Jackson Waring fired a 27-yard touchdown pass to Austin Nagel in overtime to give Illinois State a 17-10 win over No. 13-ranked Northern Iowa Saturday, the Redbirds first overtime win since 2015.
The Redbirds got their only touchdown during regulation when Clayton Isbell picked off a Theo Day pass and returned it 40 yards for the game’s first score. They were held without a first down in the second half. Illinois State managed just 164 yards offense.
Illinois State (4-5, 2-4 Missouri Valley) held a 10-0 lead going into the fourth quarter, but the Panthers cut the deficit to seven on a 27-yard field goal by Matthew Cook with 9:48 left.
Day set up the tying touchdown with a 60-yard pass to Isaiah Weston that gave Northern Iowa a first-and-goal at the Illinois State 8. After Day ran 4 yards on first down he found Sam Schnee in the back of the end zone.
After taking the lead in overtime, Illinois State stuffed a pair of Northern Iowa runs and Day threw incomplete on back-to-back pass attempts to end the game.
