There's a First Time for Everything - Including a Win at Penn State

Oskee-wow-wow! It's always fun to spoil someone else's homecoming game, as the Illini did by throttling Penn State 33-13 for their first ever win in Happy Valley on Saturday. A couple of weeks ago, I was wondering where the Illini would find a 6th win to become bowl-eligible, and even with Penn State struggling, I still didn't expect that this would be the game.

I've been very impressed with the defense so far this year and how even in the two losses, they've kept the game close to the very end. Today they continued their strong play - Penn State's points came off of one big play and two mishandled punt returns. So the defense playing well wasn't surprising. The offense, on the other hand, was a surprise, because Penn State had been playing well on defense. But the Illini piled up more yards rushing (280) then Penn State had altogether (234). And if Nathan Scheelhaase continues to throw the ball as well as he did today (and as he did previously against SIU), the offense's balance and firepower will be a nightmare for opposing defenses to stop.

As much fun as this one was, I'm not quite ready to drink the orange Kool-Aid. This team has yet to show how it reacts in a game when it's supposed to win, and some of the "pushovers" on our schedule have the ability to push back. But still, it's nice to know that if this team takes care of business and wins the games they're supposed to win, Illini fans will definitely have a bowl game of some sort to look forward to.