Cedar Falls, Iowa -- Northern Iowa's balanced offensive attack proved to be too much for the Youngstown State football team on Saturday afternoon at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. UNI had an impressive offensive showing finishing with 618 yards in a 47-9 victory over the Penguins

The loss drops Youngstown State to 5-5 overall and 2-3 in the Gateway Football Conference. Northern Iowa improves to 8-1 overall and remains in first place in the Gateway at 5-0.

YSU sophomore quarterback Aaron Marshall threw for a career-high 213 yards completing 15-of-26 passes, but it wasn't enough for the Penguins. Sophomore wide receiver Kyle Smith had the best game of his young career with 142 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown grab from Marshall. Smith's receiving total was the most by a Penguin since Elliot Giles' school-record 214 in the 1999 playoffs at Montana.

In the first half, the Panthers took control of the game building a 26-3 lead by halftime and YSU could never recover.

Petrie had two touchdown tosses, the first a 47-yard bomb to Marlus Mays just under six minutes into the game.

But YSU capitalized on a UNI fumble for its first points of the game.

Marty Hutchinson recovered a Terrance Freeney fumble, however all Youngstown State could muster was a 35-yard field goal from Nick Terracina cutting the deficit to 7-3..

The first quarter ended that way, but UNI turned its slim lead into a 23-point halftime advantage by scoring 19 unanswered points in the second quarter.

Ahead 7-3, Petrie found tight end Andy Thorn on a four-yard score with 13:51 left in the period to go in front 14-3.

Freeney added a six-yard touchdown run with 4:55 left in the half to extend the advantage to 20-3.

Before the half, UNI placekicker Brian Wingert kicked field goals of 48 yards with 2:07 remaining and 33 yards with two seconds left to make the score 26-3 at the half.

In the third, UNI jumped ahead 33-3 on a seven-yard score by Richard Carter, before Marshall connected with Smith on his 47-yard touchdown toss to get the Penguins within 33-9.

UNI answered quickly as Petrie threw a 62-yard pass to Benny Sapp with 1:38 remaining in the third pulling ahead 40-9.

UNI finished the game with 377 yards rushing and 241 yards through the air. YSU had 298 total yards, 236 of which came through the air.

The Penguins are on the road for the second straight week against a top-10 team when they travel to Southern Illinois. The Salukis, rallied from an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat Western Kentucky 28-24 on Saturday and remain in first-place tie with UNI.