Illinois at Penn State

Penn State opened the season with a loss to Temple 27-10. It certainly looked as though the Nittany Lions were going to be in for a long season. What wasn't known at the time was that Temple would enter week eight as the #21st ranked team in the country and unbeaten. Penn State has lost just once since then, losing again to an unbeaten Ohio State team that won the National Championship last season. Both of those losses occurred on the road as Penn State is perfect at home at 5-0. Illinois had some coaching issues to resolve right as the season started. The team galvanized together to open 4-1, but as the schedule stiffened, the wins started to disappear, and they have now dropped two straight games. The big problem is that they ran for less than 100 total yards in those two losses, and against a strong Penn State defense, they are going to become one-dimensional again, and turnovers become a problem. The Illini have not responded well following a double-digit loss at home where they have gone 12-26 ATS in their last 38 following one. Play on Penn State.