If you care, 10 things from Champaign

1. With a 49-yard pass to Arrelious Benn in the second quarter on Saturday, Juice Williams surpassed Kurt Kittner to become Illinois’ all-time leader in total yardage. Kittner amassed 8,880 yards from 1998-2003. Williams owns 9,126 yards with either 8 or 9 games to go in his college career.

“I’m very happy I’ve achieved that,” Juice said after Penn State’s 35-17 victory.

2. Williams threw for a touchdown and ran for another, but only after Penn State built a 28-3 lead. Believe it or not, they were the first scores Juice has accounted for since the Ohio State game on Nov. 15, 2008. In other words, Juice went 15 quarters (we won’t count the single snap he played against Illinois State a few weeks ago) without running or passing for a score.

3. Juice almost didn’t get a chance to put those points on the board. Ron Zook admitted discussing whether to put junior Eddie McGee or redshirt freshman Jacob Charest into the game. In the end, he decided to leave in Juice to see whether he’d play his way out of his struggles. He finished 20 of 36 for 263 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT (on a Hail Mary at the end of the first half) and several misfires.

4. The crowd booed the offense’s ineffectiveness on more than one occasion during the second half. In the third quarter, the fans didn’t like a 2-yard swing pass to Daniel Dufrene when the Illini faced third-and-9. In the fourth quarter, they booed a bubble screen to Arrelious Benn that lost 8 yards. Guess that play was worse than when Juice failed to hit Benn on a bubble screen in the first quarter.

5. Penn State’s 338 rushing yards were the most against Illinois since USC stacked up 334 rushing yards in the Rose Bowl. The Nittany Lions’ 5 rushing touchdowns were the most allowed by the Illini since Wisconsin had 5 on Oct. 29, 2005.

6. For the sixth consecutive time against a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent, Illinois lost the turnover battle. Williams threw an interception at the goal line on the final play of the half (the line of scrimmage was Penn State’s 43), then he had the ball slapped out of his hands by defensive end Sean Stanley while trailing 28-10 in the fourth quarter. Illinois linebacker Russell Ellington forced a fumble that redshirt freshman Evan Frierson recovered in the third.

Illinois also has committed at least 2 turnovers in each of their last nine games.

7. Illinois has no sacks over the last two games, but the line has allowed 8 sacks. This means the Illini have failed to get a sack in four consecutive Big Ten games while surrendering 15. Just to clarify, that’s not good.

8. Against its three FBS opponents this year, Illinois has scored a grand total of 6 points during the first three quarters. The Illini do have 20 points in the fourth quarter, though. Illinois has not led at halftime against an FBS opponent since Week 9 of last season against Iowa. Coincidentally, Illinois has not beaten an FBS opponent since Week 9 of last season.

9. Illinois was flagged for 3 holding penalties to Penn State’s 1. Zook semi-suggested on his postgame radio show that both teams were doing the same thing, but only one team was getting called for it. Also, in a bizarre move, Illinois senior Jeff Cumberland drew a 15-yard penalty when he leaped to catch Anthony Santelli’s first punt. Cumberland’s mistake? Penn State punt returner Drew Astorino had signaled for a fair catch and was standing there waiting to catch the ball when Cumberland soared above him. It was the only time Cumberland sniffed the ball all day…and it kept Penn State from starting its first possession at its own 6.

10. Fill in the blank with your own non-favorite play from this game.