MARSHALL, Minn. – The Southwest Minnesota State University football team opened NSIC South Division play earning its fourth straight victory behind a career-high 124 yards rushing from Donald Austin and two interceptions by Onte Burns, including returning one for a touchdown, in cruising to a 47-7 homecoming victory over Upper Iowa University on Saturday night in NSIC football.
 
The four-game winning streak is SMSU's first since 2015, while the program is off to its first 4-1 start since the 2016 season.
 
UIU, which falls to 0-5 overall, 0-1 NSIC South, was limited to 201 yards of offense, including just 67 passing yards.
 
Burns, who leads the NSIC in tackles and ranks fourth in Division II, returned the second of his interceptions 30 yards for his second career touchdown to help the Mustangs build a 34-0 halftime lead.
 
SMSU racked up 436 yards of offense, including 252 on the ground, while closing with 23 first downs. Austin, who started in place of the team's leading rusher, Jesse Sherwood, who missed the game due to injury, carried the ball 18 times for his first career 100-yard rushing game. Blake Allen added 83 yards and a touchdown on 11 attempts.
 
Justus McComb passed for a career-high 184 yards and two touchdowns while completing 13 of 20 pass attempts. McComb completed passes to eight different receivers with Rashaan Palmer finishing with three receptions for 58 yards.
 
Peter Osman scored three touchdowns, including a pair of short touchdown runs and his first career touchdown reception.
 
Thomas Mergen led the Mustangs on defense with eight tackles, while Burns finished with seven stops. Carter Schmitz and Marquise Ogletree each recorded six tackles with Ogletree also adding two pass break-ups.
 
Both teams punted to open the game before SMSU was able to score the game's first points as McComb broke free for a 34-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter.
 
UIU would put together a 13-play, 57-yard drive on its next possession, but failed to score following a missed 32-yard field goal.
 
SMSU added to the lead early in the second quarter as McComb found Aiden Ferguson with a 22-yard pass down to the 1-yard line, before Osman scored a play later on a 1-yard run.
 
Following another UIU punt, SMSU added to the lead with Osman scoring again on a 1-yard run to cap off a nine-play, 50-yard drive, to make the score 21-0 with 7:35 left in the half.
 
Moments later the SMSU defense then made another big play as Burns intercepted Marcus Orr at the 30-yard line and returned it for his second career interception return for a touchdown versus to make the score 27-0 . Burns also had an interception return for a touchdown versus UIU in 2019.
 
After UIU went three-and-out, SMSU added another touchdown as McComb lofted a 19-yard touchdown pass to Dustin Pampel to extend the lead to 34-0 into halftime.
 
The Mustang defense continued their strong play in the third quarter limiting the Peacocks to just 15 yards on 10 plays. SMSU would score the only points in the third quarter as McComb tossed a 21-yard touchdown pass to Osman to push the lead to 41-0 after three.
 
SMSU would conclude its scoring early in the fourth quarter with Allen bursting through with a 3-yard touchdown run.
 
SMSU, in search of its first shutout since 2004, saw UIU score its lone points of the game on a 5-yard touchdown run with 4:15 left in the game.
 
SMSU returns to the road next Saturday, Oct. 8, with a big showdown versus the University of Sioux Falls (5-0, 1-0 NSIC South) with kickoff slated for 1 p.m.