YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) _ Jeff Ryan threw for three touchdowns and ran 7 yards for the go-ahead score with 7:24 left as Youngstown State beat Western Illinois 28-24 Saturday night.

Ryan's rushing score capped a six-play, 56-yard drive highlighted by his 35-yard pass to Elliott Giles.

After Ryan's touchdown, Western Illinois (3-1 and 0-1 Gateway Athletic Conference) went on a 15-play, 78-yard drive that stalled with 44 seconds to play when Mark Zanders was stopped twice at Youngstown State's 1-yard line.

Ryan took two snaps to run out the clock for Youngstown State (3-1 and 1-0).

Ryan completed 12 of 18 passes for 227 yards with one interception. He had scoring passes of 22 yards to Jared Zwick with 29 seconds left in the first half and 43 yards and 8 yards to John Schumacher in the third quarter.

Western Illinois went out to a 21-0 lead on a 1-yard touchdown run by Erik Rogers in the first quarter and second-quarter touchdown runs of 1 yard and 13 yards by Charles Tharp in the second. Tharp rushed 36 times for 178 yards and caught five passes for 80 yards.

Joe Lopez kicked a 19-yard field goal for Western Illinois in the fourth quarter.