Penn State Illini recap: what to make of this?

There is very little that can be said about today's game that has not already been said about last week's game against Ohio State and the September 5th game against Missouri. Up until the waning minutes of the 4th quarter, (which I will address later) the offense showed seemingly not progress from last week, and once again the defense played admirably but were absolutley run ragged as the game wore on and the offense could not get them any rest.

Juice Williams is stuck in his nightmare, where the offense cannot move as it once did, and whether its play calling, poor throws or pass blocking the fact remains, its not working. Up until the 4th quarter today, the offense put up all of 3 points.  This game was lost for Illinois, in all honesty in the third quarter.

The with the score at 7 to 3, and the game still very much up for grabs, the Illini had exactly 8 snaps in the 3rd quarter, and all of 8 yards to show for it. All the while Penn State worked its way down the field against a defense that had to spend far too much time on the field. If the offense could have done something in that 3rd quarter, even to cut the lead to 14 to 6,  or 7 to 6, the game perhaps would not have gotten so out of hand.

What I wanted coming into this game was to show progress and for the first 3 quarters we didn't see much. The shoot yourself in the foot penalties are still occurring, namely the intentional grounding that took the Illini out of field goal range in the first half. Only in the 4th did we see the play book opened up, did the Illini routinely look down the field and did the offense look like it had some life in it.

The worst part perhaps is how well the defense played for most of the day, and the final score  does not reflect it. They got a turnover, were not caught out of position near as often, and have cleared up the penalty problems that have caused them problems. Donsay Hardeman has particularly picked his game up and has been playing at a much higher level than against Missouri.

I know I stated before this game that a win was not expected, but the way the first half went, and the opportunities that the Illini had to actually steal this win, it is even more disappointing that they could not.