Illinois November 24, 2014

Click here to view the mobile version

VOLUME 77 ISSUE 11 Penn State vs. Illinois November 24, 2014

The Letter It took Illinois 20 years to get retribution for Penn State’s famous Follow us on late drive in Memorial Stadium to Twitter and squelch a valiant Fighting Illini Check out the new upset attempt and save an Football Letter undefeated season for the 1994 Blog Nittany Lions. But Illinois did a similar thing to the visiting Lions in PSU 7 0 0 7 14 a must-win Senior Day game in the ILLINOIS 0 7 3 6 16 same stadium Saturday. With the outcome on the line, the CONTENTS Illini drove relentlessly down the field on a seven-play, 54-yard drive in a minute and 40 seconds, then watched Dave Reisner kick a 36-yard field The Letter goal with just eight seconds left to give the home team a 16–14 victory. Notes from the Cuff Other Sports Illinois has one more must-win game at Northwestern next week to News of Note become bowl-eligible and possibly save the job of head coach Tim Game Photos Beckman. Statistics It was the first Senior Day win in seven years for Illinois, which had won only two previous Big Ten games in the three-year tenure of Coach Beckman. PAST ISSUES The upset has taken some of the lustre off the bowl eligibility that the Lions View past issues earned last week with their win over Temple. And they still have to face 11th-ranked Michigan State Saturday in their own Senior Day finale. Coach James Franklin expressed his disappointment in his post-game press conference. “Obviously we didn’t play well enough in all three phases,” he said. “Offensively we played about the way we’ve played all year long … Our defense, week after week, has kind of had our back. Today they weren’t able to do that. We weren’t able to put consistent pressure on the FAN ZONE quarterback—probably less than we have all year. Our tackling was not

Football Schedule good—throwing shoulders, a lot of broken tackles, a lot of missed tackles, Team Roster especially late in the game.” GoPSUSports.com Penn State’s offense started out well, moving 52 yards in nine plays to a Radio/TV Listings touchdown on an 18-yard pass from quarterback Christian Hackenberg to Big Ten Football TV wide receiver Chris Godwin. It was the freshman’s first career touchdown, Schedule although he has caught at least one pass in each game this fall, totaling 19 Big Ten Standings receptions for 198 yards. Big Ten Schedule and Results The next bright spot for the offense Penn Staters in the didn’t come until the fourth quarter, Pros when tailback Akeel Lynch broke a couple of tackles at the line of For advertising info, scrimmage and cut to the outside, contact: Angelo Scialfa outracing the Illinois defense down 609-259-1910 the right sideline for a 47-yard [email protected] touchdown—the longest of his two-year career. In this two-point loss there were numerous plays that could have changed the outcome in the Lions’ favor. Defensive end Brad Bars, who is also one of three punt protectors for Dan Pasquariello, sparked State’s second possession with a 32-yard run on a fourth-down fake punt. However, as has happened so often this season, the drive petered out when it got into the red zone, and the Lions attempted a field goal. But the snap was low, and the holder couldn’t control it and get it into position for Sam Ficken to attempt a kick. So, Penn State came away with no points after driving to the IL-3. Illinois’ starting quarterback Wes Lunt was sacked twice by Anthony Zettel and C.J. Olaniyan and was ineffective moving the home team only 59 yards through the first 27 minutes of the game. Backup quarterback Reilly O’Toole entered the game and was no more successful on his first series, as State’s defense held him to just seven yards on three rushes. But on fourth down with Illinois in punt formation, the Penn State punt coverage, which has not put pressure on an opposing punter all season, jumped offsides. This gave the home team a first down at the IL-43 and sparked them to life. Running back Donovonn Young rushed twice for 11 yards, and O’Toole quickly completed four passes to Mike Dudek, the Illini’s leading receiver, for 45 more. And suddenly Illinois was facing a third-and-goal at the PS-1 against the nation’s best run defense and third best total defense with just 25 seconds left in the half. Illinois lined up in an old three-deep I-formation. O’Toole faked to the tailback, who had two blockers in front of him, and calmly blooped a one-yard pass to tight end Matt LaCosse for a TD. And the game was tied 7–7 at halftime, even though Penn State had dominated the action until the final minute. Illinois had to kick off to State to start the second half but benefitted from a very weird play. The kick sailed high into the 19-mile-an-hour wind blowing from the south. The wind stopped the ball abruptly and dropped it straight down 25 yards in front of the receivers waiting near the goal line. A kick off is a live ball, and the Illinois coverage team was able to recover the ball in the ensuing scrum at the PS-28. The Lion defense surrendered only 19 yards in five plays, but Reisner kicked a 28-yard field goal to give Illinois its first lead of the game, 10–7. Penn State regained the lead, when Lynch broke away on the game’s longest run to cap an eight-play, 77-yard drive, and the visitors were back on top, 14–10, with 13:37 left in the contest. But with O’Toole in command, the Illini marched 58 yards in 11 plays, until they were stopped by the Lion defense with a fourth-and-four at the PS-7, and Reisner booted a 25-yarder to set the score at 14–13. The Penn State offense went three-and-out, and the home team embarked on another march from the IL-30 with 6:15 remaining. Again, State’s defense stopped them at the PS-32, and Reisner attempted a 50-yarder with the wind. It sailed wide left, and the Lions had the ball with 3:29 on the clock. Penn State tried to run out the clock, but couldn’t get a first down. Facing a third-and-five, Hackenberg ran around right end, but was knocked out of bounds less than a yard short of the first-down marker at the PS-41. With 1:54 remaining Coach Franklin chose to punt again rather than try to convert the fourth down. That’s when O’Toole led his troops on their victory march. Penn State held the edge in all the statistics except passing yardage until the final two minutes. But Illinois quickly took the lead in the only statistic that counts—on the scoreboard. The Lions’ offense had put the pressure on the defense to save them one time too often. The visitors outrushed the home team, 172 to 68, but the Illini outpassed the Lions, 215 to 93. Illinois converted all four of its red zone chances—one touchdown and three field goals. State got only one touchdown in two trips inside the IL-20. For the first time all year, Sam Ficken, the Big Ten leader in field goals, did not get a chance to try one. State’s defense could not get a turnover against the team that had a turnover margin of minus seven. The Lions coughed up one fumble. Illinois and Penn State each entered the game with a receiver who had broken the school’s receiving yardage record for a freshman. Both had amassed 787 yards. Saturday Dudek caught 11 passes for 115 yards for the Illini. DaeSean Hamilton caught one aerial for six yards for the Lions. Lynch led all runners in the game with a career-high 137 yards on a career-high 28 carries. It was his second consecutive game with 130 yards or more. Bars was second on State’s list with his one carry for 32 yards. Hamilton netted 14 yards on three end-around plays. Bill Belton was hurt early, after gaining six yards on six carries, and stayed on the sidelines with a wrap on his shoulder the rest of the game. Hackenberg had his lowest stats of the year, completing eight of 16 passes for 93 yards and one touchdown. Not counting the Massachusetts game, State’s offense has tallied 15 touchdowns in 10 contests this fall. Saturday 17 seniors, who stuck with Penn State through the dark days of the first sanctions ever applied against the school by the NCAA, will be honored at the regular season finale against the mighty Michigan State Spartans. ABC/ESPN2 will televise the first game between the two rivals in four years with a 3:30 p.m. kickoff. For the Glory,

[PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION]

Part of your Penn State Alumni Association's mission is to strengthen the connection of alumni to the University and to provide valued services to members. The Football Letter is just one of the many benefits of membership provided to support that mission. Click here to view the mobile version

VOLUME 77 ISSUE 11 Penn State vs. Illinois November 24, 2014

Notes from the Cuff Penn State leads the all-time series with Follow us on Illinois, 17–5 … Twitter and Coach Franklin said in some ways the Lions Check out the had been asking for this kind of loss all year, new Football and it finally caught up with them. He thought Letter Blog the defense was worn out at the end. He cited the lack of takeaways and the absence of Bill Belton and said, “This loss hurts because we PSU 700714 didn’t play as well as we are capable of.” … ILLINOIS073616 Senior co-captain Miles Dieffenbach, a two- year starter before being sidelined by an ACL injury in spring practice, CONTENTS joined the starting lineup for the first time this fall and played the whole The Letter game. Brandon Bell, who has started at linebacker all season, was out with Notes from the Cuff an undisclosed injury and was replaced by Jason Cabinda, who became the Other Sports seventh true freshman to start this fall. Overall, he was the 15th Nittany News of Note Lion to start for the first time this year (11 on offense and four on defense) Game Photos … Statistics Illinois converted only two of 16 third downs, while State converted six of 15. In the last four games Penn State has held its foes to only nine of 63 PAST ISSUES third-down conversions … The Lions had a 32:51 to 27:09 margin in time of possession. Each team View past issues had two sacks … State’s last four losses have come by an average of 3.5 points. Its last four wins have come by an average of 15.5 points … Illinois’ Reilly O’Toole, known primarily as a running quarterback, completed 18 of 25 passes for 157 yards and one TD. He is the only QB who has played at least one quarter of a game against the Nittany Lions and not been sacked at all … FAN ZONE State has held nine of its 11 opponents to 20 points or less in regulation Football Schedule time … Team Roster The Lions lead the Big Ten in rushing defense, pass efficiency defense, and GoPSUSports.com third-down conversion defense and are No. 2 in scoring defense, first Radio/TV Listings downs allowed and total defense. They continue to lead the nation in Big Ten Football TV Schedule rushing defense at 81.7 yards per game and are in the top five in the other Big Ten Standings categories … Big Ten Schedule and Mike Hull has moved into the No. 9 spot on Penn State’s season charts with Results 121 tackles. He ranks seventh with 275 career tackles, passing Brandon Penn Staters in the Pros Short, Shane Conlan, and John Skorupan … For advertising info, Anthony Zettel got his seventh sack this season and raised his career total contact: Angelo Scialfa to 15, just one behind Shane Conlan for 15th on the career list … 609-259-1910 [email protected] In his five games as a starter since the injury to senior co-captain Ryan Keiser, true freshman Marcus Allen has made 39 tackles … Sophomore Akeel Lynch posted his fourth career 100-yard rushing game and his career-long 47-yard run … Tight end Jesse James extended his streak to 16 straight games with at least one pass reception … Quarterback Christian Hackenberg moved into sixth place on State’s career passing yardage list with 5,336 yards, passing Anthony Morelli and Kerry Collins. He is fourth in career completions with 448, passing Darryl Clark, and fifth in single season completions with 215. He is tied with Tom Shuman for ninth in career touchdown passes with 28.

[PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION]

VOLUME 77 ISSUE 11 Penn State vs. Illinois November 24, 2014

News of Note NITTANY LION CLUB MEMBERS CAN REQUEST BOWL TICKETS Follow us on Nittany Lion Club members are able to begin requesting tickets for Penn Twitter and State’s possible bowl destination prior to the December 7 bowl Check out the announcement. Penn State is eligible to participate in its 45th bowl game new Football and ranked ninth nationally in bowl appearances entering this season. Letter Blog Tickets also are available for Penn State’s final regular season game, Saturday’s home contest against Michigan State. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. For more information, read the GoPSUsports release here. PSU 700714 HUDDLE WITH THE FACULTY ILLINOIS073616 Alumni and friends can catch light refreshments and some food for thought at “Huddle with the Faculty,” the popular free lecture series hosted by the CONTENTS Penn State Alumni Association each home football Saturday at The Nittany Lion Inn. The Letter Notes from the Cuff The final presentation in the 22nd annual Huddle series: Other Sports Nov. 29 (Michigan State): “Preserving Wealth and News of Note Relationships,” featuring Cathy Faulcon Bowen, Game Photos professor and consumer issues specialist in the Statistics College of Agricultural Sciences Spend an hour learning (or reviewing) key PAST ISSUES considerations for preserving your financial assets in retirement and beyond. Reduce the chance that View past issues your children and close relatives will second-guess decisions about protecting personal assets for future generations. Participants will leave with ideas and tools to take action. Cathy Bowen addresses perennial consumer issues such as budgeting, using credit, recordkeeping, consumer rights and responsibilities, teaching kids about money, and health insurance. Bowen earned a bachelor’s degree from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical FAN ZONE State University in Greensboro, N.C., and completed her master’s degree Football Schedule and Ph.D. at The Ohio State University. Team Roster All “Huddle with the Faculty” programs start promptly at 9 a.m. and include GoPSUSports.com free parking at the Nittany Parking Deck. The Huddle series, presented by Radio/TV Listings the Alumni Association, is sponsored by The Village at Penn State and Big Ten Football TV Schedule supported by The Nittany Lion Inn and Penn State Press. Big Ten Standings PENN STATE MEN’S ICE HOCKEY HEADS TO NYC NOV. 29 Big Ten Schedule and Results Penn State men’s ice hockey will make its first appearance at Madison Penn Staters in the Pros Square Garden later this month, when the Nittany Lions battle Cornell at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 29, as part of the Frozen Apple. Alumni Association chapters in the area will be coming out to support the team and hosting For advertising info, special events to support our Nittany Lions. For specifics, check out the contact: Angelo Scialfa New York section of our affiliate group website. 609-259-1910 [email protected] To read the original release from Intercollegiate Athletics, click here, and for more information on purchasing tickets, visit ticketmaster.com. REVISED UNIVERSITY BAG POLICY FOR ATHLETIC EVENTS Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics is advising fans to review the University’s bag policy prior to attending athletic events during the 2014 –15 competitive season. The University policy has undergone several revisions, many of which have changed what items are allowed in each of Penn State’s Athletics facilities. Read the GoPSUsports.com story.

[PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION]