What they said after Penn State’s win over Illinois

Penn State coach James Franklin, who spent the week leading up to the game asking fans to bring “White Out energy” to Beaver Stadium, saw the results Saturday night. A crowd of 109,911 fans dressed mostly in white influenced seven different plays in the Nittany Lions’ 21-7 victory over Illinois, Franklin said. From timeouts to a bad snap to four false start penalties, the crowd made the difference. Even the Illini acknowledged that.

“It was definitely a crazy atmosphere,” Illinois tight end Tanner Arkin said. “I think you can almost feel the first push in your chest. It was great and blessed to have the opportunity to play here, great atmosphere.”

Franklin’s postgame press conference focused mostly on the positives, although he did address some nagging issues surrounding the win. Here’s a look at what Franklin and Illinois coach Bret Bielema said after the game.

RELATED: What we learned from Penn State’s win over Illinois

Penn State coach James Franklin

About the atmosphere: It was a phenomenal environment, there wasn’t even a white out, and we had that. The fans were phenomenal. We thought the fans had seven impactful plays in the game. Seven plays, whether it was timeouts, whether it was false starts and penalties, whether it was bad snaps, we thought they had seven plays that were significant to the game. We are so thankful and thankful for the fans and the environment we find here. It’s like nothing else in any sport, let alone college football.

About the difference in the game: For a long time, this game really went the way Illinois wants it to. They want one-possession games. You want to keep it tight. What I think went differently is I challenged our offensive line against their defensive line. And I challenged our defensive line against their front and I think that was really the difference in the game. We ran for 239 yards. They ran for 34 yards. And it’s not just 34 yards, this is a team that is committed to the football. They are committed to running football. And when you’re able to take someone and turn them away from the style of game they want to play, good things usually happen.

When running for 239 yards: I think the first thing to do with the offensive line and the tight ends is make sure they play a…

They are a physical form of football and they do a great job of protecting our quarterback. They allow us to stay ahead. And our O-line combination is physical, and I don’t know if there’s a better combination of running backs in the country. There were physical runs today so I couldn’t be prouder of this group and their performance. This will be important for us for the rest of the year. But when you’re able to run the ball like that on offense and stop it on defense, you know good things are going to happen for you. I don’t want to lose any doubt about that. And if you look at Kaytron Allen, who ran as much as we did, he averaged 5.7 yards per carry, Nick Singleton averaged 5.9 yards per carry, and Beau Pribula averaged 5.7 yards per carry. You’re stupid to walk away from that, aren’t you? So Andy (Kotelnicki) did a great job of dictating the game. As you know, I get involved every now and then and just remind him to stick with the run or take the time to take a shot. I’m downstairs

There I am on the sidelines. Sometimes with the playing cards it’s good to have those things to reinforce what he’s already doing. But that was the main reason. We have to get better in the red zone. We weren’t that good in the red zone tonight. Again, I have to give them a little credit.

On Illinois’ score in the opener: We have to do better in the opening phase. The look you expect so you can succeed on the field. That’s a week of preparation time for the opening of the game. The same goes for defense. We have to break some tendencies that people don’t have

make them comfortable going down and make them question their game and what they’ve learned. But when you hold a Big Ten team to seven points, you have a chance to win a lot of games. I’m very proud of our defense and proud of Tom Allen and the defensive staff. If you hold people to 7 points and 34 rushing yards against a Big Ten opponent, you give yourself a chance to win a lot of games.

Kicker Sander Sahaydak is missing two field goals: He was great for us, and we just

He won this game and he should celebrate this thing like everyone else. But ultimately we will have competition and all of these things will factor into the decisions we have to make in the future. But I want Sander to celebrate this victory like everyone else because he has invested a lot. He’s a great kid and a great representative for Penn State.

Illinois coach Bret Bielema

About the game: Obviously disappointed with the results. I commend Penn State, an undefeated top 10 team, but our guys prepared well all week. They came into this game with the idea of ​​being successful. Obviously we’ve had a lot of success and done a lot of really good things. When I came here by plane I felt like I had a really good football team. For me as a head coach, we can’t do the things that cause us to fail. We have to give our boys more chances. I think we came out pretty clean. I always emphasize that we learn more in difficult moments than in moments of success.

On his team: I think we are a good football team. I like our behavior. I like her work ethic. I like hers

Edge. They are very disappointed, which I hope they are too. We did enough things today to cause the mistakes we had, but I don’t see any of it being something we can’t do right.

On his concerns about the running game: We say it all the time: good teams do three things; They run the ball, defend runs and cover kicks. Obviously this will be a recipe that others will follow and see and you know they have a good running game that we knew was coming.

About Penn State tight end Tyler Warren: Number 44, I just love him. One of the things I took away from the (NFL) is that if a guy has a lot of position flexibility, meaning he can do a lot of other things besides what he’s supposed to do, then I think that his abilities simply allow many other things. James does a really good job of putting the players in their shoes. I have great respect for what he has done.

More Penn State football

Penn State Football Report Card: Illinois Edition

The Penn State-Illinois Game Summary: The Nittany Lions’ front lines take the win