Interesting stats behind Penn State and Illinois’ 9-OT marathon

After nine — yes, nine — overtime periods, unranked Illinois defeated No. 7 Penn State 20-18 in a game that was a test of endurance.

After Illinois’ Khalan Tolson broke up Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford’s pass in the ninth overtime, Brandon Peters found Casey Washington in the end zone for the winning conversion.

Penn State is the latest ranked school to lose to an unranked opponent. Alabama, Coastal Carolina and more have suffered the same fate this season.

Little passing, little scoring and some history provided this contest between Illinois and Penn State with some interesting stats — many showing how awful a loss this was for the Nittany Lions. Let’s take a look at the numbers that defined this game.

9: Four quarters — plus nine overtimes. This was the longest game in FBS history, and Penn State and Illinois made history in the process. They played the most overtime periods ever in a college football game. The previous high was seven, which happened five times — and those games weren’t low-scoring affairs. Both teams scored at least 50 points each in all five of those seven overtime contests.

38: The Fighting Illini didn’t pass the ball well, accumulating 38 passing yards for the entire contest. Only two other teams have recorded fewer passing yards in a win over an AP top-10 opponent: UCLA against Texas in 2010 (27 yards) and Florida against Georgia in 2014 (27 yards).

25.5: According to Caesars Sportsbook, Penn State closed as 25.5-point favorites against Illinois. Since the FCS/FBS split in 1978, there was only one other time the Nittany Lions lost a game after closing as 20-plus-point favorites — last season against Maryland.

357: Illinois pounded Penn State on the ground, rushing for 357 yards Saturday afternoon. That is historically unusual for the Nittany Lions’ defense. In fact, Penn State surrendered more rushing yards only twice: in 1997 vs. Michigan State (452) and in 2013 vs. Ohio State (408).

Oct. 23: Not only is it the date…