| Score by Quarters | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Score |
| Illinois | 14 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 24 |
| Penn State | 14 | 7 | 3 | 14 | 38 |
| Scoring Summary | ||
| 1st | 10:21 | ILL - Ford 1-yard run (Eller kick) |
| 06:16 | PSU - Clark 1-yard run (Kelly kick) | |
|
03:25 | ILL - Benn 33-yard pass from Williams (Eller kick) |
| 00:22 | PSU - Williams 21-yard pass from Clark (Kelly kick) | |
| 2nd | 09:09 | PSU - Williams 5-yard run (Kelly kick) |
| 3rd | 09:14 | PSU - Kelly 25-yard field foal |
| 00:00 | ILL - Eller 43-yard field goal | |
| 4th | 14:47 | PSU - Williams 94-yard kickoff return (Kelly kick) |
| 12:48 | ILL - Benn 54-yard pass from Williams (Kelly kick) | |
| 09:03 | PSU - Quarless 17-yard pass from Clark (Kelly kick) | |
UNIVERSITY PARK — The Penn State offense that turned heads around the country for the first month of the season didn’t have its usual precision, one of its chief weapons or much help at all from its defense during Saturday’s slugfest with No. 22 Illinois.
It did, however, have Derrick Williams. The senior wide receiver totaled 241 all-purpose yards and scored three touchdowns to lead the No. 12 Nittany Lions to a 38-24 win over the Fighting Illini before 109,626 in misty Beaver Stadium.
Penn State (5-0, 1-0 Big Ten) won just its second conference opener in nine seasons. Head coach Joe Paterno, who coached all of the game from the sideline despite an aching right leg, won his 377th career game and stayed one win ahead of Florida State’s Bobby Bowden, whose Seminoles beat Colorado 39-21 on Saturday.
If not for No. 2, however, the game and a promising season could have had a wholly different feel this morning.
Williams’ 21-yard touchdown catch from Daryll Clark in the final minute of the first quarter tied the score at 14-14, his 5-yard scoring run midway through the second quarter gave his team a 21-14 lead and his 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter pushed Penn State’s lead to two touchdowns.
“I told him the other day, ‘It’s about time you break out and have a real big one,’” Paterno said. “He’s a heck of an athlete and a heck of competitor.”
Williams became the first Nittany Lion to record a rushing touchdown, receiving touchdown and kickoff return touchdown in Paterno’s 43 years as a head coach.
His production was crucial in a mostly uneven night of offense for Penn State, which was able to move the ball most of the evening but often struggled to turn it into points.
Clark was an efficient 14 of 20 for 181 yards and two touchdowns and tailback Evan Royster ran for 139 yards on 19 carries. But Penn State stalled at the Illinois 31-yard line on back-to-back possessions before the half — Kevin Kelly pooch-punted on the first occasion, Stephfon Green was stuffed on fourth down on the second — and led just 24-17 when Matt Eller’s 44-yard field goal went through during the last play of the third quarter.
As a thick fog and steady mist descended on Beaver Stadium, Williams gathered the ensuing kickoff at his own 6-yard line, spotted a seam and accelerated. Brandon Beachum got just enough of a block on Eller, the last Illini defender with a real shot at making the play, to get Williams to the right sideline, and he cruised into the end zone for his second kickoff return touchdown of the season.
“Did you see how easy it was?” he said. “The guys in front of me did the job. All I had to do was run. I saw like a highway with
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a big truck that could go through it.”
Williams was also Penn State’s leading receiver with a season-high six catches for 75 yards. He picked up much of the slack left when fellow senior Jordan Norwood, the team’s leading receiver in every category, did not see a snap due to a nagging hamstring injury.
“Once we found out Jordan wasn’t playing, the receivers came together and said, ‘Other guys are gonna have to step up,’” Williams said.
One of them was tight end Andrew Quarless, whose 17- yard touchdown catch in the left corner — after Williams had drawn the defense into the middle of the field — answered Arrelious Benn’s 54-yard touchdown catch and restored Penn State’s 14-point edge with nine minutes to play.
The Fighting Illini (2-2, 0-1) got a combined 172 yards rushing from quarterback Juice Williams and running back Daniel Dufrene, another monster game from wide receiver Benn (four catches, 110 yards and two touchdowns) and had leads of 7-0 and 14-7. But Illinois’ Williams found no consistency in the passing game (13-of-24, 183 yards, two touchdowns and an interception) and Dufrene lost a fumble – and was knocked out of the game – after a violent hit from Navorro Bowman with just under eight minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Neither defense could do much during a furious 28-point first quarter. Dufrene’s 30-yard run and a 13-yard strike from Williams to Benn put the Illini at the Penn State 2-yard line. Two plays later, Jason Ford dove over the pile for the first points scored against the Nittany Lions in the first quarter this season.
Clark’s 8-yard pass to Graham Zug on third-and-3 was the first of five consecutive Penn State plays that went for first downs, setting up Clark’s 1-yard touchdown on a quarterback sneak with 6:16 left in the first.
Benn’s diving catch just inside the sideline was initially ruled incomplete, then reviewed and reversed for a 33- yard touchdown, capping a seven-play, 60-yard drive. Penn State answered back with seven plays that covered 81 yards, Clark faking to Williams and then hitting him with a beautiful touch pass for a 21-yard score.
The Illini, as expected, provided the first true test of the season for the Nittany Lions, who won their first four games by the average score of 55-10. They exposed some weaknesses in Penn State’s defense and made the offense earn the majority of its 422 total yards. But the Nittany Lions displayed their grit. Eight top 25 teams lost Saturday. Penn State, which visits Purdue (2-2) this week, was not one of them.
“This is a good group of kids,” Paterno said. “They listened and they understand now what it’s gonna be like. It’s not gonna get any easier.”