Northern Iowa tops Indiana St. 41-3, hope for at-large berth

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- 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.