Instant Analysis: Illinois-Penn State

Decent athletes are able to score points. Winning athletes—and the teams they play for—are able to score points when they really need to. After sixty minutes of slugging on Saturday night in State College, Pa., the Penn State Nittany Lions evidently held a winning hand, as they decked Illinois in the Big Ten lid-lifter for both teams.

There’s a long way to go in this season for Joe Paterno’s boys, but after their first significant test of 2008, the Nittany Lions gave credence to the claims that this team is a reincarnation of the 2005 squad that lit up the scoreboard and won the Big Ten. Just as the 2005 Lions woke up Happy Valley after a few seasons of slumber, it seems that these Lion lads possess the same diversity, depth and potency which carried JoePa all the way to the Orange Bowl three years ago.

Quarterback Daryll Clark, receiver Derrick Williams, and running back Evan Royster formed a tremendous triumvirate that exploded throughout the course of this lashing of the Illini. But what was just as impressive as the numbers posted by this trio was the fact that Clark, Williams and Royster performed so brilliantly precisely when Papa Paterno needed them to excel.

First, though, the numbers themselves: Clark stuffed his stat sheet—and made memories of Anthony Morelli fade away for Penn State partisans—with 70 percent completions, two passing touchdowns, no interceptions, 50 yards rushing, and one rushing touchdown. Williams, the best player on the field in this game, scored one touchdown in three different ways—as a kick returner, a receiver, and as a setback—while accumulating over 200 yards by himself. Royster ran past Illinois for much of the first half, on his way to 139 yards and a gaudy average of 7.3 yards per carry. Again, those are all gleaming figures, but what mattered even more was the clutch character of Penn State’s playmakers.

The simple difference in this game lay in one telling reality: Illinois’ four scores were immediately answered by Penn State.

Talented but not-fully-successful players score touchdowns when trailing by 17 or 12 points, but not when down by seven or up by three. The great ones—in any sport—manage to produce points when they really mean something, and the gridiron law firm of Clark, Williams and Royster had the truly defining answers under the lights in prime time.

When Illinois stormed out of the box to grab 7-0 and 14-7 leads, they were promptly erased by PSU’s prime performers. After a lull in the game’s two middle quarters, the Illini—with a field goal at the end of the third stanza—pulled within seven at 24-17. Right then, Williams busted off his crowning kick return of 94 yards to zap Ron Zook’s boys and push the lead right back to two possessions at 31-17. When the Illini and Juice Williams responded with a touchdown of their own to get the lead back to seven at 31-24, guess what happened? Yup—Clark, Williams and Royster, with a little extra help from tight end Andrew Quarless, strolled into the end zone, getting seven points on seven plays that chewed up 77 yards of real estate. Understandably disheartened by Penn State’s unfailing ability to answer every one of their forward thrusts, the Illini couldn’t get off the mat, and the Lions snared a wide-open affair that wasn’t exactly your grandfather’s Big Ten football game. Three yards and a cloud of dust turned into twenty yards and a cloud of smoke on this night, and the people from Pennsylvania proved to have a little more resolve when the outcome hung in the balance.

Wisconsin and Ohio State will test Penn State’s awesomely athletic achievers in the weeks to come, but for one night, a trio of skilled studs showed America that another JoePa resurgence—akin to 2005—could very well be underway in a Valley that has become Happy again.