener in what was considered one of the more winnable games on the schedule, the Tommies will have to turn things around against its toughest opponent of the season in the Northern Iowa Panthers.

“Certainly, if you ever believed the biggest growth is between 1 and 2 — Week 1, Week 2, Year 1, Year 2 — we need to look in that direction now,” Tommies head coach Glenn Caruso said. “Week 1, there were many, many facets where … it’s not it.

“We played the worst opening game I’ve seen us play in nearly two decades.”

The biggest disappointment for Caruso was the offense’s inability to run the football. The Tommies rushed for 22 yards on 16 attempts. Caruso said the ineffectiveness was the result of physical as well as mental mistakes.

“It was five-yard penalties that put you in third and long instead of third and medium,” he said. “It was lack of consistent first-down productivity. And some of it was (having) new guys in new roles. But we had enough guys — three returning starters — where it shouldn’t have been that much of an issue. But it was.”

Caruso considers the offensive line to be the strength of the team, so the performance was “a shock.”

“We’ve had games in that past where if we hadn’t started well we were able to find a way to get that run game going,” he said.

Caruso said there will be a number of changes to the starting lineup this week. One of them could be at quarterback, where Tak Tateoka started but was replaced at halftime by Michael Rostberg. The quarterback play will have to improve if the Tommies are to pull off the upset.

“When we’re at our best, we are balanced, and the pass game and run game are in unison,” Caruso said. “That’s the goal for this week. It’s a tall task against a really good football team.”

The Tommies’ confidence surely took a hit in the deflating loss. They won’t have a shot against the Panthers if they don’t get it back where it needs to be.

“It’s belief in being able to do those things routinely that we need to be good at,” Caruso said. “Although that was demonstrated fairly well throughout camp, it certainly was no demonstrated well last Thursday night.”

Prior to the season, the thought was that the Tommies would roll to a season-opening win before setting their sights on being more competitive against the Panthers than they were the first time the two teams met, a 44-3 Northern Iowa victory in 2021. The second part of the equation is still possible despite the opening loss.

“One of the benefits of (playing) this team that I really appreciate is that we’re playing them three years apart,” Caruso said. “Three years ago it was the best team that the University of St. Thomas had played to that point, ands they handled us very, very well.

“Now we get to see if there has been the growth that you expect there to be, and what that looks like.”

Northern Iowa opened its season with a 35-7 win over Valparaiso.

“All their guys can run really well, it doesn’t matter if they’re a 6-foot-2, 220-pound corner, a 6-3 wide receiver or a 6-6 defensive lineman, they can run,” Caruso said. “They’re supremely talented.”

Running back and offensive line are the Panthers’ strength on offense, Caruso said, and on defense he believes their linebacking group could be the best the Tommies have ever faced. Caruso is counting on his players being of sound body — and sound mind.

“Mentally, we have a pretty tough team, and that’s because of the culture over many, many years,” he said. “We’re fortunate to be able to withstand shortcomings and still have belief that if you do the right thing long enough, the right things happen.

“I’m proud of our guys; I think they’re focused. I think the fact that we have a great opponent coming in here is a good thing for us to see.”

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