Northern Illinois Keeps on Rolling

Michael Turner ran for 134 yards and one touchdown, and Josh Haldi threw two touchdown passes as No. 20 Northern Illinois beat Iowa State, 24-16, on Saturday at Dekalb, Ill.

Northern Illinois (4-0), ranked for the first time, led 17-16 late in the fourth quarter when safety Akil Grant picked off a wobbling pass and returned it eight yards to midfield, leading to a touchdown with 1:55 left.

Iowa State (2-2) did not muster a threat on its final drive.

Turner moved past Mark Kellar to become Northern Illinois’ career rushing leader with 3,807 yards.

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In other games involving schools from the Midwest: Ben Roethlisberger passed for 377 yards and two touchdowns to lead Miami of Ohio (3-1) to a 42-37 victory over Cincinnati (3-1) at Oxford, Ohio.... Phil Reed rushed for 115 yards and three touchdowns to lead Western Michigan (2-2, 1-0) to a 39-32 victory over Ohio (1-3, 1-1) in a Mid-American Conference game at Athens, Ohio.... Kent State (3-2, 2-0) scored 20 points off eight turnovers in a 36-16 victory over Central Florida (1-3, 0-1) in a Mid-American Conference game at Kent, Ohio.... Scott McBrien passed for 252 yards to lead Maryland (3-2) to a 37-13 victory over Eastern Michigan (1-4) at Ypsilanti, Mich.

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EAST

Fifth-ranked Virginia Tech (4-0) scored one touchdown on defense and two on special teams in a 47-13 rout of Connecticut (3-2) at Blacksburg, Va.... Walter Reyes ran for 162 yards in 17 carries to lead Syracuse (3-1) to a 34-7 victory over Toledo (3-2) at Syracuse, N.Y.... Quinton Porter threw three touchdown passes and Boston College (3-2) rolled to a 53-29 victory over Ball State (2-3) at Boston.... Ronnie Banks completed 22 of 41 passes for 218 yards to lead South Florida (2-1, 1-0) to a 28-0 win over Army (0-4, 0-2) in a Conference USA game at West Point, N.Y.... Freshman Justise Hairston ran for 161 yards and four touchdowns to lead Rutgers (3-1) to a 48-27 victory over Navy (2-2) at Piscataway, N.J.

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SOUTH

Philip Rivers passed for 423 yards to lead North Carolina State (3-2, 1-1) to a 47-34 victory over North Carolina in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Raleigh.... Connor Hughes kicked a 37-yard field goal with 10 seconds left to lead Virginia (3-1, 2-0) to a 27-24 victory over Wake Forest (3-2, 1-1) in an ACC game at Charlottesville, Va.... Chris Rix threw two touchdown passes to lead No. 6 Florida State (5-0, 4-0) to a 56-7 victory over Duke (2-3, 0-2) in an ACC game at Durham, N.C.... Louisville improved to 4-0 for the first time since 1993 with a 21-12 win over Temple (0-4) at Louisville, Ky.... DeWhitt Betterson rushed for 114 yards at Troy, Ala., to lead Troy State (3-2) to a 33-24 victory over Marshall (2-3).

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SOUTHWEST

Jordan Palmer, the younger brother of Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer, threw two touchdown passes and rushed for a score in his first start to lead Texas El Paso (1-4) to a 59-14 victory over visiting Sam Houston State (1-3). Palmer, a redshirt freshman, completed 13 of 23 passes for 170 yards.... North Texas (2-3, 1-0) tied an NCAA Division I-A record with three safeties in a 44-23 victory over Louisiana Lafayette (0-5, 0-1) in a Sun Belt Conference game at Denton, Texas.

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FAR WEST

Chance Harridge ran for two touchdowns and Coach Fisher DeBerry got his first win at Brigham Young (2-3, 1-1) as Air Force (5-0, 2-0) rolled to a 24-10 victory in a Mountain West Conference game at Provo, Utah.... Cornerback Arnold Parker returned a fumble 80 yards for a touchdown with 1:33 left, and Utah (3-1, 1-0) scored a 28-21 victory over Colorado State (2-3, 0-1) in a Mountain West game at Fort Collins, Colo.... Ryan Dinwiddie threw for 285 yards and four touchdowns to lead Boise State (3-1) to a 33-17 victory over Wyoming (1-4) at Boise, Idaho.... New Mexico (2-3) converted three turnovers by New Mexico State (1-3) into 17 third-quarter points in a 24-17 victory at Albuquerque.... David Fiefia rushed for 142 yards and two touchdowns to lead Utah State (1-3, 1-0) to a 28-10 victory over Louisiana Monroe (0-5, 0-1) in a Sun Belt game at Logan, Utah.

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SOUTHLAND

Josh Jones caught two touchdown passes and Occidental (3-0, 1-0) scored all its points in the first half of a 35-24 SCIAC victory at Whittier (0-2, 0-2).... Daniel Swanstrom passed for 307 yards to lead Rhodes College (2-2) to a 31-21 victory over Pomona-Pitzer (3-1) at Memphis, Tenn.... Ben Buys rushed for 117 yards and two touchdowns to lead Azusa Pacific (4-0) to a 31-10 victory over visiting Cal Lutheran (1-3).... Kyle Beach’s 42-yard field goal gave visiting Redlands (2-2) a 17-16 victory over Chapman (1-3).... Adam Richter scored on a 53-yard touchdown run with 2:53 left to lift Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (2-1) to a 34-27 victory over visiting Colorado College (1-3).... Roger Robinson rushed for 167 yards to lead Northern Arizona (3-1) to a 24-7 victory over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (3-1) at Flagstaff, Ariz.