North Dakota State 38, Illinois State 20
NORMAL, Ill. (AP) Sam Ojuri and John Crockett each rushed for more than 100 yards and a touchdown, Marcus Williams returned a kickoff a career-long 98 yards for a score, and North Dakota State won the Missouri Valley Conference title Saturday, beating Illinois State 38-20 in both teams' regular-season finale.
Ojuri had 118 yards on the ground, including a 1-yard TD that capped a 21-point fourth quarter for the Bison (10-1, 7-1). Crockett scored on a 5-yard run and totaled 109 yards rushing.
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Brock Jensen added two short rushing scores for NDSU, which improved to 11-0 on the road the past two seasons. Jensen had just 96 yards passing, but NDSU rolled up 274 yards on the ground.
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SIU shuts down Western
CARBONDALE, Ill. (AP) Kory Faulkner threw a touchdown pass and ran for another score as Southern Illinois defeated Western Illinois 35-0 Saturday in the season finale for both teams.
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Steve Strother ran for 90 yards for the Salukis (6-6, 5-3 Missouri Valley), who held Western Illinois to 16 yards rushing and 126 total yards. Kevin Reed returned an interception 18 yards for a touchdown for SIU.
Southern Illinois sacked three Western quarterbacks five times, and the Leathernecks (3-8, 1-7) punted 11 times in the game.
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Eastern Illinois can't slow Central Arkansas
CONWAY, Ark. (AP) Wynri Smothers threw for 335 yards and four touchdowns as Central Arkansas defeated Eastern Illinois 48-30 in a battle of conference champions Saturday night.
Smothers completed 35 of 49 passes and had TDs of 26, 14, 37 and 6 yards for the Bears (9-2), who finished the regular season with six straight victories and won the Southland Conference.
Eastern Illinois' Jimmy Garoppolo also threw for four TDs, completing 19 of 33 passes for 228 yards. Garoppolo had scoring throws of 17, 37, 14 and 74 yards for the Panthers (7-4), who won the Ohio Valley Conference.
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