When Jeremy Kapinos finds himself frustrated, he always knows how to relieve his frustrations.

"When I want to blow off steam, I go punt," he said.

If Penn State's senior punter had any worries heading into Saturday's game against Illinois, they should have been successfully kicked out of Kapinos' system by the time the clock ran out a 26-12 Penn State victory.

Kapinos punted eight times for a total of 365 yards against the Fighting Illini and now has 9,578 career punting yards, moving him into first-place all-time in Penn State's record books.

After the game, Kapinos said he normally follows every conceivable punting record, but that this one came as a surprise.

"Any other record, I'm pretty well researched on," he said. "But this one, I had no idea about."

Even more impressive than Kapinos' totals against Illinois, four of his punts fell within the Illini's 20-yardline, including one that pinned Illinois on its 2-yard line in the third quarter.

"Field position is everything," Illinois running back Rashard Mendenhall said. "Starting back from way back there as opposed to starting closer, it's a lot tougher on the offense."

Illinois' ensuing drive proved that, as Penn State forced Illinois to punt after just three plays. Sophomore wide receiver Derrick Williams returned the Kyle Yelton kick to Illinois' 34-yardline. Six plays later, junior quarterback Anthony Morelli tossed a 3-yard touchdown pass to tight end Kevin Darling to give Penn State a 10-9 lead.

Then with 1:44 left in the game, another Kapinos punt put Illinois on its own 21-yardline, well within the Penn State student sections' range.

"He means everything to us," senior defensive tackle Ed Johnson said. "He gets us in that type of field position where we get the crowd in the game, where we feed off the intensity from the crowd noise and things like that."

Granted, Kapinos' career statistics have been inflated since he was part of the 3-9 2003 team that needed him to punt 68 times. But in four years, he's been one of Penn State's steadiest and most dependable players, averaging 41.9 yards a kick in 2003, 41.8 in 2004 and 41.3 in 2005.

This year, Kapinos is playing even better, averaging 42.5 yards per punt through eight games.

As Kapinos continues to improve his numbers this year, NFL thoughts have begun to creep into his mind. And since he graduated in May with a degree in recreation, park and tourism management in May, Kapinos has been fully focused on football and earning an invitation to this springs NFL combine.

"That's what my mind's been set on since Day 1," Kapinos said.

But for the present, Kapinos is just happy to punt the ball as well as he can whenever Penn State needs it.

"I'm not gonna lie to you. A punter wants to punt, and I don't question anything. When my name gets called I go punt, whether it's one time a game or eight times a game," Kapinos said Saturday. "We were in a defensive battle today, and they needed me."

And while Kapinos received his fair share of punting duties Saturday, he realizes that many fans probably don't want to see the punter on the field eight, regardless if he is breaking records or not.

"I kind of wanted to get in front of the home crowd, even though some people would not want me to get it," Kapinos said Saturday. "It hasn't quite hit me yet. Unfortunately, I got it today."