College Football
Game Preview: Penn State faces Illinois
The Penn State Nittany Lions took down Kent State 63-10 last weekend to wrap up non-conference play. Penn State begins Big Ten conference play as they travel to Illinois to take on the fighting Illini. Here is the game preview as Penn State faces Illinois.
Penn State
Penn State begins week one of Big Ten conference play ranked No 10 in the country with a unbeaten record of 3-0. Quarterback Trace McSorley has pioneered the offense as of late and Miles Sanders has shown that so far, he’s doing just fine as for replacing Saquon Barkley.
Thus far, Penn State has scored a total of 159 points in their first three games combined, while holding their opponents to just 54 points. Additionally, Trace Mcsorley has passed for a total of 603 yards on 87 attempts and has completed 45 of those passes along with one interception for a rating of 126.61 percent.
Miles Sanders in three games has 49 rushes for 315 yards on the ground along with two touchdowns. Receiving wise, K.J Hamler leads the charge with seven receptions for 129 yards and two touchdowns. Not far behind him is Brandon Polk with six receptions for 119 yards. He also has two touchdowns.
Last weekend, the Nittany Lions took on the Kent State Golden Flashes. Penn State won 63-10. Trace McSorley had five touchdowns, two passing and three running. He also had a combined total yards of 290 between rushing and passing. In other words, you could say he was the offense.
Illinois
The Illinois Fighting Illini come into this game with a 2-1 record. Last weekend, Illinois faced Southern Florida. In the game, quarterback M.J Rivers II completed 20 of his 29 passes. However, he didn’t record a touchdown.
As for rushing, running back Mike Epstein had 19 rushes for 113 yards and one touchdown. Mike Epstein also led in the receiving department as well as he had five receptions for 56 yards.
Series History
The Penn State Nittany Lions and Illinois Fighting Illini have met 23 times overall. Penn State leads the all-time series 18-5 and has won six of their past eight meetings. The last time both teams met was in 2015.
Friday Night Games
For the first time in a long time, Penn State will play a Friday night game. In fact, Penn State hasn’t played a Friday night game in 36 years. To be exact, Penn State played their last Friday night game in the year 1982. They defeated Pittsburgh 19-10 on the day after Thanksgiving. That year also happened to be a big year for Penn State. It’s no secret that James Franklin and company are not fans of Friday night games but due to a rule change, Friday night games now exist in the Big Ten conference.
Conclusion
Penn State travels west to face Illinois on Friday. This has been the game preview as Penn State faces Illinois. Kickoff is set for 9 pm EST and 8 pm CT and is set to be televised on Fox Sports one.
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Photo credit to Penn State alumni association via Flickr
