Penn State Football: Positional report card for win over Illinois
Penn State football escaped Champaign, IL with a 63-24 win over Illinois after trailing 24-21 in the third quarter of Friday’s game.
Defense was not a focus in Friday’s Big Ten matchup between Penn State and Illinois. There were 1,002 total yards of offense and 57 first downs between both teams.
The score of the game reflects a blowout, but Illinois stayed close the entire game until the fourth quarter. It was only 28-24 in Penn State’s favor to start the fourth quarter before it became a blowout with five touchdowns in the fourth quarter for Penn State.
Miles Sanders led the way with 200 rushing yards and three touchdowns. He averaged 9.1 yards per carry and is shining as Penn State’s star running back.
Here are positional grades for every position group, starting with special teams.
Special Teams
In the return game, Jonathan Thomas and K.J. Hamler did nothing special on kickoff returns, averaging only 16 yards per return. DeAndre Thompkins and Hamler did well on punt returns though, averaging 15.7 yards per return.
Blake Gillikin only had to punt the ball once all night, and Jake Pinegar made all nine extra point attempts. Pinegar did miss a 44-yard field goal in the first quarter that would have given Penn State a 10-7 lead.