CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — David Johnson ran for 152 yards and three touchdowns, and had two receptions for 84 yards and a score, to lead Northern Iowa past Stephen F. Austin 44-10 to advance in the FCS Playoffs on Saturday night. Northern Iowa (9-4), which handed Illinois State (10-1) its only loss, will play the Redbirds in the second round on December 6th. Johnson scored on the first play from scrimmage, ripping off a 73-yard run.

Three plays later, Deiondre’ Hall returned an interception 24 yards, giving the Panthers first-and-goal from the 9. A 30-yard field goal by Michael Schmadeke made it 10-0 just 2 ½ minutes in and the rout was on. Stephen F. Austin (8-5) ran just 18 offensive plays for 34 yards in the opening quarter with as many three-and-outs and turnovers (two each) as first downs (the second coming on a defensive pass interference).

Schmadeke added field goals of 36 and 34 yards and Johnson tacked on a 1-yard touchdown run and Northern Iowa led 23-0 at the end of the first.

AMES, Iowa (AP) – Backup quarterback Skyler Howard threw three TD passes, Rushel Shell ran for 146 yards and West Virginia beat Iowa State 37-24 Saturday to snap a three-game losing streak. Howard was 21 of 40 for 285 yards in his first career start in place of Clint Trickett, who missed the game with a concussion.

Mario Alford added two TD catches for West Virginia (7-5, 5-4 Big 12), which finished above .500 in the Big 12 for the first time. The Mountaineers (7-5, 5-4) erased an early 14-point deficit by closing the game on a 30-3 run. They went up 34-24 with 9:10 left on a 15-yard TD catch by Daikiel Shorts.

Sam Richardson threw for 275 yards and two TDs for Iowa State (2-9, 0-8), which lost its fifth straight.

w/ Chris Parks

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.3MB)

Subscribe: RSS

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Darien Walker scored 19 points and Keith Carter added 15 to lead Valparaiso to its fourth-straight victory with a 66-46 win over Drake on Friday night. Walker shot 7 of 14 from the field and Carter was 5 of 8, and the two combined for 23 second-half points. Alec Peters added 10 points and six rebounds for Valparaiso (5-1).

The Crusaders led by eight points at the half and went on a 12-2 run after the break to go up 41-23 with 15:54 left to play. Valparaiso shot 24 of 55 from the floor and finished at 33.3 percent (7 of 21) from behind the arc after a slow 1-of-11 start on 3-pointers.

Jordan Daniels scored 18 points – including three 3-pointers – for the Bulldogs (1-4), who combined for 15 turnovers.

LAS VEGAS (AP) – Kelsey Brooks scored 24 points, Jessica Jackson added 22 and Arkansas pulled away from No. 17 Iowa 77-67 on Friday at the South Pointe Thanksgiving Shootout. The Razorbacks (5-0) took control by pounding the boards and getting to the free throw line. Arkansas had a 51-24 rebounding advantage and hit 20 of 33 free throws. Iowa (5-1), which got 23 points from Ally Disterhoft, was just 2 of 6 from the foul line.  The Hawkeyes averaged more than 90 points in winning their first five games but Arkansas allowed just 44.8.

Jhasmin Bowen added 14 points for Arkansas and had nine rebounds. Melissa Wolff had 9 points and 10 rebounds and Calli Berna had nine assists. Iowa was up 27-25 at the half but the Razorbacks, who shot 36 percent in the first half, warmed up to 53 percent and also made 10 free throws in the final 66 seconds.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Kenny Bell caught a 9-yard touchdown pass in overtime and Nebraska rallied to beat Iowa 37-34 on Friday, snapping a two-game losing streak. Tommy Armstrong Jr. had four TD passes for the Cornhuskers (9-3, 5-3 Big Ten), who trailed by as many as 17 points before storming back in the second half.  Jordan Canzeri caught a 5-yard touchdown pass with 1:49 left in regulation to put Iowa ahead 31-28. But Drew Brown’s 20-yard field goal with 8 seconds left forced overtime.

Armstrong threw TD passes to Taariq Allen and Kenny Bell, and De’Mornay Pierson-El’s 80-yard punt return for a touchdown put Nebraska ahead 28-24 with 12:06 left in the fourth.

Jake Rudock had 230 yards and two TD passes for Iowa (7-5, 4-4). The Hawkeyes closed the regular season with back-to-back home losses.

w/ Chris Parks

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (3.4MB)

Subscribe: RSS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – By the time the Kansas City Chiefs pushed the pause button and looked at the scoreboard on Thursday night, they were already trailing the previously winless Oakland Raiders. Not just trailing, either. They were in a 17-3 hole midway through the third quarter. They rallied down the stretch, even taking a brief lead in the fourth quarter. But a defensive collapse and their offense’s inability to go the length of the field in the closing minutes led to a humiliating 24-20 defeat, one that knocked Kansas City from first place in the AFC West.

“We wanted to start off fast and we didn’t play like that in the first half,” Chiefs linebacker Josh Mauga recalled, “and it kind of hurt us.” That may be an understatement. “We didn’t really start the way we wanted to,” Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith admitted. “You know, on the road, we gave them too much momentum, it felt like.”

When asked to explain the Chiefs’ slow start, running back Jamaal Charles was stumped. “I don’t know, you know? Some games are just like that,” he said. “You learn from those games. Hopefully we’ll learn from it and move on and come back next week against Denver.” Yes, the Chiefs get their bitter division rival at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday night, and with them a prime opportunity to move back into a tie atop the AFC West. But unless they are able to solve a troubling trend of slow starts, Peyton Manning and the Broncos could bury them early.

The Chiefs are 5-0 when leading at halftime. They’re 2-4 in all other games. “We come back home and then we’ve got another big division game, and we are about to handle this the right way,” Smith said. “We can regroup and get it together.” Just how do you get it together, though? How do you fix slow starts? After all, it’s not a tangible problem, something that can be fixed with playcalling alone. It doesn’t come down to personnel groups, necessarily, or the scheme for the week. Often, it involves all of those things and more.

In their opener against Tennessee, the Chiefs trailed 10-3 at halftime. They were behind 23-3 by the fourth quarter, when they finally found traction. The result was still a 26-10 loss, one that is even more frustrating now that Kansas City has clawed back into playoff contention. A few weeks ago in Buffalo, the problem popped up again. Kansas City trailed 10-3 at halftime and 13-3 after three quarters, finally coming alive when the game was coming down the stretch. The Chiefs scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns, their defense shut the Bills out and the result was a confidence-building 17-13 victory. The result was better. The way the Chiefs got there was a bit disappointing.

Andy Reid has experience just about everything over the course of his coaching career, and even the Chiefs’ boss has yet to put his finger on the solution to the slow starts.  “Well, I’ve got to make sure that I dial up plays that will help us with that. If you have an opportunity then we’ve got to execute when given the opportunity,” he said. “It hits all of us and defensively the same thing. There are things you can do as a coach with play calls and then the guys have to execute; we’re all in it together that way.”

Reid shouldered much of the blame for the flop in Oakland, and admitted that “we weren’t as well coordinated as we needed to be.” But he also said the Chiefs failed to grasp the opportunities that were presented, and that responsibility falls on the players. “You’ve got to stay on and execute. That’s one area on both sides of the ball we can do better at it. We didn’t do a great job there,” Reid said. “I didn’t feel it was a letdown; the guys didn’t work hard and all that. It was one of those deals.”

One of those deals the Chiefs are trying hard to resolve by Sunday night.