It was one of the ugliest college football games of all time. Certainly one of the ugliest Big Ten games. Not a good showcase of the conference on ABC’s national game. (The national media are going to have a field day ripping the conference after this one). Call it the football equivalent of the infamous 38-33 college basketball game played by these two schools in Champaign 2009.
It was absolutely pathetic on all levels how Illinois (6-3, 2-3 in league play) handed Penn State and Joe Paterno his record breaking 409th win. They completely gave it away.
The Illini offense and special teams were a sick joke in their inability to close the game today, and #19 Penn State (8-1 overall, 5-0 in conference) is now the only remaining unbeaten team in the Big Ten. Who’d have guessed that?
If you like passing and hate punting, this was NOT the game for you. The passing yards in the box score were just ridiculously bad. And you can’t blame it on the weather. Because the snow was only a factor in the first half.
Both offenses were terrible. Both defenses were good. Or were they just looking good cuz the receivers and backs were AWFUL? This game was not won; it was only lost. There were interceptions, fumbles and dropped passes everywhere. And the Illini just made more mistakes than PSU. UI had 4 TOs, PSU 3.
Silas Redd was the only skill position player with good numbers in this game. He finished with yards rushing on carries and a TD. The Penn State offense looked atrocious for 58/60 minutes in this one. But then again so did the Illini passing attack, which seems to have vanished entirely; since their record setting, breakout day versus Northwestern on Homecoming.
Jason Ford had 91 yards rushing on 23 carries.
But the Illinois offense failed to chew up clock in crunch time, and salt the game away. Did I mention that the special teams is among the worst in the nation.
The Penn State QBs finished with unintentional comedy in their box score. Rob Bolden was 0-4 passing for (can you guess?….yes!) 0 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT. Matt McGloin, who has absolutely dominated his rival for the starting position Bolden in terms of statistical performance this season, finished 10-25 passing for a whopping 94 yards.
Nathan Scheelhaase was no better; but I won’t quote his box score here. Your eyes hurt enough already from reading above. And if you watched this game, I’m sure your eyes are REALLY hurting you.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site that generates millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports
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