Penn State Nittany Lions vs Illinois Fighting Illini Match Player Stats On Sep 29, 2012

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Sep 29, 2012

Penn State 35, Illinois 7: Quarterback Matthew McGloin ran for two scores and passed for another, and Zach Zwinak added two 1-yard touchdown runs and 100 rushing yards as the visiting Nittany Lions dominated the Big Ten opener for both teams.

Illinois, which had six turnovers in last week's 52-24 home drubbing to Louisiana Tech, continued its errant play from the start while falling behind 21-0 at halftime. A fumbled punt and roughing the kicker penalty extended Penn State's opening possession and led to a 1-yard TD run by Zwinak, and the Nittany Lions (3-2, 1-0 Big Ten) capitalized on a personal-foul call en route to a second short touchdown run.

Meanwhile, the Illini (2-3, 0-1 Big Ten) squandered a great scoring chance late in the first quarter after Donovonn Young broke loose for a 52-yard scamper to the Penn State 11-yard line. Illinois went nowhere on three plays and came away without points when Taylor Zalewski pushed a 26-yard field goal wide right in a sequence that typified the Illini's afternoon.

McGloin, coming off a career-best 318 passing yards in last week's victory over Temple, found a wide-open Matt Lehman over the middle for a 21-yard touchdown that upped the margin to 21-0 with 3:11 left in the second quarter. McGloin finished with 211 yards as Penn State won its third straight.

Both teams missed points on a crazy play at the end of the first half, when Penn State's Michael Mauti took a goal-line interception all the way back to the Illinois 1, where his knee was ruled down as he stretched into the end zone. The Illini blocked an ensuing field-goal try on the final play of the half. Illinois employed trickery for its lone score as freshman running back Josh Ferguson took a backward lateral and tossed a 22-yard TD pass to Spencer Harris in the third quarter.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Illinois' Earnest Thomas III was ejected following his helmet-to-helmet hit in the end zone on Lehman's touchdown catch late in the first half. กญ The sunny September conditions were in stark contrast to last year's snowy game at Beaver Stadium, a 10-7 Penn State victory that gave coach Joe Paterno his then-record 409th victory in what turned out to be his final game. กญ Leading 14-0, the Nittany Lions stopped Illinois QB Nathan Scheelhaase on a fourth-and-1 run at the Penn State 28 with 6:03 to go before halftime. Scheelhaase had 270 passing yards but was intercepted twice.