Oct. 22, 2005

Recap |  Final Stats |  Quotes |  Photo Gallery

1. Steve Weatherford had a season-best punting day with five of his nine kicks going over 50 yards and an average of 50.2. His long was 61 yards, his eighth career punt of over 60 yards, and all nine punts were over 40 yards. His average of 50.2 ranks sixth on the Illinois single-game list and his total yardage of 452 yards is a career-high and ranks ninth on the single-game list.

2. Freshman offensive lineman Eric Block became the 11th true-freshman to play this season when he entered the game in the third quarter.

3. Freshman tight end Greg McClendon caught his first career pass today, a three-yard reception in the second quarter. McClendon is the 14th Illini player to catch a pass this season.

4. Pierre Thomas had 105 yards on kickoff returns which moves him to third on the all-time kick return yardage list with 1,241. only 35 yards behind George McDonald-Ashford's second-place mark of 1,276 yards. His 154 all-purpose yards give him 971 yards for the season and 3,016 for his career, six yards behind Jim Grawbowski (3,022) in 10th place.

5. Thomas now has 430 kick return yards for the season, which currently puts him ninth on the all-time season kick return yardage list.

6. Illinois' 12-play, 91-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter was its longest drive of the year, surpassing the previous long of 80 yards against both California and Iowa.

7. Both Rashard Mendenhall and DaJuan Warren had career long receptions against Penn State. Mendenhall's 16-yard reception on Illinois' fourth quarter touchdown drive eclipsed his previous long of 12 yards against Michigan State this year. Warren's 15-yard reception was also during the touchdown drive, besting his previous long of 14 yards against Northwestern on Nov. 20, 2004.