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Big Sky capsules: Eli Dunne’s TD pass in OT gives Northern Iowa 45-38 win over Cal Poly

Northern Iowa's Jared Farley (46) and Jackson Scott-Brown (74) celebrate the team's 45-38 overtime win over Cal Poly during an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017, in Cedar Falls, Iowa. (Matthew Putney / Associated Press)
Associated Press

Eli Dunne threw four touchdowns, including the game-winner in overtime, and Northern Iowa beat Cal Poly 45-38 on Saturday in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Dunne hit Daurice Fountain for a 13-yard score in overtime to put the Panthers (1-1) up for good.

Dunne was 25 of 40 for 325 yards for the Panthers. Fountain had 75 yards and three scores receiving.

Dunne threw a 31-yard touchdown to Aaron Graham with four seconds left in the first half and the Panthers led 28-21 at halftime. He threw a 36-yard score to Fountain in the third and Drysdale’s field goal made it 38-24 with 7:50 left in the fourth.

But Khaleel Jenkins scored for Cal Poly from a yard out with 2:05 remaining then threw a 53-yard score on the Mustang’s next drive to tie the game 38-38 and send it into overtime.

Jenkins finished with 238 yards and four touchdowns passing for the Mustangs (0-3).

North Dakota 34, Missouri State 0: Keaton Studsrud was 22-of-31 passing for 273 yards with and two scores and Brady Oliveira ran for 164 yards to lead the Fighting Hawks (1-1) past the Bears (0-2) in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

With a 3-0 lead after the first quarter, Studsrud threw a 13-yard score to Noah Wanzek and followed that up with a 3-yard pass to Wanzek to cap a seven-play, 80-yard drive for a 17-0 lead.

On Missouri State’s next drive, Ray Haas picked off Peyton Husling at Missouri State’s 32-yard line. John Santiago ran 19 yards for a touchdown with 4:06 remaining before halftime.

North Dakota outgained the Bears 526-211 and held the ball for more than 36 minutes. Wanzek had career highs with 117 yards receiving and seven catches.

Huslig finished with 132 yards passing for Missouri State.

Southern Utah 51, Stephen F. Austin 14: Patrick Tyler threw for 399 yards, four touchdowns and ran for a score to lead the Thunderbirds (1-1) to a win over the Lumberjacks (0-2) in Nacogdoches, Texas.

Tyler threw touchdown passes to Logan Parker, Judd Crockett and Landon Measom of 3, 15 and 96 yards respectively, and Southern Utah led 31-0 at halftime.

To start the third, the Lumberjacks got on the board when Foster Sawyer threw a 13-yard pass to Tamrick Pace to complete a 6-play, 58-yard drive.

Southern Utah used its next to drives to produce a field and a touchdown for a 41-7 lead. Isaiah Diego-Williams finished with 5 receptions for 101 yards and a touchdown.

Sawyer threw for 217 yards.

Western Illinois 38, Northern Arizona 20: Sean McGuire threw for one touchdown and ran for another as the Leathernecks (2-0) led all the way to a victory over the Lumberjacks (0-2) in Flagstaff, Arizona.

McGuire threw for 210 yards for the Leathernecks. Max Norris ran for 103 yards and a score. Jaelon Acklin ran for 65 yards and a touchdown and had 101 receiving yards and another score.

Acklin scored on a 63-yard run two plays into the Leathernecks’ first drive. Sam Crosa kicked a 27-yard field goal with 9:12 left in the second quarter and Norris scored from the 1 to lift Western Illinois to a 17-7 lead at halftime.

In the third, Eric Carrera recovered a Case Cookus fumble and ran it in for another Leathernecks score to make it 24-7. McGuire hit Acklin for a 38-yard touchdown, stretching it to 31-13 with 5:50 left in the third.

Cookus was 18-of-35 for 221 yards and two touchdowns for the Lumberjacks.

South Dakota State 31, Montana State 27: Taryn Christion ran for two touchdowns and the Jackrabbits (2-0) needed a trick play to hold off the Bobcats (0-2) in Bozeman, Montana.

The Jackrabbits built a 17-0 lead, but Murray, who fired four touchdown passes, brought the Bobcats back to trail by just three, 24-21 after three quarters.

