Penn State Football: Game-by-game predictions for 2018
4. Illinois, September 21, Champaign, IL
This could be a potential trap game for the Nittany Lions in an away Big 10 game. It’s a night game on a Friday night against an Illinois team that failed to win a Big 10 game last season.
Illinois finished 2-10 last season with their only victories coming against Ball State and Western Kentucky. They should be a better team this season.
They do return a lot of experience on defense, including 7 of their 9 leading tacklers from last season. Still, their offense will need to come together for them to win more games this season.
Penn State should win this game, but I could see it being a game where Penn State could be down in the first half 14-10 and then finish with a blowout win. The Nittany Lions should be 4-0 heading into the biggest game of the regular season against Ohio State.