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BWI Live: Penn State vs Illinois Monday morning recap

Headshot 5x7 reduced qualityby:Thomas Frank Carr•09/18/23•

ThomasFrankCarr

Drew Allar, Nick Singleton, Cam Miller Penn State Football On3
Penn State's war of attrition on offense resulted in 30 points, despite a below-average performance from Drew Allar and his teammates. The Nittany Lions defense played complimentary football, with five turnovers forced on Saturday. (Photos: Ron Johnson USA Today)

Penn State Football took care of business on the road Saturday, defeating Illinois 30-13 in the first Big Ten game of the season. The BWI Live Show is back on Monday to discuss the game, break down what we’ve learned in a second review, and take your questions. Join the show at 10 a.m. on YouTube to get your thoughts heard by our experts in the live chat. 

Programming Note: The BWI Recruiting Show is moving to Thursdays for the remainder of the 2023 season. To bring you the most timely news and analysis, we’re moving the football show to Monday to recap the previous week’s game. This week, we’re previewing the White Out. 

Want to make sure you never miss anything from the BWI Live Show? Subscribe to the channel on YouTube and enable notifications so you get an alert when we’re live! 

Penn State gets “pretty” Big Ten win with ugly performance

Was the game on Saturday a beautiful rock fight? Or a sloppy, concerning performance from the Penn State Football team? Head coach James Franklin clarified his thoughts after the game, saying that his team appreciates a win no matter how it looks. But fans have a different feeling. After consistently failing to run or pass on the Illinois defense, are fans right to be concerned? Blue White Illustrated football experts Sean Fitz and Nate Bauer will give their thoughts on how the Nittany Lions performed. We’ll also look into how that translates to the future games on the schedule. 

Penn State quarterback Drew Allar completed just 48% of his passes on Saturday, after two lights-out performances to start the year. We’ll dig into why Allar struggled and what this new information about the passing attack means for the team. 

We’re now three weeks into the 2023 season, and the longest run by a Nittany Lion’s running back is 20 yards. We’ll discuss what’s short-circuiting the team’s explosive rushing tandem of Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton. 

Defense comes up big

It wasn’t all bad for the Penn State football team on Saturday. The defense put together its most dominant performance of the young season, stifling the Illinois passing attack. The team came away with four interceptions with several other dropped opportunities on Saturday. The defensive performance was so impressive that it forced starting Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer to the bench. 

The front seven also racked up two sacks, two quarterback hits, and various other pressures that led to the interceptions on Saturday. After a quiet statistical start to the season, is Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz’s defense back? We’ll dive into the good and the bad of the performance from the defense on Saturday. 

Did you discuss something we didn’t mention? Join the BWI Live Show at 10 a.m.

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