With 4:26 left South Dakota State opted for a fake field goal and kicker Chase Vinatieri ran 31 yards for a touchdown to make it a 31-21 lead.

Montana State scored to cut the South Dakota State lead to four points and the Bobcats got the ball with 50 seconds only to see time expire.

Sacramento State 56, Incarnate Word 22: Kevin Thomson threw for 320 yards and five touchdowns to lead the Hornets (1-1) to a win over the Cardinals (0-2) in Sacramento, California.

Thomson, who was 10-of-16 passing with one interception, connected with different receivers on each of his touchdown throws, including a 60-yard strike in the third quarter to Andre Lindsey, who finished with a career-high 176 yards on four receptions. Jaelin Ratliff, Isiah Hennie, Elijah Dotson and Johnnie Rucker also had TD grabs.

Dotson had a 51-yard touchdown run as well. Also scoring for the Hornets was Joseph Ajeigbe, who punched in a touchdown from the 2, and Wyatt Clapper with a 13-yard TD run.

Incarnate Word got two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Sean Brophy connected with Malik Harris for a 2-yard touchdown throw and then Lamont Johnson ran in another score from the 8.

UC Davis 35, San Diego 7: Jake Maier threw for 369 yards and three touchdowns as the Aggies (1-1) rolled to a victory over the Toreros (1-1) in Davis, California.

UC Davis bounced back from last week’s 38-17 loss at San Diego State to win its home opener.

Maier’s first completion of the game was a 75-yard touchdown pass to Keelan Doss. The Toreros answered when Jordan Charles ran five yards into the end zone to tie it 7-7 late in the first quarter. Maier’s 33-yard TD-pass to Wesley Preece gave the Aggies a 14-7 halftime lead.

UC Davis’ Justin Williams ran for a 71-yard touchdown on a fourth-and-1 to open the third quarter. Maier added a 15-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Moore, and Williams bullied in from the 1-yard line to cap the scoring with about seven minutes left.

(7) Washington 63, Montana 7: Dante Pettis weaved his way 67 yards for his Pac-12 record-breaking seventh career punt return touchdown, and Jake Browning threw for 259 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Huskies (2-0) in a win over the Grizzlies (1-1) in Seattle.

Pettis returned a punt for a score for the second straight game. His 61-yard return at Rutgers last week tied him with DeSean Jackson for the conference mark and ignited Washington after a sluggish start.

Montana made the unwise decision to punt to Pettis on the final play of the first quarter. The senior veered to the sideline nearest where he caught the kick, cut all the way across the field, juked Montana punter Eric Williams and sprinted the final few yards to give the Huskies a 21-7 lead.

Pettis is one shy of the NCAA record for punt return touchdowns in a career, held by Wes Welker (Texas Tech) and Antonio Perkins (Oklahoma).

North Dakota State 40, Eastern Washington 13: Bruce Anderson and Lance Dunn combined for more than 300 yards rushing and four touchdowns, and the Bison (2-0) rolled to a win over the Eagles (0-2) in a matchup of FCS powers in Cheney, Washington.

Anderson had 160 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries and Dunn picked up 148 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries. Easton Stick threw for 157 yards while the Bison defense stymied the Eagles.

Gage Gubrud, who set 18 Eastern Washington records and three FCS marks in passing for more than 5,000 yards last year, was 10 for 30 for 134 yards and two interceptions. The Eagles finished with 204 yards on offense and had just 11 first downs. The Bison had 31 first downs and held the ball for almost 43 minutes.

California 33, Weber State 20: Patrick Laird ran for 191 yards and three touchdowns to help the Golden Bears (2-0) rally to beat the lower-level Wildcats (1-1) in Berkeley, California.

Coach Justin Wilcox’s home debut for the Bears almost turned into a disaster as Cal trailed Weber State of the FCS by three points heading into the fourth quarter.

But after Matt Anderson tied the game with a 40-yard field goal early in the fourth, Laird took over. He carried five times on a seven-play drive following a fumble by Andrew Vollert near midfield and gave the Bears a 27-20 lead with a 1-yard run.

The Bears then got a key stop when halfback Kevin Smith barely overthrew quarterback Stefan Cantwell on a trick play that was nearly a touchdown and then Cantwell threw incompletions on third and fourth down from the 13.