The Northern Iowa Panthers will host Monmouth in the opening round of the FCS Playoffs. The Panthers are in for the 19th time after finishing 7-4 with a 41-3 win over Indiana State. UNI closed the regular season by winning five of its final six games. The players watched the selection show at coach Mark Farley’s house.

Farley says the Panthers were thrilled with the opportunity to play at home. He says travel can be difficult this time of year and that makes playing at home even more important.

It will be the first meeting between UNI and Monmouth while the playoff appearance for the Hawks is their first in school history. MU earned a 9-2 record on the season and a 4-1 record overall in the Big South.

(Learfield Sports)

Iowa State had a 24 point second half lead trimmed to four but the Cyclones held off Boise State 75-64 Sunday, to win the Puerto Rico Tipoff at Myrtle Beach. Donovan Jackson scored 26 points, including ISU’s final 13 points of the game.

After dropping their first two games the Cyclones have won three straight. Junior guard Nick Weiler-Babb was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

(Learfield Sports)

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Roger Lewis Jr. made a spectacular catch to set up the winning 23-yard yard goal by Aldrick Rosas in overtime and the New York Giants responded from weeks of adversity to beat the AFC West-leading Kansas City Chiefs 12-9 on a blustery, cold Sunday. The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Giants (2-8) and sent the Chiefs (6-4) to their fourth loss in five games.

The winning kick came two plays after Lewis was yanked to the ground on a deep pass from Eli Manning, but still caught the ball while flat on his back for a 34-yard completion on a fourth-down heave. Had he not caught it, flags flew for pass interference.

UP NEXT: Chiefs: Host Buffalo next Sunday.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Sophomore Elijah Sindelar threw for 229 yards and a career-high three touchdown passes and Purdue beat Iowa 24-15 to move within a game of bowl eligibility.

The Boilermakers (5-6, 3-5 Big Ten) won their first Big Ten road game of the year and snapped Iowa’s four-game win streak in the series.

UP NEXT: Iowa plays Nebraska on Friday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Grant Kraemer passed for 268 yards and four touchdowns, two each to Steven Doran and Connor Ostrander, and Drake beat Jacksonville 52-7 on Saturday to close out its season.

Brock Reichardt scored on a 39-yard run on Drake’s opening drive before Kraemer hit Doran on TD passes of 49 and 55 yards on the next two possessions for a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter. They were Doran’s only receptions and he finished with 104 yards.

Kraemer threw TD passes of 13 and 28 yards to Ostrander, who had six catches for 102 yards. Alex Bonds scored on a 6-yard run, Tyler Updegraff had a 2-yard scoring run and Danny Donley kicked a career-best 48-yard field goal.

Sean Lynch had 11 solo tackles for the Bulldogs (7-4, 6-2 Pioneer), who held the Dolphins, which average 275 rushing yards per game, to 298 total yards.

Jacksonville’s Rylan Wells scored on a 1-yard keeper in the second quarter after the Dolphins (7-4, 5-3) recovered Drew Lauer’s fumble. Wells threw for 90 yards with an interception.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Registered nurse Nina Roth led her team to victory in the U.S. curling trials on Saturday to earn the American women’s spot in the Olympics. Fellow first-time Olympians Tabitha Peterson, Aileen Geving and Becca Hamilton are set to join her at the Winter Games in Pyeongchang. Roth’s rink beat the one led by Jamie Sinclair 7-6 to win the best-of-three playoff in Omaha.

Roth’s team missed back-to-back takeouts in the second-to-last end, then nearly gave the match away when Roth was called for a foul for failing to release her stone before it crossed the hogline.

But Roth’s team scored two in the 10th end, or inning, to earn the victory. Roth, Peterson and Hamilton also have qualified for next month’s mixed doubles trials.

WACO, Texas (AP) — Allen Lazard became Iowa State’s career receiving leader with a touchdown catch and the Cyclones clinched a winning conference record for the first time since 2000 with their 23-13 victory at Baylor on Saturday.

Hakeem Butler had a one-handed catch over his shoulder and then broke a tackle for a 67-yard touchdown just before halftime that snapped a 10-10 tie and put Iowa State (7-4, 5-3 Big 12) ahead to stay.

The Cyclones snapped a two-game losing streak that had followed a perfect 4-0 October in which they became the only team this season with two wins over top-five opponents. They will play in their first bowl game since 2012.

Lazard entered the game 26 yards short of Todd Bylthe’s school record 3,096 yards receiving, and surpassed that on his 25th career TD, a 36-yarder in the first quarter. David Montgomery ran for 144 yards on 27 carries, going over 1,000 yards for the season, but the Iowa State sophomore had to be helped off the field after a run in the fourth quarter when he got bent in a weird direction.

UP NEXT: Iowa St: The bowl-bound Cyclones go to Kansas State next Saturday.

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — 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. Indiana State finished with just 247 yards of total offense.

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — Bennett Koch scored 21 points and Northern Iowa defeated Chicago State 82-44 on Saturday. Koch, who was perfect from the field in scoring a career-high 25 points in Northern Iowa’s previous game, a 72-43 victory over Wartburg, was 7-of-9 from the field and made all seven of his free throws against the Cougars (1-4).

Freshman Tywhon Pickford pulled down 14 rebounds, his third straight game of double digits on the boards for the Panthers (3-1). Juwan McCloud added 18 points and Klint Carlson 12 points with seven rebounds.

The Cougars were led by Travon Bell, who had 12 points on 4-of-9 3-point shooting off the bench. The Panthers opened the game on a 13-0 run with five points from McCloud, and scored 17 straight points, with eight points from McCloud, toward the end of the half for a 46-21 lead. Their second-half lead never dipped below 22 points.

w/ Chris Parks

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