SPRINGFIELD – A 55-yard pass from Jason Shelley to Naveon Mitchell with 58 seconds left in the game sealed a 34-27 Missouri State win here Saturday, squelching a late comeback attempt by visiting Northern Iowa with their traditional fourth-quarter “Cardiac Bears” magic.
The No. 14-ranked Bears (7-3, 6-2 MVFC) led 27-13 after an eight-yard Shelley touchdown run two minutes into the final quarter. But the visiting Panthers (5-5, 3-4) clawed back in it over a key 11-minute stretch in the fourth and ultimately tied things up, 27-27, with 2:14 to play on an 18-yard strike from Theo Day to Deion McShane.
That’s when Shelley and the Bears found another gear and put UNI away. On a key third-and-six play, Shelley connected with Tyrone Scott for a first-down pass to the MSU 45. Then, with 80 seconds remaining, Shelley notched up his fourth game-winning touchdown drive of the season, hitting Mitchell in stride before the New Mexico State transfer did the rest, weaving through defensive traffic to the far sideline and into the end zone.
Shelley finished 22-for-33 for 320 yards passing while accounting for three scores, including a pair of key rushing touchdowns. He also pushed his season passing total to 2,817 to break Missouri State’s single-season passing record.
Mitchell was the Bears’ top yardage receiver, collecting a season-high 74 yards on three catches and his first touchdown of the season.
“To be able to answer (UNI’s run) like that and score at the end says a lot about our character,” said Bears head coach Bobby Petrino. “We talked all week about that play and then had the opportunity to use it in our two-minute offense. We also had the protection to execute it against a very good defensive line.”
Missouri State racked up 379 yards of total offense against a stingy Panthers defense, but on the ground, UNI held the Bears to 59 yards on 32 carries. Fortunately for the Bears, two of those carries were touchdowns by Shelley in the second half that helped Missouri State build
14-point leads on two occasions.
Day finished with 238 yards and a pair of TD passes for the No. 20-ranked Panthers, completing 17-of-30 passes with a couple of interceptions. Dom Williams carried 16 times for 82 yards to lead all rushers, while McShane’s six pass receptions was also a game-high for the visitors.
After the Bears led 13-6 at the half, Missouri State extended its seven-point lead on the first drive of the third quarter, making short work of a 75-yard march on four plays, including a 41-yard pass from Shelley to Ron Tiavaasue, and later on 25-yard strike to Terique Owens. Shelley called his own number on first-and-goal from the three to cap the drive and make it a 20-6 game less than three minutes into the second half.
The Panthers responded two possessions later and capitalized on a third-down personal foul on the Bears to extend the drive. The visitors cashed in with a two-yard TD run by Tyler Hoosman to make it 20-13.
Shelley pushed the Bears back ahead by two scores early in the fourth as he engineered an 80-yard drive on nine plays and called his own number from the eight to make it 27-13. The impactful march included a 19-yard completion to Tyrone Scott to get the Bears to the 13. Two plays later, Shelley posted his second rushing score of the afternoon – the fourth time in his career with multiple rushing scores — to make it 27-13 with 13:01 remaining in regulation.
But the Panthers made things interesting, forcing a Missouri State punt and promptly turning it into seven points to make it 27-20 after seven-yard touchdown strike from Day to McShane capped a 72-yard drive. A red-zone pass-interference penalty on the Bears on the previous play extended the UNI scoring opportunity.
The Panthers then blocked a Bears punt late in the fourth and capitalized five plays later with McShane’s 18-yard touchdown pass to Day that tied things up at 27. The “Cardiac Bears” then went to work, securing their fourth, game-winning scoring drive in the fourth quarter this season – and seventh under Petrino – to secure the win.
Missouri State’s defense was licking its chops to put the finishing touches on the victory in the closing minutes, putting pressure on Day and getting a key pass break-up from Zack Sanders before the Panthers turned it over on downs in the closing seconds.
The victory wrapped up a perfect 5-0 regular-season home record for Missouri State for the first time since 2010 and also pushed the Bears to their sixth conference win for just the second time in program history (1978).
Ferrin Manuleleua led Missouri State’s defense with 9 total tackles, while Tylar Wiltz added 8. The Bears accounted for 6.0 tackles for loss, three sacks and six pass break-ups in a solid defensive performance.
In the first half, the Bears capitalized on three UNI turnovers to take a 13-6 lead into the intermission. A one-yard rush by Tobias Little with 5:21 left in the second quarter broke up a 6-6 tie and capped a 75-yard scoring drive for Missouri State, running a season-high seven minutes, 33 seconds off the clock on the way.
Shelley was 6-for-6 on the go-ahead scoring drive, while Little chewed up 24 ground yards on the 13-play sequence.
Joe Pizano converted field goals of 30 and 38 yards to cap a pair of first-quarter MSU scoring drives. His first came on the heels of an interception by Tylar Wiltz, and the second came after a 41-yard kickoff return by Montrae Braswell to set MSU in great field position.
The Panthers also got a couple of first-half field goals of their own with Matthew Cook converting 3-pointers from 27 and 47 yards. His second field goal knotted the game, 6-6, three minutes into the second quarter.
The Bears conclude the regular season next week at Dixie State University in St. George, Utah (8 p.m. Central) in advance of the Nov. 21 FCS Playoff Selection Show announcements.
