GATEWAY CONFERENCE FOOTBALL Northern Iowa thumps Southwest Missouri 27-3

Western Illinois scored late to beat Southern Utah.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Adam Benge scored two touchdowns and rushed for 132 yards Saturday to lead Northern Iowa to a 27-3 win over Southwest Missouri State.
Benge scored the first and last touchdowns of the game to keep the Panthers (4-1, 2-0) atop the Gateway conference and hand the Bears (2-3, 0-2) their first home loss of the season.
Richard Carter added 136 yards to the Panthers' 299 total rushing yardage. Northern Iowa is ranked 18th in the I-AA national poll.
W. Illinois 27, S. Utah 20: MACOMB, Ill. -- Sam Clemons threw a 57-yard touchdown pass to Frisman Jackson with 2:45 remaining to give Western Illinois the win.
Clemons' 5-yard TD run put Western ahead 20-13 early in the fourth period, but Southern tied it a minute later on Dustin Randolph's 1-yard run that capped a three-play 69-yard drive.
Clemons finished with three TD passes for Western (3-1), which was ranked 14th in the Div. I-AA poll.
Clemons completed 22-of-33 passes for 395 yards and also had TD passes of four yards to Rob Johnson and 34 yards to Carlos Daniels. Jackson caught 10 passes for 266 yards.
S. Illinois 23, Illinois St. 17: CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Tom Koutsos ran 28 times for 135 yards and a touchdown as Southern Illinois held off an Illinois State.
The victory was the first for new coach Jerry Kill, whose Salukis (1-3, 1-1 Gateway) built a 20-0 lead early in the third quarter when Jason Newell blocked a Redbirds' punt and returned it 5 yards for a touchdown.
Illinois State (0-5, 0-1) recovered two late fumbles to get back in the game, and Dusty Burk's 3-yard run made it 23-17 with three minutes remaining.
W. Kentucky 24, Elon 7: BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- DeWayne Gallishaw rushed 23 times for a career-best 168 yards and scored one touchdown to lead Western Kentucky.
Joseph Jefferson had four punt returns for 77 yards and one kickoff return for 47 yards for Western (3-2), and he blocked one field goal attempt.
Western amassed 283 yards rushing to 66 for Elon (1-4).