September 21, 2018 Week 4 · Regular Season Belt defended

Penn State defends the belt, 63–24, on the road at Illinois.

Home · Challenger

Illinois 24

Away · Defending Holder

Penn StateAP No. 10 63

AP poll, week 4: Penn State No. 10 at Illinois unranked · No. 1 that week: Georgia. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Penn State came in 13 days into reign #302, which began with a win over Pittsburgh, with one defense already behind it; this was its second defense. It was the last defense: Ohio State took the belt in the very next belt game, on September 29, 2018.

For Illinois this was its 15th shot at the belt; it had held the belt twice before.

This is the only time Illinois and Penn State have met with the belt on the line.

AI-Written

Recap

Penn State's dominant defensive performance and offensive efficiency carried the belt-holding Nittany Lions to a convincing 63-24 victory over Illinois. Penn State's ground game was particularly devastating, with Miles Sanders scoring three touchdowns including a 48-yard score in the third quarter, while Ricky Slade added a 61-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter. Illinois kept pace early with Reggie Corbin's short touchdown run and a 51-yard Corbin run that set up a field goal before halftime, but Penn State's superior third-down conversion rate (9-11 versus 4-12) allowed them to sustain drives and pull away decisively. McSorley connected on multiple touchdown passes to receivers KJ Hamler, Pat Freiermuth, and Juwan Johnson as Penn State's offense was nearly unstoppable throughout the night.

Miles Sanders' 14-yard touchdown run in Q1 gave Penn State early control of the game
Reggie Corbin's 51-yard run in Q2 was Illinois' most threatening drive but Penn State held to a field goal
Miles Sanders' 48-yard touchdown run in Q3 extended Penn State's lead and shifted momentum decisively
Ricky Slade's 61-yard touchdown run in Q4 sealed the victory and demonstrated Penn State's dominant ground attack

