UNI football stops Southern Illinois Hail Mary at the 1 for wild road win

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Northern Iowa held on in a wild finish and upset FCS No. 24 Southern Illinois 37-36 on Saturday at Saluki Stadium for its third straight victory.

UNI (4-4, 3-2 MVFC) was led by quarterback Theo Day, who threw for 330 yards on 27-of-32 passing (84.4 percent) with five touchdowns. Sam Schnee had eight catches for 96 yards and a TD.

Vance McShane and Dom Williams combined to rush for 142 yards on 30 carries.

Day completed a 5-yard TD pass to Desmond Hutson with 5:55 left in the game to take the lead.

SIU (5-4, 4-2) then missed a 41-yard field goal with 47 seconds left.

After a quick three-and-out by UNI, the Salukis got the ball back with 29 seconds left. Nic Baker delivered a 42-yard bomb to Jay Jones, but Jones was tackled at the Panther 1-yard line as time expired.

UNI hosts No. 1 South Dakota State next Saturday at the UNI-Dome.