Beaver Stadium rocked for all the nation to see and provided the critical 12th-man advantage Saturday, as 12th-ranked Penn State stopped No. 22 Illinois, 38-24, in the 2008 prime-time “Penn State White Out” telecast by ABC and enjoyed by all except a few brave, Orange-clad fans among the 109,626 that comprised the eighth-largest crowd ever assembled on the University Park campus.
The sodden skies that dropped intermittent showers on Happy Valley parted just enough to provide a lovely sunset glow over the sea of blue-and-white canopies dominating the expansive tailgate areas surrounding the Beav before the 8 p.m. kickoff.
But inside the giant oval it was pure white, shimmering through the big television lenses and shattering the eardrums of the Illini trying to hear the snap count on each play. “We determine when you hear the snap count” read the message on the white shirt of one student in the south end zone. And that was certainly the case for the entire 60 minutes Coach Ron Zook’s charges spent in front of what national media have labeled “the best student section in college football.”
The impressive victory over an excellent Illinois squad on a misty Saturday night catapulted the undefeated Nittany Lions all the way to No. 6 in both major polls and left them as the highest-ranking team in the Big Ten Conference, after the two-point loss by Wisconsin at Michigan.
ABC had some excellent entertainment to offer the armchair quarterbacks, and Penn State fans couldn’t relax until the waning minutes of the contest, when a two-touchdown lead finally seemed insurmountable, even by the explosive Illini offense.
Senior wide receiver Derrick Williams had perhaps his best game as a Nittany Lion, compiling a career-high 241 all-purpose yards and becoming the first Penn Stater in the Paterno era to score a touchdown by running, receiving and returning a kickoff in the same game.
The biggest third of the leading Lion triumvirate at wideout had to play a bigger role than usual because Jordan Norwood, the 2008 leader of the pack, had to sit out the game with a hamstring injury, suffered in practice last Tuesday.
Coach Joe Paterno said he told Williams it was time for him to break out with a “big game.” And the all-around athlete complied by catching six passes for 75 yards and one touchdown, running six times for 33 yards and another TD, then sealing the victory with a stirring 94-yard kickoff return to pay dirt in the fourth quarter. Ironically, the key to Illinois’ upset over Penn State in Champaign last year was a 90-yard kickoff return by Arrelious Benn.
State’s junior quarterback Darryl Clark led his team to the victory by completing 14 of 20 passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns, while running for 50 yards and another score.
Sophomore Lion tailback Evan Royster posted his third 100-yard rushing game, covering 139 yards on 19 carries and setting up Clark’s one-yard quarterback sneak for State’s first touchdown, as well as Kevin Kelly’s 25-yard field goal in the third quarter.
The visitors became the first team all year to score on the Nittany Lions in the first quarter and the only team to take a lead on State, when Jason Ford dove one yard into the south end zone to climax a 60-yard drive, sparked by the passing of Juice Williams and the running of Daniel Dufrene.
But it turned into a seesaw game, as the Lions responded with an eight-play, 73-yard touchdown drive on the ensuing possession. Royster gained 26 yards on three carries, and Clark passed to Graham Zug and Deon Butler for key gains, before picking up the final yard and first six points by following center A.Q. Shipley and guard Stefen Wisniewski.
Williams, the Illini’s double-threat QB, immediately drove his team 60 yards by running for 10 on a 3rd-and-four situation and tossing a 33-yard touchdown pass to Benn that was called out-of-bounds on the field, but reversed after a replay review by the referee.
Not to be outdone, Clark drove his team to the tying score just before the end of the first quarter by rushing for six yards on a crucial 3rd-and-two call and completing a 14-yard pass to tight end Andrew Quarless, a 19-yarder to Williams coming across the middle and finally a 21-yarder to Williams racing down the right sideline to tie the score again.
In the second quarter, the home team tallied the only touchdown, when Williams circled left end behind blocker Dan Lawlor for a five-yard, six-pointer to give the Lions a 21-14 lead that they would carry into the locker room.
The two teams traded field goals in the third quarter, before Williams’ kickoff return sent the crowd into a frenzy and established the two-touchdown margin of victory at the outset of the final frame.
The combatants again traded touchdown passes in the next five and one-half minutes, as a 54-yard toss from Williams to Benn and a 17-yard strike from Clark to Quarless set the final score. And the clang of the Victory Bell soon resounded throughout Happy Valley for the fourth time this fall.
The Illini’s Williams matched Clark’s passing stats, completing 13 of 24 for 183 yards and two TDs, but suffered one interception. Coach Tom Bradley’s defense held Williams to a 3.6-yard average on 18 carries—well below his 73-yard rushing average per game—and limited his passing percentage to 54—six points below his average—and his passing yardage 57 yards below his average.
Penn State kept intact its mark of not allowing any rusher to gain 100 yards, as Dufrene was stopped at 96 on 14 carries—three yards less than Oregon State’s Jacquizz Rodgers’ total on 22 lugs of the pigskin. (That’s the same Jacquizz who burned USC for 186 in last Thursday’s upset.)
Senior strong safety Mark Rubin and linebacker Navorro Bowman led State’s defense with 10 tackles each, while Rubin had one tackle for a three-yard loss and Bowman forced a fumble recovered by safety Anthony Scirrotto to stop a fourth-quarter drive by the visitors. Scirrotto also picked off an interception in the second quarter to end another Illinois possession. It was his 11th career pick to tie for 10th place on State’s career interceptions list.
With their lofty ranking in the polls and Beano Cook’s prediction on ESPN that they would run the table, the Lions now have a big target on their back, as they embark on their first Big Ten road swing to Purdue and Wisconsin the next two weeks. Avoiding the fate of the six ranked teams that fell on Saturday is their goal.
For the glory,
