With five seconds to play in the fourth quarter, Illinois was setting up a 42-yard field goal to tie the game at 10 — and Beaver Stadium’s student section had two significant gaps in it.
But no one left.
Instead, the students flooded behind the goal posts in an effort to psyche out Illinois kicker Derek Dimke and help keep now-No. 16 Penn State the lone unbeaten team in conference play.
Dimke missed his first field goal of the season, clanking it off the right upright as time expired. The miss secured the Nittany Lions’ (8-1, 5-0 Big Ten) 10-7 win and Joe Paterno’s 409th — putting him one ahead of Eddie Robinson for the most Division I wins all-time.
“It’s just been belief. Believing in ourselves,” tackle Quinn Barham said. “We know what we’re capable of. When things go bad, we can’t get down on ourselves. Our goal is to be the Big Ten champions, and we’re going to do whatever we can to reach that goal.”
The Lions struggled mightily on offense for about 55 minutes — they didn’t complete a pass in the second or third quarters.
Quarterback Matt McGloin finished 9-for-24 and threw for 98 yards. Rob Bolden went 0-for-4 and boos rained down on him from the estimated 62,000 fans. But when it counted in the final minutes, McGloin was the one that came through.
“It’s crunch time,” tackle Chima Okoli said. “We knew that this drive was our season, and our season was this drive. Everybody kinda buckled down.”
McGloin led a 10 play, 80-yard drive that running back Silas Redd capped with a 3-yard touchdown. The sophomore finished with 137 yards on 30 carries to eclipse the 1,000 yards for the season.
On the Lions’ lone touchdown drive of the afternoon, McGloin completed four passes, two to the banged up Derek Moye, and got a pass interference call on 4th-and-6 from the 32-yard-line in which he took a shot at Moye in single coverage four yards deep into the end zone.
“I guess it’s just what this team has inside them. Needing to make a play and needing to get the job done to get another win,” McGloin said. “The offense really played bad all day…we really didn’t get going early on but in situations like that we’re going to rise and we’re going to get it done.”
But Redd’s plunge into the end zone left just more than a minute on the clock. Once again, it was up to the defense to come through when the clocking ticked down to zeroes.
It became Illinois quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase’s turn to try and flip the script and avoid having the Illini fall to 2-3 in the Big Ten.
The sophomore marched his offense down to the Penn State 25-yard line with completions of six, 16 and 20 yards and runs of seven and nine before Dimke’s missed field goal.
Scheelhaase finished 9-of-16 for 63 yards through the air and ran for 89 yards on 14 carries on the ground. He connected with Spencer Harris from 10 yards out for Illinois’ only points — the Lions defense held its opponent to 10 or less points for the sixth time this season.
It’s been the Penn State defense that has carried the load all year, and Gerald Hodges has been a big part of that mold.
The junior had a career high 19 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble Saturday.
“He’s a phenomenal athlete. He just continues to bring it every week,” defensive tackle Devon Still said. “I just hope he continues to maintain his level of play through the rest of the Big Ten.”
The wins haven’t been pretty, and the players will be the first to admit that.
But regardless, the Lions control their own destiny to hold roses in their mouths after their final game of the season at Wisconsin.
“I haven’t felt this type of vibe since I’ve been here. They’re comparing it to [2008],” defensive tackle Jordan Hill said. “Just being 5-0 and going into the bye week is huge.”