Northern Iowa may be top seed

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — Eric Sanders threw for 178 yards and two touchdowns, three Northern Iowa players rushed for over 100 yards and top-rated Northern Iowa thumped Indiana State 68-14 on Saturday to capture the Gateway Conference title.

Northern Iowa (10-0, 6-0 Gateway) had 662 yards of total offense, including 404 yards rushing. Darian Williams ran for 115 yards, Derrick Law had 105 and Taylor Brookins added 101 yards rushing for the Panthers, who kept alive their hopes for the top overall seed in the upcoming FCS playoffs.

Northern Iowa scored 35 points in the second quarter against the winless Sycamores (0-11, 0-6) and led 54-7 at halftime. Johnny Gray followed a TD run by Lewis with a 67-yard punt return for a score to put the Panthers ahead 33-7, and Sanders followed with a 35-yard TD pass to Leonard Montari to give Northern Iowa a 33-point lead midway through the second quarter.

The Panthers had 30 first downs — despite running on 58 of 72 plays — while Indiana State had just six.

Northern Iowa won the outright Gateway title for the ninth time in school history.