W. Kentucky 41, Indiana St. 3

10/28/2006 7:17 PM

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) -Redshirt freshman running back Andrew McCloud rushed for 166 yards and three touchdowns to lead Western Kentucky to a 41-3 rout of Gateway Conference rival Indiana State at the Hilltoppers' homecoming Saturday.

McCloud scored two first-quarter touchdowns to give the Hilltoppers a quick 14-0 lead, then added another touchdown in the fourth quarter as part of Western Kentucky's highest scoring output of the season.

The victory improves the Hilltoppers to 5-3 overall, but more importantly to 4-1 in conference play, where the Hilltoppers moved into a tie for first place with Youngstown State.

Northern Iowa and Illinois State are both 3-1 in the Gateway Conference.

Indiana State (1-8, 1-4) struggled throughout the game with just 220 yards total offense, compared with 544 for Western Kentucky.

McCloud's effort was part of a 342 yards on the ground by Western Kentucky for 52 rushes.

Tyrell Hayden added 83 yards and a touchdown on 11 rushes, while Lerron Moore had 63 yards and a score on 11 attempts.

Western Kentucky led 17-3 at halftime, then put the game away with a Chris James 24-yard field goal and Moore's 1-yard touchdown run in a span of 2:17 in the third quarter to lengthen the lead to 27-3.

The Hilltoppers visit Northern Iowa next week.