MISSOURI VALLEY FOOTBALL CONFERENCE | Saturday’s other games

Illinois State 51, Southern Illinois 3

NORMAL, ILL.

James Robinson ran for a career-high 202 yards and a touchdown, Brady Davis threw four touchdown passes and Illinois State clubbed Southern Illinois. Robinson — who moved past the 2,000-yard rushing mark for his career — scored on a 3-yard plunge with 4:15 left in the first quarter to end a 12-play, 87-yard drive for a 7-0 lead. After an early second quarter field to make it 10-0, Davis threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Edgar, a 3-yard score to Robert Gillum and a 4-yard touchdown to Braxton Haley to make it 31-0 before intermission. Brady’s 16-yard TD pass to Spencer Schnell with 6:55 left put the Redbirds up 45-3. In addition to Robinson, Markel Smith ran 11 times for 143 yards and a score and Illinois State (5-1, 2-1 Missouri Valley) piled up 409 yards rushing. Sam Straub threw for 103 yards and the Salukis (1-5, 0-3) managed just 202 yards of total offense.

Missouri State 29, Indiana State 26

TERRE HAUTE, IND.

Peyton Huslig lofted a 4-yard touchdown pass to Lorenzo Thomas with 16 seconds remaining to lift Missouri State past Indiana State. Missouri State (4-2, 2-1 Missouri Valley Conference) bounced back from a 35-28 road loss last week to South Dakota that snapped a three-game win streak. Indiana State (2-4, 0-3) has lost three straight games. Huslig finished with 169 yards passing without an interception. Donovan Daniels ran for two touchdowns and Jeremiah Wilson had a scoring run for Missouri State. Ja’Quan Keys had 23 carries for 141 yards and scored the first of his three touchdowns on a 47-yard run in the second quarter for the Sycamores. Indiana State trailed 21-10 at halftime but Keys had a pair of touchdown runs from inside the 10-yard that capped long scoring drives. Jerry Nunez’s 19-yard field goal then stretched the Sycamores’ lead 26-21 with 4:04 to play. Missouri State had first-and-goal at the 5 with 54 seconds left. The Bears managed just one yard before Huslig’s game-winning throw on fourth down.

Northern Iowa 42, South Dakota 28

VERMILLION, S.D.

Eli Dunne threw for 257 yards and four touchdowns, ran for a fifth and piloted Northern Iowa to a 42-28 Missouri Valley Conference victory over South Dakota on Saturday night. The Coyotes took a 3-0 lead in the first quarter and held a 13-7 advantage after Austin Simmons hit Kai Henry with a touchdown pass from 3 yards out. Dunne answered with two touchdowns in the final minute of the first half, hitting Marcus Weymiller with a 9-yard strike to take the lead, 14-13, and after South Dakota (3-3, 2-1) fumbled the ensuing kickoff Dunne scored from the 1 with :18 left. Brandon Thull scored from the 2 and Simmons connected for a two-point conversion to tie the game at 21-21, but the Panthers (3-3, 2-1) scored three touchdowns in under five minutes to put the game out of reach. Dunne fired 21 yards to Briley Moore, then hit Nick Fossey from the 25 for a score, and when South Dakota fumbled the ensuing kickoff Brawntae Wells pounced on it in the end zone for a touchdown that made it 42-21.

Associated Press