Penn State 39, Illinois 0
When: 12:00 PM ET, Saturday, October 31, 2015
Where: Beaver Stadium, University Park, Pennsylvania
Temperature:
51°
Head Official:
John O'Neill
Attendance:
94417
By The Sports Xchange
Christian Hackenberg threw two touchdown passes and caught a third to lead host Penn State to a 39-0 defeat of Illinois on Saturday.
Hackenberg completed his first six passes, including a 5-yard dart to wide receiver Chris Godwin for a touchdown that gave Penn State (7-2, 4-1 Big Ten) a 6-0 lead with just under six minutes left in the opening quarter. Joey Julius' extra-point attempt was blocked, though.
Linebacker Troy Reeder intercepted Illinois quarterback Wes Lunt on the next series and returned it to the Fighting Illini's 6-yard line. Then, Hackenberg found wide receiver Geno Lewis for another touchdown. The Fighting Illini blocked that extra point as well, keeping the score 12-0.
Tyler Davis came on for Julius and connected on a 42-yard field goal with 4:16 left to play in the second quarter.
On Penn State's opening drive of the third quarter, Hackenberg tossed a pitch to running back Nick Scott and dropped into the left flat. Scott ran right and threw the ball back across the field to Hackenberg, who out-ran two defenders to the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown pass that made it 22-0.
Freshman running back Saquon Barkley added a leaping 7-yard touchdown run roughly two minutes into the fourth quarter, and running back Mark Allen scored from 20 yards out with 6:33 to play.
Illinois (4-4, 1-3), had just 167 yards of offense, with only 86 of them coming in the final three quarters.
Top Game Performances
Team Stats Summary
|
Yards |
Scoring |
Defense |
Team |
Tot |
Rus |
Pas |
TD |
FG |
INT |
Sck |
FF |
Illinois
|
167 |
37 |
130 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3.0 |
1 |
Penn State
|
400 |
120 |
280 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
4.0 |
0 |