st. Paul, minn. -- concordia university (3-5, 2-5 nsic, 0-4 nsic south) was unable to hold onto an 11 point lead in the fourth quarter as southwest minnesota state (4-4, 4-3 nsic, 3-2 nsic south) rallied for three touchdowns in the final nine minutes to upend the host golden bears 38-28 on saturday afternoon at griffin stadium. box score

redshirt freshman quarterback spencer ohm (blooming prairie, minn.) had his best career performance, completing 16-30 for 226 yards and three touchdowns to no interceptions. But he was sacked six times and it was his fumble deep cu territory that allowed smsu to score the go-ahead touchdown with 8:31 to play on a 17 yard touchdown pass.

ohm hooked up with sophomore wide receiver calvin simon (shakopee, minn.) twice in the first half for scores, a four yarder with 4:06 in the first quarter and a 46 yarder with 1:22 to play in the half. Simon finished with four catches for 72 yards.

but it was a defensive play that started the scoring for the golden bears on the first play from scrimmage. Smsu quarterback josh shudlick was pressured by junior will brown (de, shoreview, minn.), who deflected shudlick's pass straight up with senior duy huynh (lb, apple valley, minn.) securing it near the line of scrimmage. Huynh caught the ball with a clear path to the end zone for concordia's third defensive touchdown of the year just 14 seconds into the game.

simon's first touchdown reception just over 10 minutes later gave cu a 14-0 lead.

after simon's second td gave concordia a 21-7 lead with 82 seconds to play in the half, the mustangs marched 62 yards on seven plays in 54 seconds to pull smsu within a score at the break.

smsu started the second half with a commanding drive, using nearly eight and a half minutes of clock time for a 16 play, 59 yard drive that resulted in a 40 yard field goal by scott talcott.

just five second into the fourth quarter, cu's all-time leader in receiving touchdowns added his 30th career td haul from five yards out from ohm to put cu ahead 28-17. Ruffin's td capped an 11 play, 77 yard drive that spanned 5:08 to regain the momentum.

the mustangs would respond with a 10 play, 76 yard scoring drive in just 2:30 as shudlick found blake wilson for a 13 yard scoring play. It was shudlick's third touchdown pass of the day that brought smsu to within four, 28-24 with nine minutes to play.

on the ensuing drive, ohm was sacked and fumbled, losing the fumble for cu's first turnover after playing near mistake free football for the first 50-plus minutes. Two plays later, shudlick threw his fourth touchdown pass, a 17 yard strike to derek townsend, his second td receipt to give smsu their first lead, 31-28.

on their next possession, the golden bears went three and out but were able to hold smsu to a three and out on the defensive end.

cu took over again with 5:41 to play on their own 24 yard line. Redshirt freshman running back jerry shaw (milwaukee, wis.) jump-started the drive with a 17 yard reception on a screen pass before bursting up the middle for 12 yards on the fourth play of the drive to give concordia a first and 10 from the smsu 32 yard line.

but an incomplete pass, a costly penalty and a dropped swing pass to freshman running back sam campbell (cary, ill.) set up cu with a third and 15 from the smsu 37.

ohm completed a 10 yard pass over the middle to sophomore tight end hayden vavra (cambridge, minn.), but the fourth down pass by ohm fell incomplete as he was under pressure.

the concordia defense had smsu with a third and five on their own 32, but zach wysong burst around the left end and found daylight, sprinting 68 yards for a touchdown to put cu in a 10 point hole, 38-28 with 1:54 to play.

on their final drive, ohm was sacked three times along with an incomplete pass to simon to seal the game.

campbell finished with 86 all-purpose yards, rushing 14 times for 37 yards with five receptions for 49 yards. As a team, cu rushed 32 times for 63 yards, but 44 yards were lost on sacks.

smsu, meanwhile, rushed 27 times for 146 yards with 68 of those coming on wysong's fourth quarter touchdown burst.

ruffin concluded his performance with a pair of receptions for 44 yards and is now 90 yards short of concordia's career receiving yards record and is two receptions shy of moving into second on the career receptions list at cu.

shudlick, who attempted over 60 passes in a loss last week at augustana, threw 48 more times today, completing 30 for 260 yards. He was sacked just once and only threw the first quarter interception.

sophomore linebacker rojeer wright (minneapolis, minn.) once again led the golden bear defense with nine tackles, making one stop for a loss. Making his first start of the season, junior defensive back joe butler (kansas city, mo.) had eight tackles - all solo while senior defensive end tim oachs (mankato, minn.) had seven tackles, two for loss.

smsu outgained cu 406 to 289 in total offense on 13 more plays (75-62). Smsu finished with over a four minute time of possession advantage as well. Smsu converted 6-16 on third down and 2-2 on fourth down while cu was just 2-11 on third and 0-2 on fourth downs.

the golden bears close out their home schedule next saturday, october 25 when they entertain upper iowa in an nsic south division matchup. Cu is still seeking their first south division win. Game time is 1:00 p.m. At griffin stadium.

photos courtesy andy schlichting, smsu athletic communications assistant