Illinois Fighting Illini vs Penn State Nittany Lions Match Player Stats On Oct 29, 2011

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Oct 28, 2011

Joe Paterno became the all-time winningest coach in NCAA Division I history as Silas Redd’s 3-yard touchdown run with 1:08 left gave No. 19 Penn State a 10-7 victory over visiting Illinois on Saturday.

Paterno passed Grambling's Eddie Robinson with his 409th victory as Penn State (8-1, 5-0 Big Ten) won its seventh straight game and improved the Nittany Lions to 15-4 all-time versus Illinois.

Derek Dimke, who was 7-for-7 on field goal attempts, hit the upright on a 42-yard attempt as time expired to send the Fighting Illini (6-3, 2-3 Big Ten) to their third straight loss.

A pass interference penalty in the end zone on fourth down bailed out Penn State's anemic offense in the closing minutes to set up the winning score. Redd finished with 137 yards for his fifth straight 100-yard rushing game and also surpassed 1,000 yards to give Penn State its seventh straight season with a 1,000-yard rusher.

Illinois, which had three turnovers, tried a two-quarterback rotation in hopes of sparking a slumping offense. Sophomore Nathan Scheelhaase and freshman Reilly O'Toole split snaps, but totaled only 92 yards passing and one touchdown. Scheelhaase added 99 yards rushing.

The Nittany Lions jumped back on the quarterback carousel, switching between Matt McGloin and Robert Bolden. McGloin, however, appeared to separate himself as the go-to-guy with a solid final drive. He finished with 94 yards passing and an interception.

Penn State also committed three turnovers and was 3-for-14 on third-down conversions.

Jason Ford rushed for 91 yards, including a 19-yarder in which he spun off three tackles and squeezed through the Penn State defense to set up Illinois' touchdown - a 10-yard pass from Scheelhaase to Spencer Harris in the third quarter.

Derek Moye, Penn State's leading receiver, returned from a broken foot suffered earlier in the fourth quarter to catch two balls for 28 yards on the final drive.

John Gagliardi of Division III St. John's (Minnesota) leads all NCAA coaches with 482 wins. Gagliardi is 50 days older than Paterno.