STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania (AP) – James Franklin urged Penn State fans to bring white-out energy to Beaver Stadium on Saturday night.

They didn’t let him down, wearing white, painting their faces and shaking pom-poms to rally the Nittany Lions in their Big Ten opener.

Nick Singleton ran for 102 yards and a touchdown, Kaytron Allen added 94 yards and a score and No. 9 Penn State pulled away in the second half to beat No. 19 Illinois 21-7.

Penn State (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) took a 14-7 lead on Singleton’s 4-yard touchdown run on its first possession of the second half. The Nittany Lions then went into lockdown mode as 109,911 fans dressed in all white helped shut down Illinois’ surging offense.

“It was a phenomenal environment,” Franklin said. “We assumed that fans had seven impacts on the game, whether through timeouts, false starts, penalties or bad snaps.”

The Nittany Lions defense was there to capitalize. Penn State forced four punts, recovered a fumble and AJ Harris intercepted Luke Altmyer’s pass late in the fourth quarter.

After easily scoring on the first drive (4-1, 1-1), the Illini managed just 25 rushing yards the rest of the way. They were targeted 13 times behind the line of scrimmage and allowed seven sacks.

Both teams scored on their first possession before things sputtered for the rest of the first half.

The Illini calmly marched 75 yards through the lingering smoke of the pregame fireworks, converting two third downs and getting help from a late score to set up a 4-yard touchdown pass from Altmyer to Carson Goda.

The Nittany Lions needed just eight plays over 4:02 to tie the game. After big runs from quarterback Drew Allar and Singleton, tight end Tyler Warren jumped over the line of scrimmage from three yards out.

Penn State crossed into Illinois territory again late in the second quarter, but fumbled at the 23 and Sander Sahaydak missed a 40-yard field goal.

Illinois missed its best shot and took the lead back shortly after.

After directing his offense to Penn State’s 2, Altmyer was forced to retreat as the first-down snap sailed over his head. He then lost 3 yards to a keeper before being sacked and calling for an intentional grounding on third down.

As the noise increased, the Illini jumped early for their field goal attempt and kicker David Olano missed the retry from 45 yards.

It was one of five pre-snap penalties by the Illini on the night.

“Some moments that we could have capitalized on just didn’t happen,” Illinois coach Brett Bielema said. “You can’t beat the No. 9 team in the country with a first goal and a goal in the second round and come away with zero points. “It doesn’t work.”

WIDE LEFT AND RIGHT

After his first 40-yard attempt flew wide left, Sahaydak missed another shot from the same distance, this time pushing it wide right.

However, Franklin said he would not make a decision about a kicker change later.

THE TAKEAWAY

Illinois: Illinois started fast but was unable to make the necessary adjustments as the game progressed to escape Penn State’s defensive speed. Still, Illinois is off to its best start and has a lot to be proud of in an off week.

Penn State: The Nittany Lions have one of the best rushing games in the country. Singleton and Allen bounced off tacklers and dragged others along all night long.

“I don’t know if there’s a better combination of running backs in the country,” Franklin said.

Tom Allen’s defense made enough adjustments to snuff out the surging Illini offense.

NEXT

Illinois: Host Purdue on Oct. 12.

Penn State: Hosts UCLA on Saturday.