CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Whoever said football players aren’t interested in fashion obviously haven’t met some of the University of Maine players.

Defensive back Malik Nichols, for instance.

Alert fans back in Maine who tuned in for Saturday’s NCAA Division I-AA playoff game may have noticed Nichols wasn’t sporting the kind of footwear you’d expect on the gridiron.

Nichols’ choice? A pair of snazzy black patent-leather high-top Nikes.

UMaine equipment manager Steve Jones explained that Nichols got the idea after an early-season game in Hempstead, N.Y.

“To be quite honest, when we played Hofstra [quarterback Rocky] Butler wore those,” Jones said. “So all of a sudden, everybody had to have them.”

Among the Bears who own their own patent-leathers: wideout Paris Minor, offensive lineman Keith Ford and defensive back Lennard Byrd.

Jones said he’s seen shoes like them before … in the movies.

“Remember the movie “Major League?” Willie Mays Hayes? That’s what it reminds me of,” Jones said.

Weather? What weather?

Even though Saturday’s game was played inside the UNI-Dome (or perhaps BECAUSE the game was played indoors), the weather was still a matter of good-natured concern during pregame festivities.

Before the game started, the public address announcer informed the crowd exactly what was going on outside.

“The temperature is 35 degrees, winds are from the northwest at 15 to 22 miles per hour,” he said, pausing before delivering the punchline to rousing applause.

“Inside the Dome, 72 degrees, no wind. Welcome to the dome,” he said.

Noisemakers at the ready

While the NCAA frowns upon artificial noisemakers at playoff games – boosters at last week’s game at McNeese State said they were told to leave their cowbells at home – a tradition at Northern Iowa slipped through the cracks.

Panther fans greet every kickoff or kickoff return by taking their car keys out of their pockets, holding them aloft, and jingling them. The result is an odd, soft tinkling noise a fan would have a hard time placing … if he couldn’t see what the fans were doing.

Apparently the tradition isn’t an isolated thing.

“They do it in every high school gym I’ve been to in Iowa,” said Adam Small, the sports editor of the campus paper, the Northern Iowan.

Eye on the goalposts

While the entire UMaine team eventually headed out onto the UNI-Dome AstroTurf to go through their customary scripted pregame routine, players often make their way from the locker room to the field much earlier to go through some pre-warmups.

Junior quarterback Jake Eaton did just that … and got some unorthodox work in before he headed back in for last-minute meetings.

An hour before game time, Eaton spent 10 minutes playing toss with fellow quarterback Jon Meczywor. Nothing odd about that.

But before they headed back into the locker room, Eaton and the 6-foot-5 Meczywor took turns lobbing alley-oop passes toward the goalposts on the north end of the stadium.

Meczywor easily dunked the ball over the crossbar, while Eaton had a bit more trouble and had to settle for catching Meczywor’s feeds, then throwing line drives over the bar.

Iowa? Where’s that?

With its second-straight four-hour plane trip for the NCAA playoffs, the Black Bears have logged plenty of miles in two weeks.

Before they left, many of the Black Bears admitted they didn’t know what to expect in Iowa.

Linebacker Stephen Cooper had it pretty well figured out, though.

“Probably a lot of farmland, I think,” Cooper said. “Up here [in Maine] we’ve got a lot of trees, so down there, I’m saying probably a lot of farms.”

Lineman Pete Richardson is one of the Bears who had spent time in Iowa, but he didn’t remember much … including what town he visited.

“We went to see some friends of my parents,” he said. “I don’t remember much.”

Luckily, though, the Black Bears didn’t have to rely on jovial senior lineman Zack Magliaro for directions. They may have ended up someplace a long way from Cedar Falls.

“[I haven’t been to Iowa]. Not even close,” Magliaro said with a grin. “But I’ve been to Texas. So that’s not bad. Pretty close.”

For the record, it’s 637 miles from Cedar Falls, Iowa to Texarkana, a town on the northeastern tip of Texas. It is, however, nearly twice as far (1,175 miles) from Cedar Falls to Bangor.