CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — Will McElvain threw for three touchdowns as Northern Iowa rolled past Southern Utah 34-14 on Saturday.
McElvain had 262 yards passing for the Panthers (1-1). Trevor Allen ran for 77 yards on 17 carries.
McElvain hit Deion McShane for a 56-yard touchdown late in the first quarter and followed up early in the second with a 39-yard scoring throw to Isaiah Weston. Matthew Cook’s 45-yard field goal made it 17-0 with 7:54 left in the half and a 10-yard strike from McElvain to Jaylin James capped the first-half scoring with the Panthers up 24-0.
Cook added a 27-yard field goal to make it 27-0 early in the third quarter and later Nick McCabe ran for a score and the Panthers were up 34-0.
Southern Utah scored late in the third on a 4-yard Chris Helbig run to close to 34-7 but failed to capitalize on two consecutive fumble recoveries in the fourth. Helbig managed another short touchdown run just before the end of the game for the final score.
Helbig finished with 126 yards passing for the Thunderbirds (0-2).
“We can’t beat ourselves,” SUU head coach Demario Warren said in a team release. “We’ve got to make sure that we’re being disciplined, and when we are we’re moving the football. But once we get moving we usually get a penalty and end up behind the sticks, and you can’t recover from stuff like that especially on the road.”