STATE COLLEGE — Cornerback A.J. Harris had just grabbed his first career interception and was on his way to a 52-yard touchdown return with 5:50 left, an exclamation point to Penn State’s 21-7 win over Illinois Saturday night at Beaver Stadium.

And then, from behind the play, a flag flew.

Penn State was called for a needless block in the back penalty, which brought the ball back to midfield.

“I’m thankful to catch my first interception,” Harris, a transfer from Georgia, said afterward with a smile. “I wish it would have counted.”

The Nittany Lions eventually punched in a final touchdown, but the penalty symbolized how this game went, and in some ways how the season has gone.

Penn State improved to 4-0 on the season, and for all the good work defensively and in the run game that it did to energize the White Out atmosphere, penalties and leaks in the field-goal operation allowed Illinois to hang around most of the night.

The Lions committed six penalties for 63 yards (plus two that were declined), missed a pair of 40-yard field goals and turned the ball over on downs because it passed on a 36-yard attempt.

James Franklin didn’t agree with all the calls and in fact told the Penn State Radio Network at halftime that he thought a couple of them came from a bull.

After the game, he was more measured.

“It’s hard to complain about a bad call when we are getting as many penalties as we are,” he said. “I just want to feel like it’s being called both ways.”

Well, it was as Illinois was flagged nine times.

For the season, the Lions have committed 28 penalties, a disturbing pattern Franklin has called “embarrassing.”

“We made it a lot harder than it needed to be with silly penalties, and that’s on me and us as coaches,” he said. “We’ve got to provide more discipline all the time, not just punitive penalties when they jump offsides, being more disciplined about how they are in meetings, how they sit up, how they take notes, all of that. And I believe the more discipline that we have off the field will transfer on the field. And that’s my job.”

It’s also his job to manage an inevitable placekicker transition. Sander Sahaydak is now 3-9 for his career – 2-5 this year, including 1-for-4 from 40-49, after going 0-2 last season (both misses vs. West Virginia) and getting a quick hook.

“Sander has been awesome for us, and we just won that game, and he should be celebrating like everybody else,” Franklin said. “But ultimately, we’ll have a competition, and all these things will factor in decisions that we’re going to have to make moving forward.”

He’ll need to get a kicker comfortable next week vs. UCLA before the meat of the schedule – back-to-back trips to USC and Wisconsin followed by November home dates with Ohio State and Washington – arrives.

With the Lions up 14-7 in the third quarter, between Sahaydak’s misses, Franklin passed on a 36-yard attempt and went for it on a fourth-and-3 that didn’t work, either.

Still, the defense, which didn’t allow a point after Illinois’ game-opening drive, responded.

“The defense did a great job from the first drive on,” quarterback Drew Allar said. “We played good complimentary football.”

Penn State has held 14 of its last 15 Big Ten opponents to less than 100 yards rushing and recorded 13 tackles for loss, including seven sacks Saturday.

The Lions’ defense has allowed just seven points in the second half this year.

“Our coaches do a great job making adjustments at halftime,” Harris said.

Franklin said he challenged both lines at halftime, and their collective response “was the difference in the game.”

He also credited the fans, estimating “seven plays” that the loud crowd positively affected.

“The exciting thing is there are a lot of things that are easily correctable,” he said. “But when you’re able to run the ball like that on offense and stop the run on defense, you know good things are going to happen for you.”

And they are – even if it isn’t always pretty.

Neil Rudel can be reached at nrudel@altoonamirror.com.