CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — When Illinois coaches were criticized for setting up shop near Penn State’s campus last summer to see if any Nittany Lions were interested in transferring, Michael Mauti was their most vocal critic.

The Illini were hardly the only team looking, but Mauti singled out Illinois, saying he had a problem with anyone who would “steal” the Nittany Lions’ players in the wake of Penn State’s child-sex scandal and NCAA sanctions.

On Saturday, the senior linebacker backed up that talk with six tackles and a pair of game-changing interceptions that Penn State (3-2) turned into a 35-7 road win to open Big Ten play.

“It was sweet, that’s what it was,” Mauti said. “We haven’t forgotten about what happened in the summer. Yeah, to be honest with you we had that in the back of our minds and that kept us going. I mean, it’s all about opening up the conference strong and keeping things going.”

The Nittany Lions started the season in what by now is a familiar story of turmoil, uncertain where their offense would come from after the post-sanctions transfers of quarterback Rob Bolden and Silas Redd. Now they’ve won three straight and Bolden’s replacement, Matt McGloin, has become one of the Big Ten’s better quarterbacks.

McGloin threw for 211 yards and a touchdown and ran for two more scores, and running back Zach Zwinak had 101 yards and two touchdowns. Penn State coach Bill O’Brien credited his offensive line.

“They’re physical players and we told them from Day One of training camp that we were going to try and be a physical offense, a north-and-south running team, and they’ve done a nice job of that.”

The turnovers — three in all — and eight costly penalties left Illinois (2-3) with a second-straight blowout loss after last weekend’s 52-24 beating by Louisiana Tech.

“We can’t turn the football over and we’ve got to move the football better,” Illini coach Tim Beckman said. “And we’ve got to tackle and do the things we feel are necessary for us to be successful, and we’re just not getting those done the last two weeks.”

Linebacker Mike Mauti’s second interception came near midfield late in the third quarter as Illini quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase tried to rally the Illini. Mauti’s pick instead set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Zach Zwinak with 14:03 left in the game that sealed the win.

Zwinak finished with 101 yards and two touchdowns.

The Nittany Lions must still be wondering how they didn’t turn the senior linebacker’s first interception into points.

With just seconds left in the half. Illinois was desperately trying to put its first points on the scoreboard, and was in position to do it with a fourth-and-goal from the Penn State 7.

Quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase saw receiver Ryan Lankford crossing the field at the goal line but Mauti stepped in front of the pass, picking it off and charging to his left and the home sideline.

“Ninety-nine yards without a touchdown — that one’s gonna hurt,” Mauti said. “That’s gonna haunt my dreams.”