No. 7 Penn State captures gritty 30-13 win over Illinois

It was a slow start for No. 7 Penn State right out of the gate, but the defense turned into offense in the second half.

The Nittany Lions improved to 3-0 as they took down Illinois 30-13 on Saturday afternoon.

Illinois won the coin toss and elected to take the ball right out of the gate. The Fighting Illini then wasted no time, getting moving against a blue and white defense that allowed just seven points and 140 yards against Delaware one week prior.

Led by 20 rushing yards from Reggie Love III and a couple of big passes from Luke Altmyer, the home team pushed the ball 51 yards on the Nittany Lions. However, the Fighting Illini were held there, leaving Caleb Griffin with a 47-yard field goal attempt, which he missed wide to the right.

With Drew Allar at the helm for the first time on the road, the Penn State offense stalled out on the first drive, gaining just one yard in part due to a Malik McClain dropped passed and route miscommunication with his quarterback.

From there on out, the script flipped for the two sides as Illinois turned the ball over on three straight drives while Penn State scored on their next three.

Dom DeLuca, who had an interception returned for a touchdown against Delaware, forced a fumble that was picked up by Kobe King. The Nittany Lions moved the ball down to their two-yard line, with a Tyler Warren 13-yard reception doing the bulk of that work.

James Franklin and Mike Yurcich opted to run out their “T-Formation,” which has been responsible for plenty of Penn State touchdowns over the last two seasons, but the Illini were ready for it, stopping the Nittany Lions dead in their tracks and holding them to an Alex Felkins 20-yard field goal make.

After DeLuca, the former walk-on forced the first turnover, it was Abdul Carter, a former four-star recruit, who intercepted a pass from Altmyer. This time around, the Nittany Lions offense only moved backward, resulting in a 45-yard field goal from Felkins.

Trailing by six, Altmyer dropped back for his second consecutive pass that was intercepted. This time around it was Daequan Hardy, who was making his season debut for the Nittany Lions after being injured the first two weeks.

Unlike after the previous interception, the blue and white offense got moving in large part due to a 13-yard reception by KeAndre Lambert-Smith and an 11-yard reception from Warren. Those two set up Kaytron Allen to punch in his second touchdown of the season from four yards out.

A three-and-out from Illinois gave Penn State the ball right back, but as the Nittany Lions moved the ball down the field, Lambert-Smith received a personal foul that pushed the Nittany Lions back 15 yards and set up a 52-yard field goal attempt.

Felkins, who was three-for-three on the season following his first two attempts in this contest, had his attempt blocked, which altered the momentum of the game. Illinois took the ball right down the field on Penn State and finished it with a five-yard score by Love.

Right before halftime, Allar found Liam Clifford for a 33-yard gain, which put the Nittany Lions at the Illinois 11-yard line. Felkins was trotted out for the fourth time in the half following an Allar incompletion and drilled it from 28 yards out to give Penn State the 16-7 lead heading into halftime.

The second half was much of the same for both teams as the two teams failed to score on the first six drives of the third quarter, including another Illinois drive that ended in an interception, this time by Johnny Dixon.

On the seventh drive, the scoreboard finally saw a change that was not just the time being ticked off the clock as Penn State went seven plays and 68 yards down the field for the score. Allen’s 27-yard rush set up Penn State at the Illinois 11-yard line.

The Nittany Lions found paydirt with some creativity as Trey Potts took the handoff before throwing the ball to Warren to put the Nittany Lions up 23-7.

It wasn’t long before the blue and white got the chance to strike again as Cam Miller became the fourth visiting player to intercept Altmyer. Altmyer’s counterpart Allar connected with Dante Cephas for a 13-yard completion before Nicholas Singleton rushed it for 16 yards and the touchdown.

That touchdown put Penn State up 30-7, which extended Penn State’s streak of scoring 30 or more points to 10 games, which leads the nation.

Illinois answered later in the quarter with backup quarterback John Paddock, who took over for Altmyer after he went 15-of-28 for 163 yards with no touchdowns and four interceptions, leading the offense.

Paddock found Malik Elzy on a 19-yard face in the endzone to make it 30-13 as the Fighting Illini didn’t convert the two-point conversion.

Paddock wasn’t the only backup quarterback to see playing time, as Beau Pribula took over for Allar in the fourth quarter. Allar finished the game 16-of-33 for 208 yards and added 24 yards on the ground.

Pribula and the offense could not get anything going, but the defense held strong as Penn State held onto its 30-13 victory.

Justin Ciavolella is a third-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jtc5751@psu.edu.