Friday night lights, it’s a term we’re used to hearing associated with high school football. However, last season the Big Ten decided to appoint some Friday night games in order to get more exposure for its smaller teams in the conference. On a Friday night, there’s not many college football games on national television throughout the country, so odds are the game is going to get solid viewership from football fans.

Frequently, a smaller Big Ten team, depending on who it’s playing can get buried on the TV guide due to the overabundance of games on a Saturday. This type of format insures the game will be on a much bigger stage. That will almost certainly be the case this week as Penn State heads to Champaign, Illinois to take on the Fighting Illini (Friday, 9 p.m., FS1)

Obviously, the coaches haven’t been thrilled with that logic as it gives their players one less day to prepare during the week. Penn State head coach James Franklin has been boisterous in his dislike for the Friday night game as much as any other coach. Coaches like routine and a Friday night game can certainly mess with that. Although, Franklin also believes that Friday nights should be reserved for high school and not college football, his players and staff have embraced the challenge and he thinks they have a sound plan in place to come away from the experience successfully.

“I like where we’re at. We’re not talking about this week any other way than this is game week. I do not like talking about it any different than that, because I think it has a psychological effect and we won’t do that,” said Franklin. We’ve got the same days, amount of days to get ready that Illinois does. So, I kind-of voiced some of my thoughts before this week started. But now that it’s this week, this is game week for us.

“So, we’ve embraced it. We got, like I said, I think we got a really good plan from our strength staff, as well as our administrative staff, as well as our sport scientists and studying all these things and I like our plan. I feel good about it.”

The game plan for Penn State this week will be the same it has been for the last two weeks, which is to continue to get better. Since it’s 45-38 overtime victory over Appalachian State, the Nittany Lions have outscored their last two opponents 114-16. The reality of the situation is the Nittany Lions (3-0, No. 10 AP) have one more week to fine tune everything before Ohio State comes to Beaver Stadium in two weeks. Now, that’s not to say I’m overlooking the Illinois game, because I’m not. Obviously, Penn State must take care of business against the Illini (2-1) in what should be a good atmosphere for them, but in my opinion this one should go smoothly for the Nittany Lions as they’re undoubtedly the better football team with much better depth.

The key to success for Penn State will be up front in the middle on defense. A unit that didn’t look good against Appalachian State, but has settled in over the past two weeks. Veteran Kevin Givens return against Pitt has seemed to balance the other defensive tackles out as they’ve been better at clogging up the middle against the run after week one.

“I think we’ve been pretty good at defensive end. Obviously, we had seven sacks last week, but I think we’ve been pretty good at defensive end. I think we can be better at defensive tackle,” said Franklin. “And I think we can be better at linebacker. We’ve got to be more reckless when we blitz and when we rush at linebacker.”

Illinois has had success running the football, averaging 243 rushing yards per game at just over five yards per carry. Mike Epstein leads the team in rushing with 251 yards and two scores, while his backfield mate Reggie Corbin has also been solid, rushing for 240 yards and three scores. Quarterback AJ Bush, who has been out with a hamstring injury will probably return this week and he can be dangerous running the football as well, rushing for 142 yards on the season.

Stopping the run will force the Illini into some third and long situations and Penn State has shown that it’s edge pass rush, especially on passing downs can be good with seven sacks last week against Kent State. Illinois also hasn’t been great in the passing game, averaging just 165 passing yards per game. The Nittany Lions are giving up just 148.3 yards rushing per game and 175.7 passing yards per game.

“They returned 17 of 29 starters. And we think we’re going to have some challenges. There’s no doubt. It looks like this week, looking at their depth charts, they’re going to have some guys back that haven’t been available to them that they feel like are some of their better players,” said Franklin. “They put up pretty good numbers statistically offensively. It’s going to be a challenge for us. Both their starting quarterbacks AJ Bush, who I think has a hamstring pull and missed last week’s game, as well as the backup, M.J. Rivers, have both played really well. They’re both completing over 60 percent of their passes.

“Running back, Mike Epstein, who we’re familiar with, is from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is averaging seven yards a carry. Reggie Corbin, the backup, is averaging 6.5 yards a carry.”

Offensively is where I think Penn State has a distinct advantage. Illinois has really struggled against the pass (325.3 passing yards per game), which does not bode well for it with quarterback Trace McSorley and his host of weapons coming to Champaign. McSorley has looked good of late attacking downfield as I think the passing unit is starting to come together. McSorley is averaging 13.4 yards per pass completion and averaged 21 yards per completion last week against Kent State. Deep threat weapons KJ Hamler, Juwan Johnson, and DeAndre Thompkins could end up having a big game, especially if the Illini can’t get any pressure on McSorley. Illinois has just five sacks in three games (1.6 sacks per game).

Las Vegas has Penn State as a 28-point favorite on the road.

Stopping the run and exploiting the Illinois pass defense will be they keys in this one. Something else to keep your eye on is turnovers, which can help any inferior team stay in the game, especially if that team is home. Illinois has forced a turnover in 17 straight games, has yet turn the ball over on offense and is plus-five in turnover margin. Obviously, turning the ball over is something Penn State must avoid, which I think it will. I just think the Nittany Lions have too much for the Illini.

My pick is Penn State 43, Illinois 13.