Illinois Vs. Penn State Game Blog

Once again, IlliniBeat will be blogging live from Memorial Stadium to bring you all of the action as the Illini take on the Penn State Nittany Lions. Check back from now until after the game for updates!

Acting as captains for Illinois during the coin toss were Hardeman, Hooman, Block, and Pilcher. For PSU, we have Daryll Clark and Sean Lee. Illinois will receive.

Returning for Illinois are Benn and the Freshman Terry Hawethorne who now wears 12 and not 3.

Illinois had time on the first play to make a nice pass completion, but the accuracy wasn't there on the pass.

Juice hits Dufrene for a nice gain on the screen.

The offense looks like it is doing a great job of protecting Juice on the opening drive. I also notice that the offense has been using only 2 or 3 WR for the most part and not 4.

Cumberland just commited one of those penalties that you can't have. The Illini were about to make PSU start inside of their 8 yard line until the fair catch interference caused the 15 yarder.

The Illini defense helped Cumberland out, and the Nittany Lions go 3 and out. Fayson back to return.

Fayson is dangerous, but his decision making needs to be better. Twice now I have seen him fail to fair catch a punt only to watch it stop inside the 5. 66 yards punt for Jeremy Boone.

This could have been one of those times where Illinois crumbles and gives up great field position. Instead, Illinois is marching... something it hasn't done well all year. 3 here, 4 there, another 7 on this one... The Illini offense is built for big plays, so this is a great sign that it is moving pretty well on a good PSU defense.

Illinois lucked out on Santella's punt. It didn't have much hang time and was lucky to get an Illini bounce. We look decent on offense, but we still haven't opened up the passing as much as I'd like. Most of Juice's passes have been short dump off's.

Illinois is looking better on defense compared to previous weeks, but I would still like to see some more pressure on Clark. I understand that the defense is designed to keep everything infront of them and rely on good tackling, but I think opposing QB's have too much time. As I say that, Illinois gets great pressure on Clark and force a PSU punt.

Illinois just ran the Pistol offense. It can be pretty effective when run well. Indiana has been showcasing it this year and has done quite well with it.

There have been 838 coaching changes since Joe Paterno took over at PSU... that means 14 coaches every year for the 60 years he has been in carge.

Poor tackling does the Illini in on this drive. Stephon Green takes it up the middle 52 yards for the touchdown. PSU 7 Ill 0. I thought we were playing reletively well, but if you want to knock off a top 15 team, you need to minimize the big plays.

Terry Hawethorne returns the first kickoff of his career for 12 yards.

Great QB keeper by Juice. I was fooled in the press box. 12 yard gain.

There it is! Illinois goes deep for really the first time all year and hooks up for a 49 yard gain. The pass was not only a great play, but it also puts Juice Williams in front of Kurt Kittner for most offensive yards at Illinois with over 8,880!

With the second Quarter winding down and PSU in our territory, the ending to this half will be key. Hold them to 3 and maybe score yourself, then you go into half time scoring 2 of the last 3 points... Give up a touchdown, and it is hard to keep the motivation during halftime.

Chris Duvalt makes a nice catch over the middle to get Illinois out of the wrong end zone. After that there was a successful out route on the right and then the left sideline. The passing game has been looking good in the two minute drill.

Did Benn catch the ball? 3 seconds remain, and this is a big call. If it is a catch Illinois has a chance to score... If not, they will have to rely on a hail mary.

The play is called incomplete, and a hail mary almost turned into 7 points for PSU after the interception is returned across midfield from the 2 yard line.

PSU returns the second half kickoff to the 15. Aaron Gress made a great Special Teams play.

Illinois has got to get pressure on the opposing quarterbacks. So far the Illini have gotten 1.3 sacks per game.... good for 110th in the NCAA.

Santella is forced to punt on the Illini's opening posession of the second half.

Twice now Illinois has had PSU against the wall with a tough third down, and twice now Clark has run the QB draw and scrambled for a long gain into the Illini Red Zone.

Clark finishes what he started with his legs. Touchdown PSU making it 14-3 with 6:34 remaining in the third quarter.

Hubie Graham just took the kickoff for a very respectable return considering he is a TE. Illini start at the 41.

Illinois needs to go down field some more. I understand that this is a good defense, but we have made little to no gain with the run game. The Illini were spreading the field out and driving, but now the down field pass has disappeared again.

PSU has found it's ground game. There have been questions all season long about Penn State's offensive line and the running game's consistancy. The Illini opened up strong against the run, but I get the feeling that they have been on the field too long, and that they are pretty winded.

Aaron Gress in at Linebacker for the red zone. I have not seen him in that role yet, but maybe I just missed it.

I just found a scarry stat on today's game through 3 quarters... Between Green, Royster, and Clark, PSU is averaging 8.8 yards per carry... WOW.