STATE COLLEGE – Penn State’s problem with penalties continued Saturday night in a 21-7 victory over Illinois at Beaver Stadium.
The Nittany Lions committed six penalties for 63 yards and increased their season total to 28 for 264, an average seven flags and 66.0 yards per game.
“We have a reputation for jumping offsides and they (opponents) know it,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. “They are going to keep doing it until we get it cleaned up. As good as we played, we made it a lot harder than it needed to be with silly penalties. That’s on me and us as coaches.”
Defensive end Amin Vanover committed a personal foul on Illinois’ first possession, which helped the Illini move down the field to score a touchdown.
The call that seemed to rankle Franklin the most was an unnecessary roughness penalty on linebacker Tony Rojas late in the second quarter. Rojas was sprinting across the field to tackle quarterback Luke Altmyer and ran over an Illinois offensive player on his way.
“I had a hard time with one play,” Franklin said. “They called Tony Rojas (for unnecessary roughness). He’s running to make a tackle. Somebody comes to block him and he lowers his shoulder and destroys the guy.
“Why (was the call made?) Because Tony Rojas is bigger than the guy who was trying to block him? He’s chasing the ball. What’s he supposed to do?”
In the fourth quarter, defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton jumped offside on fourth-and-6 from the Illinois 48. The Illini returned the favor on the next play with a false start.
On the next fourth-and-6 play, cornerback A.J. Harris intercepted Altmyer’s pass and sprinted into the end zone. The touchdown was nullified because Zion Tracy was flagged for a block in the back.
“We have to provide more discipline all the time, not just punitive penalties when they jump offsides,” Franklin said. “Being more disciplined in how they are in meetings. How they sit up. How they take notes. All of that.I believe the discipline we have off the field will transfer on the field.”
Sahaydak misses: Penn State junior Sander Sahaydak missed two 40-yard field goal attempts and fell to 2-for-5 this season.
He kicked two extra points before he was replaced by Ryan Barker, who made the final PAT.
“I’m not going to get into that right now,” Franklin said. “I love Sander Sahaydak. He’s been awesome for us here. We just won a game and he should be celebrating this win like everybody else. (But) we have a competition and all these things will factor in moving forward.”
Injury report: Penn State offensive linemen Sal Wormley and JB Nelson sustained injuries during the game Saturday night and did not return.
Wormley was injured in the first quarter and was replaced by Nelson, who was hurt in the third quarter. Freshman Cooper Cousins replaced him and finished the game.
Linebacker Dominic DeLuca and running back Cam Wallace, who were injured last week in a win over Kent State, were among the players listed as out on the pregame Big Ten availability report.
The others who were listed as out were safety KJ Winston, linebacker Keon Wylie, defensive ends Zuriah Fisher and Mason Robinson, wide receivers Ethan Black and Peter Gonzalez and defensive tackles Sam Siafa, Liam Andrews, DeAndre Cook and T.A. Cunningham.
