Champaign, Illinois – After missing a 47-yard field goal to end its first possession, the Fighting Illini of Illinois served up a fumble and two INTs on its next three to spot the Nittany Lions (3-0,1-0) a 13-0 lead in the second period. The 11 am kickoff launched a low scoring first half. More Illini turnovers in the second led to a 30-13 Lion victory. The staunch Illini defensive front allowed only 92 yards among the first four PSU possessions. Otherwise, the game would have been out of hand even earlier. The Lions took over with good field position each time to start at the Illini 43, 22, and on their own 43 respectively. The first two drives resulted in 20-yard and 45-yard field goals by Alex Felkins. These gave the Nittany Lions a 6-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
LB Abdul Carter’s INT late in the first resulted in a 57-yard drive with Kaytron Allen taking it in from the four to give the Lions a 13-0 lead early in the second. Later in the period, Illini DT Jer’Zhan Newton blocked Felkin’s 52-yard attempt to take over on the 32. Illinois sustained a drive with Reggie Love III taking it over from the five to close the score to within seven. Before halftime, PSU’s Kaden Saunders returned a punt 19 yards out to the State 41 with 42 seconds remaining. Drew Allar completed a 33-yard pass to Liam Clifford to set up a 27-yard FG by Felkins as time expired for a 16-7 Penn State advantage at the intermission.
Collegefootballfan.com Scouting report
The first half exposed strengths and weaknesses of both teams. The Illini defensive front led by Newton and Keith Randolph Jr. demonstrated a formidable force. The potent Lion running game had a tough time against them in the red zone. The Penn State interceptions came on generally underthrown balls by Illini QB Luke Altmyer. He doesn’t possess a strong arm. The Lions also had both a field goal and a punt blocked. Special teams will need to be assessed moving forward into Big Ten East play.
Regarding PSU QB Drew Allar, his arm is strong, but he telegraphs all of his passes. He focuses on his primary target on every play. He’s got to learn to look off his receivers, widen his vision and perplex the secondary. Sometimes, he connected based purely on his arm strength, but other times defenders knocked away six of his passes. He won’t get away with that against Iowa’s secondary next week.
Do coaches coach? Do players listen?
This point leads me next to the PSU coaching strategy. On the series when they finally scored the first TD, they went with play action to freeze defenders, and it helped Allar. Though successful, they stopped doing that further in the second half. They didn’t use the strong running game they have to enable the play action to work. Hopefully in the future, adjustments will be made regarding Allar’s ability to look off receivers, and the strategy will utilize their running strength with a mix of play action for success. If PSU doesn’t, some better defenses in the future will be eating up more of their turnovers.
Some chicanery and more INTs
In the third, the teams exchanged the ball six times on one INT by Penn State and five punts. The Illini outgained the Lions 33 yards to 25 over these six series. Finally, PSU moved the ball on its next series as Allar spread three passes to different receivers, and Allen ran the ball 18 yards to the Illini 11. A bit of trickery was called on from there. Trey Watts lofted a halfback option pass to wide open Tyler Warren in the end zone to put the Lions up, 23-7, going into the fourth.
Cam Miller picked off another underthrown Altymer pass at the U of ILL 30 following a sack. Nick Singleton put the Lions on the scoreboard once again with a 16-yard run. Both teams replaced their starting quarterbacks on their next series and eventually more second team players came in to get in on some game action. Illini substitute QB John Paddock completed at touchdown pass to Malik Elzy for 19 yards, and their two-point conversion failed to make the final score a 30-13 victory for Penn State. The Lions remain No. 7 heading into next Saturday’s tussle against Iowa.
Next – tough game for PSU and a Double-header for us!
As mentioned, Penn State hosts Iowa (3-0) next Saturday. Despite no impressive wins by the Hawkeyes so far in 2023, they should be much more formidable. Last season, we saw Iowa defeat Kentucky in last year’s Music City Bowl, 21-0. They return key players from their always strong defense and specially in the secondary. All-American CB Cooper De Jean, S Quinn Schulte and S Xavier Nwankpa return from last year’s squad. They returned two pick sixes against the Wildcats for the shut out. PSU better consider adjustments in my scouting report for this encounter. On offense, the Hawkeyes can only be better. Former Michigan QB Cade McNamara, formerly with Michigan now plays under center for them.
The Illini finish their non-conference slate against the Florida Atlantic Owls (1-2). We at collegefootballfan.com stepped into a local Saturday double-header in the Nashville area. This one snuck up on us as another 11 am kickoff was announced last week. Vanderbilt (2-2) hosts Kentucky (3-0) at that time. Not our typical Vandy game here in Nashville that we typically avoid. Last season, the Commodore’s nipped the Wildcats, 24-21, in Lexington for their first of two SEC wins. This season, both teams have pretty decent and experienced QBs in Soph AJ Swann for Vandy and Devin Leary who transferred to Kentucky from NC State. We saw him in a 45-42 shoot-out loss against Wake Forest in 2021. This game looks more interesting now that it’s conveniently available to us.
Night cap
For this Saturday, we had already penned in Colorado State (0-2) at Middle Tennessee (1-2) for a 6 pm kickoff. Red Floyd Stadium in Murfreesboro is about an hour away from downtown Nashville – perfect! Colorado State comes off with a late, heart-breaking, OT loss to Colorado in the Rocky Mountain Showdown on Saturday, 43-35. Rick Stockstill’s Blue Raiders of MTSU come off their first win, 35-14, over FCS Murray State. This follows a loss to Alabama, and then a 23-19 loss at Missouri who just upset No. 15 Kansas State on Saturday. Hopefully, we’ll attend two exciting games in one day.
