SATURDAY’S OTHER MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE GAMES

Missouri State 24, Illinois State 21

SPRINGFIELD, MO.

Darius Joseph blocked a 32-yard field goal as time expired, preserving Missouri State’s victory over Illinois State in the conference opener. Missouri State, holding a 10-point lead, stopped Illinois State on fourth down at the 8-yard line with 5:15 left to play. But the Bears went three-and-out. The Redbirds took advantage as James Robinson caught a short pass, spun his defender and raced for a 43-yard touchdown to pull to 24-21 with 3:15 remaining. The Bears punted again after three plays and Illinois State started its final drive at its 21 with 1:27 to go before marching down the field for a short field goal attempt. Peyton Huslig threw for 232 yards with two interceptions for Missouri State (3-1) and he carried it 17 times for 52 yards and a score. Brady Davis had 226 yards passing and three touchdowns for Illinois State (3-1), ranked 10th in the FCS coaches’ poll.

North Dakota State 21, South Dakota State 17

FARGO, N.D.

Easton Stick threw two touchdown passes and ran for a score and North Dakota State, the top-ranked team in the FCS coaches’ poll, rallied for a victory over third-ranked South Dakota State. Stick connected with Ben Ellefson for a 17-yard score and hooked up with Darrius Shepherd for a 41-yard TD in the second quarter to give the Bison (4-0) a 14-7 halftime lead. The Jackrabbits (2-1) grabbed a 17-14 lead by the end of the third quarter on Chase Vinatieri’s 39-yard field goal and a 61-yard TD run by Isaac Wallace. The lead lasted until NDSU’s next possession. Stick engineered an eight-play, 80-yard drive capped by his 5-yard TD run with 13 minutes remaining in the game to give the Bison the lead for good. Stick completed 9 of 20 passes for 182 yards and ran for 63 yards on 15 carries. Wallace rushed for 110 yards on just nine carries for the Jacks. Christion totaled 202 yards on 19-of-29 passing.

South Dakota 31, Southern Illinois 24

CARBONDALE, ILL.

Austin Simmons threw for 333 yards and three touchdowns to lead South Dakota.The win marked coach Bob Nielson’s 200th career victory. After Kai Henry’s 1-yard touchdown run put South Dakota (2-2, 1-0) out front 7-0, Sam Straub completed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Nigel Kilby, and later, a 20-yard score to Kilby for a 14-7 lead for the Salukis (1-3, 0-1). Trailing 17-10 at the break, Simmons got hot and threw touchdowns of 9 and 45 yards to Randy Baker and unloaded an 89-yard TD strike to Dakarai Allen to put the Coyotes up 31-17 in the third. Javon Williams scored on 1-yard run with a minute left to play to reduce the deficit, but South Dakota recovered the on-side kick and ran out the clock.

Associated Press