Tag: Illinois Fighting Illiini

Penn State and West Virginia set for Fox Big Noon Kickoff in Week 1

Penn State and West Virginia now has a confirmed kickoff time.

The second leg of a home-and-home set against West Virginia will kick off Penn State‘s 2024 season. Last year at Beaver Stadium, the atmosphere was electric in a primetime evening slot. Many Penn State fans had hoped for a similar time slot this year, but Action Network’s Brett McMurphy shot down that hope and reported the Nittany Lions’ season opener matchup against the Mountaineers will not be played under the lights.

Instead, the two teams will face off for Fox’s Big Noon kickoff on Saturday, August 31st at noon ET in Morgantown. Big Noon Kickoff still has that Saturday big game feel as it typically is the network’s top pick of the day, but it won’t be under the lights. Penn State took care of business at home in last year’s season opener against West Virginia by a final score of 38-15. Beaver Stadium is famously known for its impressive atmosphere, especially during evening tilts.

Penn State fans won’t have to wait too long for an evening game at Beaver Stadium. The school’s official X account announced two other game times, including game two of the year.

Penn State’s home opener is set for September 7th at noon on the Big Ten Network against Bowling Green. The Nittany Lions’ first evening game of the year will be against the Illinois Fighting Illini in Happy Valley, with a kickoff time of 3:30 p.m., 4 p.m., or 7:30 p.m. The network is TBA for the game against the Illini on September 28th. Even if the game gets slotted into the 3:30 p.m. window, the game should still be under the lights for a period.

Related: Check out Penn State’s entire 2024 schedule and some early game-by-game predictions.

More game times will be announced soon, but for now, Penn State fans can start making plans for Big Noon Kickoff during the opening week of the 2024 season.

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Former Penn State star cornerback Joey Porter Jr. named a finalist for the NFL’s DROY

Former Penn State cornerback Joey Porter Jr. named finalist for Defensive Rookie of the Year award.

The postseason accolades keep coming in for Pittsburgh Steelers rookie cornerback [autotag]Joey Porter Jr.[/autotag]. After being named to the 2023 All-Rookie Team by the Pro Football Writers of America on Tuesday, Porter Jr. was recognized Thursday as a finalist for the AP’s Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Porter Jr. was the 32nd overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft and followed in his father’s footsteps to Pittsburgh. He quickly became a stalwart on the outside for the Steelers. In his first NFL season, Porter had 43 total tackles and 10 pass deflections to go along with one interception. Porter made the playoffs in his first year in the league, but the Steelers were eliminated by the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Wildcard.

Below is the list of all five finalists for Defensive Rookie of the Year:

AP Defensive Rookie of the Year finalists:

Porter isn’t viewed as the favorite for the award, with Carter, Anderson, and Witherspoon seen as the defacto top three. Witherspoon, a former Illinois Fighting Illini, beat out Porter for the Big Ten’s Tatum-Woodson Defensive Back of the Year in 2022.

Whatever the outcome, Porter Jr. had a tremendous rookie season and looks to be a future building block for the Steelers. The winner will be announced at the NFL Honors on February 8th at 9 p.m. EST.

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Top 10 Big Ten receiving yardage leaders after Week 7

Penn State’s pass defense will be put to the test in the coming weeks by some of the Big Ten’s top wide receivers from Ohio State, Maryland, and Michigan.

Penn State and Ohio State will play in Week 8 in a significant showdown in the Big Ten East, and will feature not only two of the Big Ten’s top young quarterbacks but three of the conference’s leading wide receivers in terms of receiving yards this season. Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr. has already been highly regarded as arguably the best wide receiver in the nation and the top NFL draft prospect at the position for 2024. He is backing up that claim as the Big Ten’s leading receiver as the only player with at least 600 yards so far this season.

Ohio State, Michigan, and Maryland each have two players in the top 10 among Big Ten receiving yardage leaders, which demonstrates the depth at the position those teams seem to have as well as showcasing the talent at quarterback.

Here is an updated look at the Big Ten’s top 10 receiving yardage leaders through week 7 this season. Here is a look at the Big Ten’s top 10 rushing yardage leaders as well.

Penn State defense forces 5 turnovers in 30-13 win at Illinois

Penn State 30, Illinois 13: Penn State defense carries Nittany Lions to Big Ten-opening win at Illinois

Taking the road for the first time this season proved to be a bit of a challenge for the Penn State offense. Fortunately, the offense didn’t make the trip to Illinois alone this weekend. The Penn State defense was dominant in a 30-13 victory over the Illini with five forced turnovers in the game. Although Penn State struggled to gain control on offense, the Nittany Lions scored 20 points off the five Illini turnovers.

[autotag]Drew Allar[/autotag] had a rough outing in his first road start for Penn State, but he had some big moments to help lead the team to a win. The biggest moment of the game came late in the first half for Allar as he ran for a first down, hurried to the line, and delivered a dime down the field to [autotag]Liam Clifford[/autotag] for a big gain to set up a late field goal just before halftime. That gave Penn State a 16-7 lead but the offense could not carry over any momentum at the start of the second half.

Penn State’s quarterback ended his afternoon completing 16 of 33 pass attempts for 208 yards without a touchdown, but he also did not turn the football over despite being under consistent pressure by an aggressive and well-schemed Illinois defense.

Allar also did not get some help from his wide receivers. Allar made some good throws that simply were dropped by his intended targets, including a pair to receiver Malik McClain. But Allar did miss a few open looks and couldn’t quite connect with a couple of his passes. Overall though, Allar seemed to handle the pressure of his first start out of Beaver Stadium well enough to pick up the win, and there is clearly room to improve.

But this game was all about the defense. Penn State allowed just seven points for the second straight game and has yet to allow an opponent to score more than 15 points. On a day when Penn State’s offense needed an assist, it was the defense that set the tone and shut down nearly every threat by the Illini. It started right from the start with three interceptions of Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer. Penn State managed just 13 points off of those early turnovers, but the defense made plays when it was needed the most.

[autotag]Johnny Dixon[/autotag] came up with a massive interception in the second half immediately after a big passing play by the Illini with the game still very much in question. Or so it seemed. [autotag]Abdul Carter[/autotag], [autotag]Daequan Hardy[/autotag], and [autotag]Cam Miller[/autotag] also got their hands on an Illinois pass attempt. Linebacker [autotag]Kobe King[/autotag] also recovered a fumble forced by [autotag]Dominic DeLuca[/autotag].

Head coach [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] will be able to look at many self-inflicted wounds by his team in the coming week as well. Poor penalties on took Penn State’s offense out of favorable positions, including a poor unsportsmanlike penalty on receiver [autotag]KeAndre Lambert-Smith[/autotag] in the first half that turned a 3rd-and-2 into a 3rd-and-17. Allar smacked his hand on a defender’s helmet on the following play and [autotag]Alex Felkins[/autotag] had a 52-yard field goal blocked. Illinois followed up with its first touchdown of the game on the ensuing possession to cut the Penn State lead to 13-7. Penn State was flagged for six penalties in the game, costing Penn State 65 yards.

Penn State will be home next weekend for a primetime matchup with Iowa. It will be the official whiteout game for the Nittany Lions.

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