What is the Penn State-UCLA spread?: Newsstand

Penn State news, notes, and updates for Sept. 30 include an initial look at the point spread for Saturday’s meeting with UCLA, headlines of the day, and more. It’s time to dive into Monday’s top tweets and headlines about the Nittany Lions and college athletics.

Penn State tweets of the day

We start with the initial betting information for the Lions’ clash with the Bruins in the ‘B1G Noon Kickoff’ window Saturday on FOX. Early Sunday morning, FanDuel made Penn State a 27.5-point favorite. The line jumped to 28.5 before daybreak on Sunday and will likely continue to climb. UCLA is fresh off another double-digit loss, this time to Oregon. First-year head coach DeShaun Foster’s team does not have a sack in three games, owns the Big Ten’s worst offense with just 262 yards per game, and is giving up almost 400 yards per game on defense.

“The game didn’t go the way that we wanted it to go,” Foster said Saturday night But there were a couple bright spots. We were able to run the ball a little bit better in the second half. I think my defense played pretty well tonight, going against a high-powered offense like we did. We just didn’t really execute the way that we wanted to, offensively, to try to help our defense out. We kept putting them out there and if you keep putting them out on the field they’ll wear down a little bit. But other than that, just glad that my players kept fighting and we didn’t have guys out there quitting.

“We just need to go to Penn State and just continue to build on this. That’s all that we’ve got to do. Like I said, we will learn from these losses. I know I see it. I know that you all see it, but some of you choose not to. But they’re improving, and we are just going to continue to improve and keep working hard. And eventually, it’s going to turn around.”

Headlines of the day

Penn State’s standouts in the win over Illinois: Defenders swarm Luke Altmyer, runners deliver: Flounders, PennLive

What We Learned From Penn State’s Win Over Illinois: Woloson, SI

Penn State passes first test, Lions dominate the line of scirmmage, and more of what they’re saying after Illinois win: Pickel, BWI

After Beating Illinois, Make No Mistake: Penn State Is Still in the Playoff Hunt: Poorman, Statecollege.com

Penn State Sunday rewind: On injuries, penalties, more stout second half defense, and more: Pickel, BWI

How the Penn State football offense is ‘totally different’ under coordinator Andy Kotelnicki: Sauber, CDT

Penn State report card: Grading the Nittany Lions win over Illinois: Pickel, BWI

Quote of the day

“I think they were a great team, and they have a very talented defense. So, to be able to pull out the win like that was important for us, a gritty, hard drive win because we haven’t really seen that yet in our schedule. It was good for our offense to have that under our belt now going forward.”

–PSU TE Tyler Warren.