The Penn State Nittany Lions will welcome the Illinois Fighting Illini to Beaver Stadium in a bout that could have backup quarterbacks start on both sides of the field.
On October 9, Penn State led Iowa until starting quarterback Sean Clifford went down with an injury. When Clifford left, Penn State couldn’t score a single touchdown and Iowa ultimately came back to win the game 23-20 in a Top 5 matchup.
Meanwhile, Illinois never had the lead in their last game against Wisconsin on October 9, losing to Wisconsin 24-0. However, the Fighting Illini ended up losing their starting quarterback, Brandon Peters, for the second time this year, due to another injury.
With so much uncertainty between both offenses and their starting quarterbacks, is the under the play in this Big Ten match-up? Read our picks and predictions on the Illinois vs Penn State game for October 23, on ABC, at 12:00 p.m. ET.
Illinois vs Penn State odds
Odds via the Covers Line, an average comprised of odds from multiple sportsbooks.
Despite all the uncertainty of quarterbacks, Penn State opened as -20.5-point favorites and quickly jumped up to -24 in most markets. Meanwhile, the total has stayed the same at 46.5. Use the live odds widget above to track any future line movements right up until kickoff and be sure to check out the full college football odds before placing your bets.
Illinois vs Penn State picks
Picks made on 10/20/2021 at 5:00 p.m. ET.
Click on each pick to jump to the full analysis.
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Illinois vs Penn State game info
• Location: Beaver Stadium, University Park, PA
• Date: Saturday, October 23, 2021
• Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
• TV: ABC
Illinois vs Penn State betting preview
Weather
Be sure to monitor the gametime conditions with our NCAA football weather info.
Key injuries
Illinois: Calvin Avery DL (Questionable), Seth Coleman LG (Questionable), Mike Epstein RB (Out), Brandon Peters QB (Questionable), Deuce Spann QB (Questionable).
Penn State: Sean Clifford QB (Questionable), Devyn Ford RB (Questionable), John Lovett RB (Questionable), Sal Wormley OL (Out).
Find our latest NCAA football injury reports.
Betting trend to know
Nittany Lions are 4-0 ATS vs. teams with losing records. Find more NCAA betting trends for Illinois vs. Penn State.
Illinois vs Penn State predictions
Penn State -24 (-110)
Once Sean Clifford went down against Iowa, Penn State’s offense dwindled and took a loss with no touchdowns in the second half. It shows just how much Clifford means to this program at quarterback.
Currently, Clifford is questionable with an upper body injury. He’s thrown for 1,482 yards with 11 touchdowns and five interceptions on the year. Even when he’s having an off game, he still finds a way to help lead Penn State to wins.
In the loss to Iowa, Clifford’s backup, Ta’Quan Roberson, went 7-for-21 for 34 yards, completing 33.3 percent of passes for an average of 1.6 yards per completion. He also threw two interceptions and just looked completely out of sorts.
Therefore, Penn State has an open competition for the starting spot in practice, in case Clifford is unable to play. At this point, it kind of seems like Clifford won’t actually play.
However, Penn State has won most games with their defense anyway. The Nittany Lions have allowed just 312.7 yards per game this season, including only 201.3 yards passing and 111.3 yards rushing.
Meanwhile, Illinois might be without their starting quarterback in Brandon Peters. The Fighting Illini will have the better quarterback in Art Sitkowski, if Clifford and Peters sit out of this game. Despite all that, Sitkowski entered the game for Peters against Wisconsin and put up an egg on offense.
Illinois is allowing 429.1 yards per game on the defensive end and if Penn State sits Clifford out of this game, the Nittany Lions will run the football.
The Fighting Illini are allowing 164.4 yards per game on the ground and have been awful trying to stop the rushing game this year.
Under 46.5 (-110)
I just have a gut feeling that Penn State will sit Clifford one more week against Illinois. After playing Illinois, Penn State will have to take on Ohio State and then later in the season, the Nittany Lions have to take on Michigan and Michigan State.
Penn State needs a healthy Clifford and if there’s one game they can rest Clifford, it’s this one. Illinois is 2-5 on the year and have scored an average of 17.7 points per game. Against Penn State, it’s going to be hard to score more than 10, especially if Peters isn’t playing.
Illinois and Penn State will both look to run the football and while Penn State will have success, Illinois will struggle. Even a 35-10 win for Penn State keeps this game under.
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