| Score by Quarters | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Score |
| Penn State | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 20 |
| Michigan | 14 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 27 |
| Scoring Summary | ||
| 1st | 09:33 | PSU - Kevin Kelly 26-yard field goal |
| 09:20 | ILL - Arrelious Benn 90-yard kickoff return (Reda kick) | |
| 02:03 | ILL - Rashard Mendenhall 2-yard run (Reda kick) | |
| 00:42 | PSU - Derrick Williams 24-yard pass from Morelli (Kelly kick) | |
| 2nd | 10:34 | ILL - Arrelious Benn 29-yard pass from Williams (Reda kick) |
| 08:54 | PSU - Austin Scott 7-yard run (Kelly kick) | |
| 3rd | 12:38 | ILL - Jason Reda 47-yard field goal |
| 06:09 | PSU - Kevin Kelly 20-yard field goal | |
| 4th | 07:00 | ILL - Jason Reda 33-yard field goal |
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - On the doorstep of the end zone once again, Anthony
Morelli scanned the field for a receiver, didn’t see anything he
liked, and stepped up in the pocket. Open field beckoned, and Morelli
uncharacteristically headed upfield.
He needed 13 yards, and by God, Penn
State’s senior quarterback
was going to get them, with his legs if not his arm.
And, as he did often
Saturday, Morelli achieved his goal, getting 14 yards and an apparent
first down. And then, as he did all too often Saturday,
he lost the football.
Morelli’s fourth-quarter fumble didn’t officially count
as one of Penn State’s four turnovers — tailback Austin Scott,
in an ironic twist, recovered it short of the first-down marker — but
it did illustrate the dark cloud that continues to follow the Nittany
Lions and their offensive leader.
On a beautiful fall afternoon in sold-out
Memorial Stadium, Illinois (4-1, 2-0 Big Ten) took another step forward
in a momentum-gaining season,
defeating No. 21 Penn State (3-2, 0-2) 27-20 by turning back Morelli
and his offense four times in the final 17 minutes.
The senior quarterback,
who was 21-of-38 for 298 yards, was intercepted inside the Fighting Illini’s
20-yard line on three of those occasions, and his fumble, which erased
what would have been a first-and-goal situation,
cost his team another chance at a tying touchdown.
The Nittany Lions lost
consecutive games for the first time since defeats to Ohio State and Northwestern
in 2004 and are 0-2 in conference play
for the first time since that season. A week after mustering just 270
yards in a 14-9 road loss to a gritty but flawed Michigan team, Penn
State racked up 427 total yards against a spongy Illini defense but scored
just three second-half points despite starting four drives in Illinois
territory.
Morelli was not one of the five Nittany Lions who spoke to
reporters after the game, and Penn State coach Joe Paterno was in no
mood to delve
into his team’s 15th loss in its last 21 road games.
“I’m not gonna answer anything about what I might do, should
do, not do,” he said. “I’m gonna wait until I get home,
get a chance to look at the tapes and spend a little time with the staff
and spend a little time with some of the kids on the team.”
Freshman sensation Arrelious Benn ran a kickoff back 90 yards for a
touchdown and grabbed a 29-yard touchdown pass, and the Illini’s
versatile option offense produced 216 yards on 38 carries, but it was
a pair of crucial plays by Illinois’ defensive star J Leman that
started Penn State’s turnover parade and helped seal Illinois’ first
win over Penn State in six years.
With Illinois leading 24-20 late in
the third quarter, Penn State’s
Derrick Williams made a fair catch of an Anthony Santella punt at the
Illinois 42-yard line and was illegally drilled by Brit Miller, a penalty
that put the Nittany Lions at the Illini 27.
Morelli, who until that point
had confidently completed 14 of 23 passes for 201 yards and no interceptions,
tossed a perfect pass over the head
of safety Kevin Mitchell into the waiting arms of tight end Andrew Quarless
in the end zone. But at the last second, Illinois linebacker Leman knifed
in and punched the ball out of Quarless’ arms.
 |
“My back was to the football,” said Leman, who added 10 tackles to his Big Ten-leading total of 59. “I just watched (Quarless’) eyes. I could see that his eyes got big, and I started swatting before the ball got there.”
Two plays later, Morelli, under heavy pressure, tried Quarless again but threw behind him and short, and Leman made a leaping interception at his own 3-yard line.
Penn State’s defense forced a five-play stop as the fourth quarter began, but Morelli was intercepted along the left sideline at the Illinois 25 by Vontae Davis on the next possession, and a 53-yard run from backup quarterback Eddie McGee set up Jason Reda’s second field goal of the day, a 33-yarder with seven minutes remaining.
Morelli was 5-for-7 on the ensuing drive, including a 47-yard completion to Williams, but lost the fourth-down fumble after a hit from Justin Harrison with 2:12 left. The play was reviewed and the ruling upheld.
Three Penn State timeouts and a shanked Santella punt somehow gave Morelli yet another shot, from the Illinois 42-yard line, but his wobbly, scrambling pass on 3rd-and-20 was intercepted by Mitchell at the 9-yard line in the final minute.
The first half owned most of the day’s highlights for both teams. After Kevin Kelly’s 26-yard field goal was partially blocked by Davis but went in anyway with 9:33 left in the first quarter, Benn, who hadn’t returned a kickoff in college before Saturday, found a seam up the middle, broke a Tyrell Sales tackle and continued unabated into the end zone.
Three of Illinois’ six third-down conversions set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Rashard Mendenhall (18 carries, 76 yards) with 2:03 left in the first quarter, giving Illinois a 14-3 lead, but the Nittany Lions, with much more offensive pep than they displayed in Ann Arbor, answered with a 42-yard strike from Morelli to Jordan Norwood (three catches, 89 yards), then a 24-yard touchdown from Morelli to Williams (five for 79).
Benn broke three tackles after catching a pass from Juice Williams (11-of-24, 120 yards, two interceptions) and cruising in from 29 yards out, and a 43-yard catch by Norwood set up Scott’s 7-yard touchdown run with 8:54 left in the second, keeping Penn State within 21-17 at halftime.
Of Penn State’s eye-popping 152 first-quarter yards, 133 of them came through the air. Paterno, whose conservative playcalling against Michigan was questioned by fans and media this week, maintained that the offense was no more "wide-open" Saturday than it had been all year.
“It was no different than basically what we’ve been trying to do all along,” Paterno said. “When we get the pass, we’re gonna throw it. These guys played a little differently than some other people, gave us some more room.”
When that room disappeared as the Nittany Lions got closer to the goal line, though, the dark clouds came in quickly.
“Obviously, we weren’t really effective down there today,” Paterno said. “It’s tough. You’ve gotta play better than that, there’s no question about that.”