1: The defense was pretty good

It’s abundantly clear that this defense is not the same unit it was a year ago. The unit still has a ways to go to match last year’s performance, and it showed early in the game as Illinois moved the ball with ease against the Lions.

However, once they got into the game, the defense held Illinois in check, bending but not breaking. The Lions stood in their own end zone, turned a sure touchdown into a missed field goal and didn’t let it happen again. They may not be the top 5 of a season, but as they are, they are quite good.

2: Penalties don’t help

Part of what makes the defense’s job harder is the constant penalties that keep opposing offenses on the field. The Lions will do it have to clear these up if they want to achieve their goals for this season.

Both of Illinois’ first drives were aided by silly penalties that extended their drives and made things more difficult than they needed to be.

3: Illini couldn’t stop the run

Penn State got significant mileage on the ground throughout the game. As the game progressed, Illinois’ inability to stop the Nittany Lions’ attack was doomed. Andy Kotelnicki was nice on one of the drives, but he quickly learned his lesson and kept the ball rolling from there.

BONUS: Sander has to go

While I’m not calling for benching players, the experiment simply isn’t working. Let’s give someone else a chance to prove themselves. Because of the missed field goals, Illinois had a chance to tie the game late.