Micah Parsons' Watch: Late charge leads Penn State's recovering defense at Illinois
Frank Bodani
The Penn State defense needed to find some kind of answer late Friday night.
It was getting gashed by an improving and yet huge underdog opponent, without answers into the third quarter.
Finally, the Nittany Lions put the clamps on Illinois and their rookie quarterback and fleet of runners during their pullaway, 63-24 victory in Champaign.
True freshman linebacker Micah Parson helped lead the way, once again.
More:Miles Sanders rules the night as Penn State grinds up Illini late
After a slow start, the Harrisburg product piled up six tackles to finish tied for the No. 2 spot on the night. His signature play was an open field tackle to end an Illini drive on fourth down midway through the fourth quarter.
Through four games, his 22 tackles trails only redshirt junior linebacker Jan Johnson (24) and safety Garrett Taylor (23).
After getting gashed for 174 rushing yards in the first half, Parsons and his defense yielded only 71 the rest of the way.
Maybe the biggest mover and shaker for the defense, though, was redshirt freshman safety Jonathan Sutherland. He saw his most action yet and totaled a team-best eight tackles.
One of the hardest hitters on the team, Sutherland showed some big-play potential lacking at the safety spot so far.
Another standout was junior defensive tackle Robert Windsor, who got going in the second half. He broke clean through the middle on a sack in the third quarter and finished with five tackles and 1.5 for loss.
Linebackers Johnson and Ellis Brooks each snared interceptions. Johnson's came on a remarkable reaction play early in the fourth quarter when he dove and cradled a deflected ball just before it hit the turf.
A few moments later, Penn State scored on a 21-yard pass to put the game away.
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