Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press

AMES, IA — The No. 19 Hawkeyes yet again made three or four more plays than the Cyclones, and their winning streak over Iowa State now sits at five because of it. Nate Stanley threw for 201 yards and ran for a score, and Iowa made a big fourth-down stop late in the game that allowed the Hawkeyes to beat Iowa State 18-17 on Saturday night.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska took out some frustration on Northern Illinois after letting a win slip away last week. Adrian Martinez threw for two touchdowns and ran for another and Dedrick Mills rushed for 116 yards in the Cornhuskers’ 44-8 win Saturday night. The Cornhuskers (2-1) bounced back from blowing a 17-point lead in an overtime loss at Colorado. NIU (1-2) won 21-17 in Lincoln two years ago but was no match this time.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Mike Moustakas and Yasmani Grandal homered to help the Milwaukee Brewers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-2. Milwaukee moved four games behind St. Louis for the National League Central lead.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Zack Greinke finally beat his old club and Yordan Álvarez belted a pinch-hit three-run homer as the Houston Astros beat the Kansas City Royals 6-1. Alex Bregman hit his 36th homer and rookie Kyle Tucker was 4-for-4 for the AL West-leading Astros. Greinke went six innings and handed a 2-1 lead to the bullpen. Héctor Rondón, Joe Smith, Bryan Abreu and Will Harris combined for three scoreless innings. Greinke gave up one run, six hits and no walks. He struck out seven.

BROOKINGS, S.D. (AP) — Kanin Nelson threw two touchdown passes to Cade Johnson and South Dakota State rolled to a 38-10 win over Drake. Pierre Strong and CJ Wilson both ran for more than 100 yards for the Jackrabbits (2-1), who won their 13th straight at home.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Nate Stanley threw for 201 yards and ran for a score, and No. 19 Iowa made a big fourth-down stop late in the game, allowing the Hawkeyes to beat Iowa State 18-17 on Saturday night for their fifth straight win over the Cyclones. Keith Duncan kicked four field goals for the Hawkeyes (3-0, 1-0 Big Ten), who also improved to 4-0 against Iowa State coach Matt Campbell in a game delayed nearly 3 hours because of lightning.

Hard rain over Jack Trice Stadium, Saturday. (Radio Iowa photo)

Trailing 18-17 in the closing minutes, Iowa State drove to the Iowa 34 before a false start, a slip by quarterback Brock Purdy and an incompletion brought up fourth-and-13. The Cyclones went for it and, after offsetting penalties led to a do-over, Purdy overthrew Deshaunte Jones near the end zone.

The Cyclones appeared to get another chance when they forced a quick Iowa punt. But the ball hit Datrone Young in the back and Iowa’s Devonte Young recovered it, sealing the win for the Hawkeyes. Iowa State (1-1) opened the scoring on a 51-yard double pass from Purdy to Jones — a converted prep quarterback — to La’Michael Pettway midway through the first quarter.

The Cyclones then moved ahead 14-6 just 57 seconds into the second half on a 73-yard strike from Purdy to Tarique Milton, who breezed past Iowa’s banged-up secondary. Iowa’s defense stiffened, and Stanley’s 1-yard touchdown plunge gave the Hawkeyes a 15-14 lead with 12:10 left. Connor Assalley’s 26-yard field goal gave Iowa State the lead back with 7:46 to go, but Duncan answered from 39 yards with 4:51 left with what proved to be the game-winning kick.

Purdy finished with 276 yards passing and a touchdown for the Cyclones.

TAKEAWAY
Iowa was on the road against its biggest rival and had to deal with two weather delays, turning an afternoon kickoff into a primetime affair. Yet the Hawkeyes still found a way to win, going 10 of 19 on third down and winning the turnover battle, 2-0.

Iowa State looked much better than it did in its opener two weeks ago, when it sleepwalked past Northern Iowa 29-26 in triple overtime. But this was yet another agonizing loss to the Hawkeyes for the Cyclones, who fell 44-41 in overtime two years ago in Ames.

POLL IMPLICATIONS
The Hawkeyes might not move up that much, but the win was nevertheless impressive.

UP NEXT
Iowa is off next week before hosting Middle Tennessee on Sept. 28.
Iowa State hosts Louisiana-Monroe next Saturday.

BROOKINGS, S.D. (AP) — Kanin Nelson threw two touchdown passes to Cade Johnson on Saturday and South Dakota State rolled to a 38-10 win over Drake. Pierre Strong and CJ Wilson both ran for more than 100 yards for the Jackrabbits (2-1), who won their 13th straight at home. Strong had 129 yards on 11 carries, including a 49-yard touchdown run. Wilson had 117 on 10 with a long of 52. Johnson had a 76-yard run on a reverse as South Dakota State had 369 yards on the ground.

Johnson had five catches for 80 yards with scoring plays covering 5 and 36 yards in the third quarter to put SDSU up 31-3. He moved into the top 10 on the school career list for receiving yards with 1,889 yards. The touchdowns put him fifth on the career list with 22. Nelson was 12 of 18 for 158 yards.

Drake (0-3) was held to 289 yards; 57 on the ground. Senior kicker Chase Vinatieri scored eight points, moving within nine of Drake’s career record. The nephew of one-time school record holder and NFL career kicking leader Adam Vinatieri has 313 points, eight behind Park Douglass, who broke Adam Vinatieri’s record of 195.