The league's top-two ranked teams posted wins and have set up a showdown between two Top-5 natinoall ranked teams as No. 2 UNI (5-0, 6-1) will travel to No. 3 North Dakota State (4-0, 7-0) next Saturday in a game seen on Fox College Sports. Elsewhere, Missouri State picked up its first win of the season, Illinois State won its second-straight game against a ranked team, and Youngstown State throttled visiting St. Francis.


#2 UNI 17, Southern Illinois 10
(AP) -- CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- Tirrell Rennie had two touchdowns and broke the school record for consecutive passes without an interception as Northern Iowa beat Southern Illinois 17-10 Saturday.

Rennie hit Terrell Sinkfield for an 18-yard touchdown pass to tie the game 7-7 in the second quarter, then scored on a 1-yard run in the third quarter to put the Panthers (6-1, 5-0 Missouri Valley) up 17-7. Rennie completed 14 of 23 passes for 167 yards and no interceptions. He has not thrown an interception in his last 146 attempts -- dating back to last season -- breaking the mark of 138 set by Eric Sanders in 2007.

Southern Illinois (2-5, 1-4) scored first on a 7-yard pass from Kory Faulkner to MyCole Pruitt. It also got a 30-yard field goal from Jackson MacLachan in the fourth quarter -- the first points Northern Iowa has allowed in the second half in its last four games.


#3 North Dakota State 38, South Dakota State 14
(AP) -- BROOKINGS, S.D. -- North Dakota State rushed for four touchdowns and Ryan Smith returned a punt 41 yards for a score as the Bison remained undefeated with a 38-14 victory over South Dakota State on Saturday.

Smith's return was part of a 21-point fourth quarter for North Dakota State (7-0, 4-0 Missouri Valley). The Bison had four 1-yard touchdown runs in the game -- two from quarterback Brock Jensen and one each from D.J. McNorton and Derrick Lang -- and 149 yards rushing as a team.

Jensen was also 20 of 25 passing for 178 yards.

South Dakota State had more total yardage than the Bison, 349 to 327, but had only a 1-yard touchdown run by Zach Zenner and a 7-yard TD pass from Jordan Thomas to Jason Schneider with 4 seconds remaining to show for it.


Illinois State 17, #16 Indiana State 14
(AP) -- NORMAL, Ill. -- Matt Brown threw for 172 yards and a touchdown to help Illinois State beat Indiana State 17-14 on Saturday.

Brown's 10-yard TD pass to James O'Shaughnessy gave the Redbirds a 17-6 lead early in the third quarter. Ashton Leggett scored on a 1-yard run in the first half for Illinois State (5-3, 3-2 Missouri Valley).

Indiana State (5-3, 3-2) drew within 17-14 on Ben Obaseki's 1-yard run and Ronnie Fouch's two-point conversion pass to Leonard Riston with 6:59 to play. The Sycamores recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, but couldn't cash in when Tann Frischle missed a 41-yard field goal attempt.

Fouch found Alex Jones for a 77-yard touchdown for the Sycamores' first score. Fouch was 10 for 25 for 175 yards and was sacked five times.


Missouri State 31, Western Illinois 17
MACOMB, Ill. – Four second-half take-aways propelled Missouri State (1-7, 1-4) to a 31-17 win over Western Illinois here Saturday in Missouri Valley Football Conference play. The win snapped an eight-game Hanson Field winning streak by the Leathernecks and secured MSU's first win of 2011.

The final nail in the coffin came with 2:15 to play when senior Jimmie Strong halted a threatening WIU drive with a 91-yard interception return for a touchdown, the longest in Bears' history. The pick six came on the heels of a 54-yard pass completion to Charles Chestnut that set the home club up at the MSU 9 for the potential game-tying score.

MSU closed out the game with a fumble recovery on WIU's fourth turnover of the final period.

Trevor Wooden completed 8-of-16 passes for 190 yards for the Bears who won on the road for the first time in 13 tries and also posted a game-high 82 rushing yards. Jermaine Saffold caught four passes for 138 yards and a touchdown, coming just two yards shy of becoming MSU's all-time receiving yards leader.

The Leathernecks got 269 passing yards by Josh Hudson who was 20-for-34 with a pair of interceptions. Terriun Crump had seven receptions for 67 yards to lead WIU, while Kevin Palermo posted a game-high 14 tackles.

Youngstown State 49, St. Francis (Pa.) 23
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Jamaine Cook rushed for 162 yards and four touchdowns to lead Youngstown State to a 49-23 win over St. Francis (Pa.) on Saturday.

The four scores were a career-high for Cook and the most for a Penguins running back in one game since 2001. Youngstown State piled up 450 yards rushing, with Jordan Thompson adding 135 yards and a touchdown on four carries. Thompson's 95-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter tied a school record.

Youngstown State (4-3) led 42-3 at halftime as Cook scored on runs of 1, 4, 8 and 26 yards. Kurt Hess, who passed for 172 yards, threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Christian Bryan.

The Red Flash did their best to keep up, gaining 410 yards total offense. John Kelly passed for 288 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for another score for the Red Flash (1-7), who have lost five in a row.