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

IllinoisPenn State

Total yards411591

Rushing yards245387

Passing yards166204

First downs2631

3rd down conv.4/129/11

Turnovers22

Penalties–yards7–818–72

Time of possession30:0529:55

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 14:04	Penn State	+28 yd	Trace McSorley pass complete to Jonathan Holland for 28 yds Jonathan Holland fumbled, forced by Dre Brown, recovered by Illin Michael Marchese , return for 11 yds to the Illin 31
Q1 14:30	Penn State	+21 yd	Trace McSorley pass complete to Jonathan Holland for 21 yds to the Illin 48 for a 1ST down
Q1 12:49	Illinois	+22 yd	Blake Hayes punt for 54 yds , DeAndre Thompkins returns for 22 yds to the PnSt 30
Q1 9:17	Penn State	+14 yd	Miles Sanders run for 14 yds for a TD, (Jake Pinegar KICK)
Q1 6:09	Illinois	+55 yd	Chase McLaughlin 55 yd FG MISSED
Q1 6:00	Penn State	+20 yd	Trace McSorley pass complete to KJ Hamler for 20 yds to the ILLINOIS 43 for a 1ST down ILLINOIS Penalty, Defensive Offside ( Yards) declined for a 1ST down
Q1 3:47	Penn State	+44 yd	Jake Pinegar 44 yd FG MISSED
Q1 2:16	Illinois	+2 yd	Reggie Corbin run for 2 yds for a TD, (Chase McLaughlin KICK)
Q2 12:52	Penn State	+2 yd	Miles Sanders run for 2 yds for a TD, (Jake Pinegar KICK)
Q2 8:11	Penn State	+5 yd	Trace McSorley pass complete to Pat Freiermuth for 5 yds for a TD, (Jake Pinegar KICK)
Q2 7:01	Illinois	-4 yd	M.J. Rivers II pass complete to Daniel Barker for a loss of 4 yards Daniel Barker fumbled, forced by Jarvis Miller, recovered by Illin Sam Mays
Q2 6:47	Illinois	+6 yd	M.J. Rivers II pass complete to Ricky Smalling for 6 yds for a TD, (Chase McLaughlin KICK)
Q2 7:30	Illinois	+51 yd	Reggie Corbin run for 51 yds to the PnSt 9 for a 1ST down
Q2 0:28	Penn State	+0 yd	Trace McSorley pass intercepted Delano Ware return for no gain to the Illin 44
Q2 0:00	Illinois	+42 yd	Chase McLaughlin 42 yd FG GOOD
Q3 10:36	Illinois	+17 yd	Trenard Davis pass complete to Ricky Smalling for 17 yds for a TD, (Chase McLaughlin KICK)
Q3 10:36	Illinois	+20 yd	Chase McLaughlin kickoff for 65 yds , Johnathan Thomas return for 20 yds to the PnSt 20
Q3 8:36	Penn State	+48 yd	Miles Sanders run for 48 yds for a TD, (Jake Pinegar KICK)
Q4 14:53	Penn State	+16 yd	Trace McSorley pass complete to Juwan Johnson for 16 yds for a TD, (Jake Pinegar KICK)
Q4 14:18	Illinois	+0 yd	M.J. Rivers II pass intercepted Jan Johnson return for no gain to the Illin 21
Q4 14:09	Penn State	+21 yd	Trace McSorley pass complete to KJ Hamler for 21 yds for a TD, (Jake Pinegar KICK)
Q4 12:45	Illinois	+20 yd	M.J. Rivers II pass complete to Daniel Barker for 20 yds to the PnSt 34 for a 1ST down
Q4 10:34	Illinois	+52 yd	Chase McLaughlin 52 yd FG MISSED
Q4 12:00	Illinois	-14 yd	M.J. Rivers II run for a loss of 14 yards to the 50 yard line M.J. Rivers II fumbled, recovered by Illin Alex Palczewski , return to the 50 yard line
Q4 9:58	Penn State	+61 yd	Ricky Slade run for 61 yds for a TD, (Jake Pinegar KICK)
Q4 4:24	Penn State	+1 yd	Ricky Slade run for 1 yd for a TD, (Jake Pinegar KICK)
Q4 5:35	Penn State	-3 yd	Ricky Slade run for a loss of 3 yards to the Illin 46 Ricky Slade fumbled, recovered by PnSt Ricky Slade
Q4 4:45	Penn State	+44 yd	Sean Clifford pass complete to Mac Hippenhammer for 44 yds to the Illin 1 for a 1ST down
Q4 2:46	Illinois	-28 yd	Matt Robinson pass intercepted Ellis Brooks return for 28 yds to the Illin 10
Q4 1:56	Penn State	+6 yd	Journey Brown run for 6 yds for a TD, (Jake Pinegar KICK)

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Illinois

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT
M.J. Rivers II	17/28	149	5.3	1	1
Trenard Davis	1/1	17	17.0	1	0
Matt Robinson	0/2	0	0.0	0	1

Penn State

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT
Trace McSorley	12/19	160	8.4	3	1
Sean Clifford	1/1	44	44.0	0	0

Rushing

Illinois

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Reggie Corbin	11	87	7.9	1	51
Mike Epstein	13	73	5.6	0	18
Ra'Von Bonner	4	42	10.5	0	16
M.J. Rivers II	10	24	2.4	0	12
Matt Robinson	4	17	4.3	0	9
Dre Brown	2	4	2.0	0	4
Trenard Davis	1	-2	-2.0	0	0

Penn State

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Miles Sanders	22	200	9.1	3	48
Ricky Slade	10	94	9.4	2	61
Trace McSorley	15	92	6.1	0	16
Journey Brown	2	10	5.0	1	6
Sean Clifford	2	-9	-4.5	0	1

Receiving

Illinois

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Carmoni Green	4	49	12.3	0	16
Sam Mays	3	26	8.7	0	11
Ricky Smalling	2	23	11.5	2	17
Mike Epstein	2	19	9.5	0	13
Daniel Barker	3	19	6.3	0	20
Trenard Davis	2	17	8.5	0	19
Reggie Corbin	2	13	6.5	0	12

Penn State

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Jonathan Holland	3	53	17.7	0	21
Juwan Johnson	4	51	12.8	1	19
Mac Hippenhammer	1	44	44.0	0	44
KJ Hamler	2	41	20.5	1	21
DeAndre Thompkins	2	10	5.0	0	5
Pat Freiermuth	1	5	5.0	1	5

