Illinois football played a huge game in primetime but came up a bit short on the scoreboard.
It was nice to have a big primetime game as a ranked program. The Illini are starting to become a team that is talked about. We have already beaten multiple top-25 programs this season, but Penn State was too much to handle.
After trading touchdowns on the first two possessions of the game, Illinois and Penn State went quiet after that. A 7-7 halftime score quickly turned in the second half. Penn State managed to score a touchdown early in the third quarter, and that proved too much for the Orange and Blue.
Illinois couldn't find the end zone, or uprights for that matter, after the first drive of the game. The Illini would fall short to the Nittany Lions, 21-7.
Here are five painful observations from the Illinois football loss to Penn State
1. The Illinois blocking has to be better
For much of the 2024 season, the Illinois football offensive line has been solid. We have been able to protect Luke Altmyer so he can stand in the pocket and deliver strikes.
That didn’t happen against Penn State, though. The Nittany Lions have a much better defense than anything Illinois has seen this season. When we go up against a good defense like Penn State brought to the table on Saturday night, our offensive line folds.
Josh Kreutz had one of his worst games as a member of the program. He is a good center and has a bright future, but he laid an egg against Penn State. The bad snap over Altmyer's head was preceded by multiple missed blocks that led to Altmyer either getting sacked or scrambling.
Kreutz just highlights the bad night that the Illinois offensive line had against the Nittany Lions, but they weren’t the only ones who had trouble blocking.
There were multiple times Illinois could have had big plays out in the flat. All we needed was a nice block from a wide receiver. I specifically remember a screen that could have gone for a lot of yards. Collin Dixon just had to land a block, but he failed to make any meaningful impact on that play, and it was shut down quickly.
Blocking was one of the biggest issues I had on Saturday night. Illinois was in the game, and if we could have just had some better blocking, this could have been a win.
2. Jer’Zhan Newton was missed dearly
The saying goes, you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. Well, in this case, Illinois knew what we had in Jer’Zhan Newton. He was a consensus All-American and a monster in the middle of the defensive line.
Newton is now in the NFL with the Washington Commanders, and this past offseason, Illinois was tasked with filling the void left by him. While it seemed like the void was filled nicely, I am not sure that is the case.
On Saturday, I missed Newton greatly. I missed his presence on the defensive line and the ability to shut down plays both in the run and pass game. Newton was a menace, and it was a glaring issue against Penn State this time around.
While Drew Allar didn’t drop back a lot, Illinois wasn’t able to get much pressure on him all night long. Allar was able to pass with a decent pocket each time, and when we would get to him, it was due to the coverage being so good on the wide receivers.
Penn State saw a ton of success on the ground in the game on Saturday night too. Last season, the Nittany Lions had 40 carries for 164 yards against Illinois. They upped those numbers to 44 carries for 239 yards on Saturday. That is going from averaging 4.1 yards per carry to 5.4 yards per carry.
The defensive line just doesn’t have the burst it used to have when Newton was in town. He was incredible, and Illinois is still feeling the effects of his departure. I missed Newton greatly against the Nittany Lions.
3. Illinois went away from pushing the ball down the field
I never thought I would say this about an Illinois football team. It has been a long time since we have had a team that could push the ball down the field, but I think the best attribute about the current Illinois offense is the ability to throw the ball for more than 10 yards.
Luke Altmyer has been great this season when pushing the ball down the field. When he attempts passes of at least 10 yards, Altmyer is 30-of-49 for 592 yards, seven touchdowns, and zero interceptions. That is a 61.2% completion rate as well.
Those are incredible numbers for throwing those distances. Altmyer didn’t get a lot of downfield looks against Penn State, though. The first drive of the game was the big series when we scored a touchdown. Altmyer was able to find Zakhari Franklin for some big gains.
For the most part, those downfield passes stopped after the first series. Altmyer had a few big gains through the air, but he wasn’t able to get going for much of the final three quarters. I would have liked to have seen him air it out more before the final possession of the game.
There are reasons why I think Illinois went away from pushing the ball down the field. I believe a large reason is that Penn State could do whatever it wanted against the Illini offensive line.
Out of the 26 pass attempts from Altmyer on Saturday night, Penn State was able to get pressure on him on 21 of those attempts. That is way too much pressure. We have to be better up front. Illinois sees offensive movement when we push the ball down the field. We can’t do that if Altmyer is constantly seeing the opposing defense in the backfield.
4. Kaden Feagin saw success against Penn State
There weren’t a lot of highlights or success on the offensive side of the ball for Illinois. Putting up seven points in a game is a bit disheartening.
The one bright spot for the Illini on Saturday night was running back Kaden Feagin. He played well and was a big part of the Illinois offense on numerous occasions.
Feagin saw success against a tough Penn State defense both on the ground and through the air. He finished the game with 13 carries for 64 yards. He also had two catches for 12 yards.
Penn State was mainly focused on getting to Luke Altmyer all game long, and when Feagin did get the ball, he made the Nittany Lions pay. His bruising style of running and physical gifts are fun to watch.
It isn’t a surprise that Feagin ran well against Penn State. While they have one of the best run defenses in the country, Feagin had four carries for 15 yards against the Nittany Lions last season. That was his freshman year, and he wasn’t fully trusted yet in the backfield.
According to Pro Football Focus, Feagin’s game against Penn State was his best performance this season as well. He finished with a grade of 74.3, topping the first game of the season against Eastern Illinois when he graded out at 73.2.
Feagin is a good running back. In hindsight, maybe to take some pressure off of Luke Altmyer, Illinois should have run the ball a little more. That would have forced Penn State to focus more on the run and less on blitzing Altmyer.
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.