Instant Recap: Penn State survives slow start, defeats Illinois 30-13
Despite a poor offensive effort in the first half, the No. 7 Penn State Nittany Lions defeated the Illinois Fighting Illini on Saturday afternoon in Champaign.
In the first half, it was a series of missed opportunities as the Nittany Lions were able to garner just 13 points in the first half despite forcing turnovers on three consecutive drives. The Nittany Lions, in the first half, garnered just 197 yards of offense and averaged under five yards per play.
Illinois selling out to stop the Penn State rushing attack kept the Nittany Lions to just 2.9 yards per rushing attempt, while the Illini were able to fluster and keep Drew Allar off his game as the sophomore had the first "rough" start of his young career.
The Nittany Lions, on their first offensive drive of the game, would go three-and-out, garnering just one yard, but would immediately get another opportunity as Dominic DeLuca forced a fumble. It marked the second straight week that the former walk-on forced a turnover.
After the fumble, the Nittany Lions offense would get all the way down to the lllini's five-yard line, but their dive would stall out; Kaytron Allen was unable to hold onto a perfectly thrown ball from Drew Allar over an Illinois defender. After failing to punch it in, Alex Felkins would make a 20-yard field goal to put the Nittany Lions up 3-0.
On Illinois's ensuing drive, the Nittany Lions would force a second turnover, this time Abdul Carter picking off a poor pass from Luke Altmyer. It was the sophomore linebacker's first career interception. But much like the Nittany Lions' drive after the fumble, they would be unable to take advantage of the turnover, this time settling for a 45-yard field goal from Felkins.
If two turnovers in a row weren't enough, the Nittany Lions defense would force a third straight turnover for Illinois. Defensive back Daequan Hardy, who was playing in his first game of the season after missing each of the first two games, picked off another Altmyer pass. Giving Penn State's offense quality field position at their own 43-yard line.
Unlike the first two drives following turnovers, the Nittany Lions offense would take advantage of Hardy's interception. The Nittany Lions offense would go 57 yards over 12 plays before Kaytron Allen was able to pick up his second touchdown of the season from four yards out to give Penn State a 13-0 lead.
The Nittany Lions offense would look to add a third Felkins field goal midway through the second quarter, but Illinois's Jer'Zhan Newton, who had a monster of a game, blocked the field goal, giving the Illini momentum. Illinois's offense would capitalize on the flipped momentum, going 68 yards across seven plays to cut Penn State's lead to just 13-7. The Nittany Lions would add that their field goal from Felkins as time expired in the first half to head into halftime up 16-7.
After settling down at halftime, the Nittany Lions would have much better control of the game in the second half. After the two offenses traded four three-and-outs across five drives, the only drive in which there wasn't three and out was an interception by Johnny Dixon.
With under three minutes to play in the third quarter, Penn State would pull out some trickeration as a toss to Trey Potts would turn into Potts, giving his best quarterback impression, finding a wide-open Tyler Warren in the endzone to make it 23-7. Following a fourth interception thrown by Luke Altmyer, this time into the hands of Cam Miller, the Nittany Lions would seal the victory on a 16-yard touchdown run by Nicholas Singleton to make it a 30-7 game.
Illinois would score a touchdown with under five minutes to play against mostly second-teamers for the Nittany Lions to cut Penn State's 23-point lead down to the eventual final score of 30-13.
By no means was Saturday a pretty win for Penn State. The Nittany Lions totaled just 383 total yards of offense, averaging exactly five yards per play. The run game that struggled in the first half eventually got going in the second half as Illinois tired, averaging 4.1 yards per game.
Quick takeaways
- Drew Allar, in his first road start, has plenty to clean up himself after this one as well. The sophomore missed several opportunities throughout the game, including multiple touchdown opportunities. He ultimately finished the day completing 16-of-33 passing opportunities for 208 yards.
- It was a strong day for Penn State's defense, however. The Nittany Lions forced five turnovers and kept Illinois to 354 total yards (4.8 yards per play). Across the Illini's 15 total drives, they averaged a time of possession of just 1:44 and had four three-and-outs. Like the offense, there will be quite a bit to clean up for the Nittany Lions, but it was a quality effort in their first road test of the season.
Up Next
Penn State returns home next Saturday as the Nittany Lions will take on the Iowa Hawkeyes in their annual WhiteOut game.
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