5 painful observations from the Illinois football loss to Penn State

5. Illinois avoided giving up the big plays

This game was close throughout. Illinois had every chance in the world to tie the game up or even have the lead at halftime, but we let Penn State off the hook.

I think the Illini defense played well; all things considered. Penn State did drive the ball on us a few times, but we were able to shut down most of the offensive possessions. I was particularly impressed with how Illinois didn’t allow big plays from a solid Nittany Lions offense.

After that first drive by Penn State, the Nittany Lions didn’t have a single play of 20 or more yards. Illinois kept everything in front of them. We didn’t let Penn State get going through the air and managed to contain the ground game to some extent.

This lack of big play ability also helped keep the game close. It enabled the Illini defense to reset and figure out how we could get to Drew Allar or what defense we could run to shut down the running attack.

Not having big plays against the Illinois defense took the crowd noise down a bit too. When you have a big play, crowds can get more into games. That didn’t happen often on Saturday night.

There weren’t a ton of bright spots for the Illini against Penn State, but the Illinois defense managed to play a solid game. We didn’t allow the Nittany Lions to secure big plays, and this helped make the game interesting.