NORMAL, Ill. (AP) _ Dusty Burk hit Ricky Garrett with a 15-yard touchdown pass for the go-ahead score in the fourth quarter as playoff-bound Illiinois State beat Western Illinois 38-30 Saturday to finish 6-0 in the Gateway Conference.

The Redbirds (8-2), ranked 11th in Division I-AA, finished unbeaten season in league play for the first time.

Burk hit Garrett on the first play of the fourth quarter and Jake Strader's PAT made it 31-24.

Western Illinois (5-4, 1-4), the defending league chammpion, came back on Charles Tharp's 10-yard run with 10:10 to play, but Joe Lopez, who kicked three field goals, missed the extra point.

Leading 31-30, the Redbirds wrapped up the win on Alfred Corbin's 45-yard interception return with 6:27 to go.

Aveion Cason returned the opening kickoff 100 yards to give the Redbirds an early lead. Illinois State took a 17-16 halftime lead on Strader's 39-yard field goal on the final play. A pass interference call against Western as time ran out in the half gave State an extra play on the 22-yard line, and Strader converted.

Tharp carried 31 times for 137 yards for the Leathernecks.

The crowd of 14,108 was the largest at Hancock Stadium in more than 20 years.