Penn State looking to quiet the ‘buzz’ around Illinois in its first road test of the season

After breezing through its first two opponents in the comfort of Beaver Stadium, Penn State will pack its bags and open Big Ten play on the road against Illinois on Saturday (noon, Fox29).

It’s been about as smooth a transition for first-year starting quarterback Drew Allar as James Franklin likely could have hoped for. Over two games, Allar has passed for 529 yards and four touchdowns without allowing a turnover.

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Allar and running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen lead an offense that has scored at least 30 points in an FBS-best nine straight games dating to last season. The Nittany Lions could extend their streak Saturday against a struggling Fighting Illini defense.

“We expect it to be a challenging road environment,” coach James Franklin said Tuesday, “but we didn’t wait until this week to prepare for that.”

Through two games of a season that began with lofty expectations, Bret Bielema’s Illinois squad (1-1) has not lived up to the hype after finishing with its first winning record in more than a decade in 2022.

While the Illini have tallied over 30 points in both of their contests, their defense had difficulty containing Toledo in a season-opening victory before allowing Kansas to score 34 points on 539 total yards last Friday. Also, the Nittany Lions are only two years removed from a 20-18, nine-overtime defeat to the Illini at home, potentially enough to brew some vengeance.

“There was a lot of buzz about these guys in the preseason, as well,” Franklin said. “We’re looking forward to the opportunity to compete against them.”

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After dazzling through his first two starts against West Virginia and Delaware, Allar will receive his introduction to the Big Ten as a starter Saturday.

While he showed poise playing in front of 107,000 supportive fans in Beaver Stadium in last week’s win against Delaware, Allar said it’s “not going to be easy by any stretch” to maintain his consistency in another team’s building, especially against one of the conference’s most dynamic defensive lines.

“They’re a really well-coached defense,” Allar said. “They’ve forced a lot of turnovers in the past and they really get after the quarterback and do a good job of slowing down the run game, so it’s going to be a huge challenge for us this week.”

Led by preseason All-American defensive tackle Jer’Zhan Newton, Illinois is likely to send out the best front four Allar has seen in his young college career. Newton tallied two sacks against Kansas and could give even a deep Penn State offensive line quite the test.

Allar isn’t alone as an inexperienced participant in road action, joined by at least five first-year starters and dozens of freshmen.

“I want to make sure by Friday night when we’re going to bed, we’ve done everything we possibly can to have him and the team prepared to go play and play well,” Franklin said.

Penn State’s offensive question marks are all but in the rearview after averaging 50.5 points over its first two games. And while the program’s linebacker corps and secondary are likely some of the nation’s best, the Nittany Lions defensive line still has something to prove.

Defensive coordinator Manny Diaz’s unit allowed West Virginia quarterback Garrett Greene and running back CJ Donaldson to rush for a combined 152 yards and two touchdowns in the season opener — opening up questions about the Nittany Lions’ legitimacy in stopping the run.

On Saturday, Penn State will get another crack at a mobile quarterback in Illinois signal caller Luke Altmyer, who had a 72-yard touchdown run and trotted in another 6-yard score against Kansas.

“I think we’ll be more prepared this week, based on going against West Virginia,” Franklin said.