The Illini rushing attack has been rolling through the early portion of the season, but this Saturday the No. 21 Penn State Nittany Lions will be standing in its way.

“It is going to be a great test for us; it is going to be our biggest test to date,” head coach Ron Zook said.

Illinois running back Rashard Mendenhall ranks second in the Big Ten with 134 yards a game and as a team the Illini rank fifth nationally with 265.5 rushing yards a game.

But Mendenhall and company will face a defense that is giving up 54.8 yards a game led by senior All-American linebacker Dan Connor.

“Really when you line up a play sometimes (rankings) doesn’t matter, but it does show you they’re always going to play good defense,” Zook said. “There is no question it will be a battle.”

The Nittany Lions lost last weekend for the first time this season against Michigan and surrendered 153 yards to running back Mike Hart on 44 carries. Despite its first loss, Penn State is still outscoring opponents by 24 points a game.

Quarterback Anthony Morelli has completed nearly 60 percent of his passes and is averaging 199.2 yards a game through the air with eight scores this season.

“They’re loaded in all phases,” Zook said. “Offensively they’re better than they were last year. Defensively once again they’ve got another linebacker that is all-world and all-everything.”

Last season the Illini battled and led 9-3 at halftime but turnovers ultimately sealed their fate. Penn State forced four Illinois turnovers, including three in an 11-play stretch in the third quarter to go on to a 26-12 victory.

“We’ve got to maintain the same direction we’ve been going,” Zook said. “As I said in here the last few weeks, whenever we’ve had some positive things going for us (in previous seasons) we haven’t handled them very well and to this point we have.”

Backup backs update

Freshman tailback Troy Pollard burst onto Illini fans’ radars late in the Western Illinois game and followed his performance a week later at Syracuse with an impressive 93 yards on 13 carries for a 7.1 yard average.

But the Illini may have lost their speedy third option in the backfield to injury. In the fourth quarter Saturday, Pollard went down with a knee injury and could face season-ending knee surgery.

“The jury is still out a little bit,” Zook said. “I’m feeling pretty good (surgery) is probably what is going to happen.”

If Pollard does undergo surgery, Zook said he would be eligible to use a redshirt because he did not play the opening week against Missouri.

In place of Pollard, Walter Mendenhall will be the third running back on the depth chart against Penn State.

Daniel Dufrene carried just five times total the past two games while dealing with an ankle sprain, but he should be ready for more action this weekend. Zook said some of the ankle irritation was a result of his ankle being taped too tightly.

“He doesn’t complain he just goes out there and plays,” Zook said. “That’s kind of a nice thing in today’s age when they take the shoes you give them and wear the tape you put on them and they don’t complain.”