Show more stats (7 more categories)

Defense

Illinois

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD
Bobby Roundtree	12	10	2	2	1
Del'Shawn Phillips	8	4	0	0	0
Sydney Brown	5	3	0	0	1
Stanley Green	4	4	0	0	0
Isaiah Gay	4	3	0	0	0
Jake Hansen	3	1	0	0	0
Lere Oladipo	3	1	0	0	0
Delano Ware	3	1	0	0	0
Cameron Watkins	2	2	0	0	0
Tymir Oliver	2	2	0	0	0
Jamal Woods	2	2	0	0	0
Christian Bobak	2	1	0	0	0
Dawson DeGroot	2	1	0	0	0
Nate Hobbs	2	1	0	0	0
Calvin Avery	2	1	0	0	0
Justice Williams	1	1	0	0	0
Tony Adams	1	1	0	0	0
Michael Marchese	1	1	0	0	0
Owen Carney Jr.	1	1	0	0	0
Kerby Joseph	1	1	0	0	0
Dominic Stampley	1	1	0	0	0
Ayo Shogbonyo	1	0	0	0	0
Kenyon Jackson	1	0	0	0	0
Bennett Williams	1	0	0	0	0
Jartavius Martin	1	0	0	0	0

Penn State

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Jonathan Sutherland	8	6	0	1	0	0
Garrett Taylor	7	6	0	1.5	0	0
Jan Johnson	6	5	0	0	0	0
Ellis Brooks	6	5	0.5	0.5	0	0
Micah Parsons	6	5	0	0	0	0
Nick Scott	5	4	0	0	0	0
Robert Windsor	5	2	1.5	1.5	0	0
Cam Brown	3	2	0	0	1	0
Koa Farmer	3	1	0	0	0	0
Amani Oruwariye	3	1	0	0	0	0
Kevin Givens	3	0	0	0.5	0	0
Donovan Johnson	2	1	0	0	0	0
PJ Mustipher	2	1	0	0	0	0
Shaka Toney	2	0	0	0.5	0	0
Jabari Butler	1	1	0	0	1	0
Jarvis Miller	1	1	0	0	0	0
Dae'Lun Darien	1	1	0	0	0	0
Tariq Castro-Fields	1	1	0	0	1	0
Fred Hansard	1	1	0	0	0	0
Trace McSorley	1	0	0	0	0	0
Ayron Monroe	1	0	0	0	0	0
John Petrishen	1	0	0	0	0	0
Brandon Polk	1	0	0	0	0	0
Daniel Joseph	1	0	0	0	0	0
Journey Brown	1	0	0	0	0	0
Yetur Gross-Matos	1	0	0	0	0	0
Shareef Miller	0	0	0	0	0	2
John Reid	0	0	0	0	1	0
Zech McPhearson	0	0	0	0	1	0

Fumbles

Illinois

Player	FUM	REC
Michael Marchese	0	1
M.J. Rivers II	1	0
Daniel Barker	1	0

Penn State

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Jonathan Holland	1	1	0
Ricky Slade	1	0	0

Interceptions

Illinois

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Delano Ware	1	0	0

Penn State

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Ellis Brooks	1	28	0
Jan Johnson	1	0	0

Kick Returns

Illinois

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Nate Hobbs	2	27	13.5	15	0

Penn State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Johnathan Thomas	1	20	20.0	20	0
KJ Hamler	1	12	12.0	12	0

Kicking

Illinois

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Chase McLaughlin	1/3	33.0	42	3/3	6

Penn State

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Jake Pinegar	0/1	0.0	0	9/9	9

Punt Returns

Illinois

No recorded stats in this category.

Penn State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
DeAndre Thompkins	2	30	15.0	22	0
KJ Hamler	1	17	17.0	17	0

Punting

Illinois

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Blake Hayes	4	179	44.8	0	1	54

Penn State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Blake Gillikin	1	42	42.0	0	1	42

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 401012807) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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