STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — James Franklin asked Penn State fans to bring White-Out energy into Beaver Stadium on Saturday night.
They didn’t let him down, wearing white, painting their faces and shaking pom poms to help rally the Nittany Lions in their Big Ten opener.
Nick Singleton ran for 102 yards and a touchdown, Kaytron Allen added 94 yards and a score and No. 9 Penn State pulled away in the second half to beat No. 19 Illinois 21-7.
Penn State (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) took a 14-7 lead on Singleton’s 4-yard touchdown run on its opening second-half possession. The Nittany Lions then went into lockdown mode as 109,911 fans all clad in white helped shut down what had been a surging Illinois offense.
“That was a phenomenal environment,” Franklin said. “We thought the fans had seven impacts on the game, whether it was timeouts, false starts, penalties or bad snaps.”
The Nittany Lion defense was there to capitalize. Penn State forced four punts, recovered a fumble and A.J. Harris intercepted Luke Altmyer’s pass late in the fourth quarter.
After scoring easily on their opening drive, the Illini (4-1, 1-1) managed just 25 rushing yards the rest of the way. They were tackled 13 times behind the line of scrimmage and allowed seven sacks.
Both teams scored on their first possessions before sputtering for the rest of the first half.
The Illini calmly marched 75 yards through the lingering smoke of pregame fireworks, converting a pair of third downs and getting help from a late hit to set up a Altmyer’s 4-yard touchdown pass to Carson Goda.
The Nittany Lions needed just eight plays over 4:02 to pull even. After big runs from quarterback Drew Allar and Singleton, tight end Tyler Warren leapt over the line of scrimmage from 3 yards out.
Penn State drove into Illinois’ territory again late in the second quarter, but stalled out at the 23 and Sander Sahaydak missed a 40-yard field goal.
Illinois botched its best shot to retake the lead moments later.
Having directed his offense down to Penn State’s 2, Altmyer had to retreat as the first-down snap sailed over his head. He then lost 3 yards on a keeper before he was sacked and called for intentional grounding on third down.
With the noise swelling, the Illini jumped early on their field goal try and kicker David Olano missed on the retry from 45 yards. It was one of five pre-snap penalties by the Illini on the night.
“Some moments that we could’ve capitalized on just didn’t happen,” Illinois coach Bret Bielema said. “You can’t beat the No. 9 team in the country having a first and goal at the 2 and come away with zero points. It doesn’t add up.”
Wide left and right
After his first 40-yard try sailed wide left, Sahaydak missed another kick from the same distance, this time pushing it wide right.
Franklin said he wouldn’t make a decision on changing kickers afterward, however.
The takeaway
Illinois: Illinois started fast but couldn’t make the adjustments necessary to escape Penn State’s speed on defense as the game wore on. Still, Illinois is off to its best start and has plenty to be proud of going into an off week.
Penn State: The Nittany Lions have one of the best rushing games in the country. Singleton and Allen bounced off tacklers and dragged others all night.
“I don’t know if there’s a better combination of running backs in the country,” Franklin said.
Tom Allen’s defense made enough tweaks to snuff out what had been a surging Illini offense.
Up next
Illinois: Hosts Purdue on Oct. 12.
Penn State: Hosts UCLA on Saturday.