SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – No. 16 Missouri State found success in its passing game, taking down No. 20 UNI football, 34-27.
UNI slips to 5-5 overall, 3-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Missouri State is now 7-3 overall, 6-2 in the MVFC.
Missouri State broke its own season passing record with today’s numbers. Jason Shelley had was 22-33 for 320 yards. The Panthers made large gains on the ground with 122 yards in rushing, compared to Missouri State’s 59. In all, UNI was nearly matched with Missouri State in total offense yards with 360, compared to the Bears’ 379.
Dom Williams took the majority of the handoffs to rush 83 yards on 16 carries. Deion McShane led in receiving with 86 yards.
Q1: UNI was first to receive, but Missouri State picked up an interception to set up the first Jose Pizano field goal from 30 yards to go up 3-0. UNI would respond with its own Matthew Cook field goal, good from 27 yards to tie it up at 3-3. UNI would give up one final score from Pizano from 38 yards before UNI started driving. First quarter ended with a 6-3 Missouri State advantage.
Q2: UNI opened it up early with a 47-yard field goal from Cook at 12:54 to tie it back up at 6-6. MSU would clock the first touchdown of the game with 5:21 left in the first half to go up 13-6. Missouri State notched its second interception to end a UNI drive and the 13-6 lead to end the first half
Q3: Missouri State opened the third quarter with a 75-yard drive that ended in a 3-yard touchdown by quarterback Jason Shelley to go up 20-6. UNI responded with a 2-yard rushing touchdown by Tyler Hoosman to close the gap, 20-13.
Q4: Shelley kept the ball for himself for an eight-yard touchdown run for the first scoring play in the fourth. MSU went up 27-13. UNI answered with an eight-yard touchdown pass from Day to Deion McShane to pull within 7 points. With just 2:14 left to play, UNI’s Day connected with McShane again for an 18-yard touchdown play to tie up the game. MSU sealed the win with a 55-yard touchdown pass from Shelley to Naveon Mitchell.
COMING UP NEXT
Panthers will wrap up the regular season with Western Illinois in the UNI-Dome Nov. 20. It’s a “triple header” for UNI Athletics at home that day with an 11 a.m. tipoff for women’s basketball, 1 p.m. kickoff for football and topped off with a 6 p.m. game for volleyball. UNI will honor its seniors before the game.
Western Illinois is 2-8 overall and 2-5 in the MVFC is coming off a bye.
