Northern Iowa tops Indiana St. 41-3, hope for at-large berth (Nov 18, 2017)

By AP
Published

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) Colton Howell threw two touchdown passes and Marcus Weymiller ran for two scores as Northern Iowa ran over Indiana State, 41-3 Saturday to secure a second-place finish in the Missouri Valley Conference.

The Panthers expect to earn the school's 19th playoff berth, as an at-large team, when the FCS Playoff Committee announces the 24-team field on Sunday.

Howell, filling in for injured starter Eli Dunne, hit Daurice Fountain with two first-half touchdown passes, the second from 23-yards out, to stake Northern Iowa (7-4, 6-2) to a 27-3 halftime lead.

Howell finished 17 of 26 for 216 yards passing.

Weymiller had scoring runs covering 22 and 5 yards and finished with 105 yards rushing on 29 carries.

The Sycamores (0-11, 0-8) drove 48 yards in five plays with the game's opening possession and Jerry Nunez kicked a 48-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead. Indiana State finished with just 247 yards of total offense.