The good, the bad, and the ugly from Penn State's 63-24 trouncing of Illinois

Penn State briefly trailed at Illinois as a 25-point favorite, but the Lions ultimately won for fun in the end at Memorial Stadium by a 63-24 count.

The victory sets up an showdown between two unbeaten, top-10 teams in Ohio State and the Nittany Lions in primetime at Beaver Stadium on Saturday.

Can the home team leave its 107,000-seat venue, that will be sold out, on top? It will likely hinge on whether it can repeat the good, fix the bad, and stay away from the ugly coming out of the Illinois game.

As always, here's our Monday rundown wrapping up the matchup with the Fighting Illini.

The good

How about those second half adjustments?

Penn State, for the third week in a row, turned a sloppy first half into a dominating final 30 minutes. This week, the Lions actually allowed a touchdown, which they did not do in the previous two games, after the break. Of course, it did hardly mattered, because Ricky Rahne's offense put up 42 unanswered points to turn a close game into a decisive triumph.

Head coach James Franklin said following the win that Illinois was keying on the Lions' blitzes, indicating that either the team had a tell or that its signals were stolen by the hosts, but whatever the problem was, it was taken care of during the third and fourth quarters.

The play of the offense earns a spot here for the fourth week in a row, too, as Penn State is now averaging over 50 points a game. Think about some of these stats:

  • When was the last time a PSU team had two backs score multiple TDs in one game? It happened, as Miles Sanders had three and Ricky Slade two.
  • Did you know that the Lions are now 22-for-22 in the red zone with 21 touchdowns? That's practically unheard of.
  • The Lions scored 60 points or more for the third straight game for the first time since 1917.
  • Penn State's 387 rushing yards were the third-most by the program in a Big Ten game since it joined the conference.

Ricky Rahne's bunch is simply firing on all cylinders, and he's pressing the right buttons from the press box. Yes, there have been some series where things don't go as planned, and also turnovers and penalties, but in the end, this offense could score with anyone on any given Saturday (or Friday), whether it's primarily moving the changes and lighting up the score board on the ground, through the air, or if it's a mixture of the two.

The bad

How about that first half defense?

Yet again, the unit was a Jekyll and Hyde comparison on full display, as it allowed 245 yards and 17 points in the first half but just 166 and seven after the break, respectively.

Penn State's biggest problem is at linebacker, which is exactly where it knew there would be issues going into the season. The starting trio of Cam Brown, Jan Johnson, and Koa Farmer are serviceable but not elite yet and might never be, and it shows, especially when Penn State has to drop safeties into the box, as it did with Garrett Taylor rolling down often, and leave the corners on an island with mixed results. Backups Micah Parsons, Ellis Brooks, Jarvis Miller, and Jesse Luketa have shown flashes, but if PSU is defined as a talented team lacking experience, there might not be a position that better embodies it.

It's a problem that cannot possibly be fixed overnight, and the same can be said for the defensive line. Franklin pointed to a need for better play from the reserve defensive tackles after the game, and that is indisputable. That said, starting ends Shareef Miller and Yetur Gross-Matos combined for just one tackle (Miller did have two quarterback hurries, though), but it is worth noting that starting tackle Robert Windsor had a strong game with five tackles.

Finally, veteran corner John Reid has clearly had a slow start back from a 2017 spring ACL injury that cost him that season, and the PSU defense would be benefitted if he turned things around quickly. By no means is that an easy task, of course, but with Donovan Johnson's health up in the air, he is going to be needed a lot against Ohio State whether Johnson can play or not. A big step forward is a must.

The ugly

Rafael Checa sent two kickoffs out of bounds, as his inconsistent season continues. The freshman kickoff specialists booms most of his kicks through the end zone, but he has one or two seemingly every game that either fly out of bounds or miss their mark.

The Lions tied the turnover and lost the penalty battles, which will not please Franklin.

Overall, a win is a win, but like the first three, victory No. 4 in 2018 resulted in many positive moments and a handful of troubling ones as the biggest game of the year has finally arrived.

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