CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — John Crockett rushed for 122 yards and two touchdowns as North Dakota State kicked off its Missouri Valley Conference schedule with a 33-21 victory over Northern Iowa on Saturday night.

Crockett scored on a 3-yard run late in the second quarter and from 6 yards early in the third. Brock Jensen added 243 yards passing, including a 19-yard touchdown to Kevin Vaadeland in the fourth quarter, for the Bison (4-0), who haven’t lost a road game since the 2010 season.

The Panthers (1-4, 0-2) pulled within 20-14 midway through the third when Sawyer Kollmorgen hit Wes Smith for a 27-yard score. Later, though, Kollmorgen threw an interception to set up Vaadeland’s touchdown.

Kollmorgen added a 20-yard TD to Terrell Sinkfield in the final minute and finished with 213 yards passing, while David Johnson had 85 yards rushing and a touchdown.

NDSU’s Adam Keller made four of his five field-goal attempts.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Mark Weisman ran for 177 yards, 155 in the first half, to lead Iowa to a 31-13 win over Minnesota on Saturday and give the Hawkeyes possession of the Floyd of Rosedale bronze pig trophy.

Christian Kirksey’s 68-yard interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter sealed the win for Iowa (3-2), which bounced back from last week’s disappointing 32-31 loss to Central Michigan to win the Big Ten opener for both schools.

Minnesota (4-1) was off to its best start since 2008, but couldn’t get anything going on offense Saturday. Max Shortell threw three interceptions and the Gophers managed only 75 yards in the first half. The Hawkeyes scored three touchdowns during a six-minute span of the second quarter to jump out to a 24-0 halftime lead.

Weisman punched in an 8-yard run on the first play of the quarter.

Then the Gophers went three-and-out, and Iowa’s normally conventional offense pulled a surprise with a flea-flicker on the first play of the drive. Weisman pitched the ball back to James Vandenberg, and the senior quarterback found a wide-open Jordan Cotton for a 47-yard score.

Minnesota was forced to punt again and Micah Hyde’s 27-yard punt return gave Iowa the ball at midfield. Six plays later, Vandenberg’s 1-yard dive into the end zone finished off the drive.

Weisman only carried five times in the second half.

Weisman, a fullback-turned-tailback, was inserted into Iowa’s starting lineup because of injuries, and the walk-on has responded with 507 yards and seven touchdowns the last three games.

Minnesota won the previous two meetings with Iowa, rallying from behind in both games to win the rivalry trophy. The Gophers couldn’t muster a comeback this time.

Minnesota lost a fumble to open the second half. Shortell responded with a 79-yard drive that ended in a 9-yard touchdown pass to Isaac Fruechte, cutting the Hawkeyes’ lead to 24-7 midway through the third quarter.

The Gophers had three more possessions without Iowa scoring, but Minnesota punted once and Shortell threw two interceptions — the second returned for a TD by Kirksey after the linebacker made a nice play to catch the ball.

Quarterback MarQueis Gray missed his second straight game for Minnesota, which hasn’t won at Kinnick Stadium since 1999.

Saturday was Kirk Ferentz’s 200th game as Iowa’s head coach.

SAN DIEGO (AP) – The San Diego Chargers will have a new kicker Sunday in Kansas City, with the team saying regular kicker Nate Kaeding didn’t make the trip for the game.

On the injury report Friday, Kaeding was listed as questionable because of a right groin injury.

The team said Nick Novak traveled to Kansas City, but that an official transaction hadn’t been made. The Chargers have until Sunday to officially sign Kaeding and announce the corresponding move.

Novak made 27 of 34 field goals last season in the final 15 games after Kaeding injured a knee in the opener. Novak was in the Chargers’ camp with Kaeding, but was cut late in the preseason.

In other injury news, left tackle Jared Gaither was listed as questionable with a back injury. He missed the entire preseason due to injury and resumed practice on Wednesday. Although he was a full participant at Friday’s practice, Chargers coach Norv Turner considered it difficult for him to step right in and start. Inside linebacker Demorrio Williams (hamstring) was also listed as questionable on the team’s injury report. Cornerback Quentin Jammer (hand) and outside linebacker Antwan Barnes (knee) were listed as probable.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Allen Craig matched his career best with four hits to go with two RBIs, Yadier Molina hit a two-run home run and the St. Louis Cardinals punished Edwin Jackson and the Washington Nationals early in a 12-2 victory Friday night to win a match-up of teams on the cusp of clinchers.

Roger Bernadina homered for Washington, which had its magic number for wrapping up the NL East reduced to two when Atlanta lost to the Mets. The Nationals, who secured the first postseason berth for Washington, D.C., since 1933 a week earlier, lead the Braves by four games with five to play and could wrap up the division title Saturday night.

Adam Wainwright (14-13) halted a string of four so-so starts with six solid innings for the Cardinals, whose magic number is three for securing the second NL wild card.