James Franklin asked Penn State fans to bring “whiteout energy” to Saturday’s game against Illinois, and they responded.
The Nittany Lions had a close game all night, but held the Illini scoreless and eventually escaped with a touchdown on the third of the fourth quarter to take a 21-7 lead. The Illini were held to just 219 yards of total offense while the Nittany Lions ran for 239 yards.
According to Franklin, it wasn’t an official Whiteout game and was reserved for the Nov. 9 game against Washington, but that didn’t mean the atmosphere was any less thrilling.
“It was a phenomenal environment,” Franklin said. “We thought fans had seven effects on a game, seven plays, timeouts or not, false starts or penalties or not, bad snaps or not…everything, let alone college football. In sports, this is like nothing.”
Beaver Stadium is considered one of the toughest home fields in college football, and Nittany Lions fans more than delivered. UCLA will be looking to improve to 5-0 when it comes to Happy Valley in Week 6.
“That was an incredible environment… We thought the fans had seven influences on the game, seven plays, whether there was a timeout, whether it was a false start or penalty, whether it was a bad snap… It’s like nothing in sports in general, football. “
– James Franklin pic.twitter.com/ppn68TcU4P
— Joel Haas (@Joel_Haas1) September 29, 2024
