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1987 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

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1987 Penn State Nittany Lions football
ConferenceIndependent
Record8–4
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorFran Ganter (4th season)
Offensive schemePro-style
Defensive coordinatorJerry Sandusky (11th season)
Base defense4–3
Captains
  • Trey Bauer
  • Marques Henderson
  • Matt Knizner
Home stadiumBeaver Stadium
Seasons
← 1986
1988 →
1987 Major eastern college football independents records
Conf. Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 4 Syracuse $ 5 – 0 – 0 11 – 0 – 1
Penn State 4 – 2 – 0 8 – 4 – 0
Pittsburgh 3 – 3 – 0 8 – 4 – 0
West Virginia 2 – 3 – 0 6 – 6 – 0
Rutgers 2 – 4 – 0 6 – 5 – 0
Boston College 2 – 4 – 0 5 – 6 – 0
Temple 1 – 3 – 0 3 – 8 – 0
Rankings from AP Poll
1987 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
Conf. Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 1 Miami (FL)   –   –   12 – 0 – 0
No. 4 Syracuse   –   –   11 – 0 – 1
No. 2 Florida State   –   –   11 – 1 – 0
No. 15 South Carolina   –   –   8 – 4 – 0
Pittsburgh   –   –   8 – 4 – 0
Penn State   –   –   8 – 4 – 0
No. 17 Notre Dame   –   –   8 – 4 – 0
Southern Miss   –   –   6 – 5 – 0
Rutgers   –   –   6 – 5 – 0
Southwestern Louisiana   –   –   6 – 5 – 0
Memphis State   –   –   5 – 5 – 1
Northern Illinois   –   –   5 – 5 – 1
West Virginia   –   –   6 – 6 – 0
Tulane   –   –   6 – 6 – 0
Army   –   –   5 – 6 – 0
Boston College   –   –   5 – 6 – 0
East Carolina   –   –   5 – 6 – 0
Akron   –   –   4 – 7 – 0
Cincinnati   –   –   4 – 7 – 0
Louisville   –   –   3 – 7 – 1
Temple   –   –   3 – 8 – 0
Tulsa   –   –   3 – 8 – 0
Virginia Tech   –   –   2 – 9 – 0
Navy   –   –   2 – 9 – 0
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1987 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented the Pennsylvania State University as an independent during the 1987 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by 22nd-year head coach Joe Paterno, the Nittany Lions compiled a record of 8–4. Penn State was invited to the Florida Citrus Bowl, where the Nittany Lions lost to Clemson. The team played home games at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania.

Schedule

[edit]
DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendanceSource
September 51:00 p.m.Bowling GreenNo. 11
W 45–1984,574[1]
September 128:10 p.m.No. 19 AlabamaNo. 11
  • Beaver Stadium
  • University Park, PA (rivalry)
CBSL 13–2485,619[2]
September 191:00 p.m.CincinnatiNo. 20
  • Beaver Stadium
  • University Park, PA
W 41–082,000[3]
September 267:45 p.m.at Boston CollegeNo. 15
ESPNW 27–1750,267[4]
October 31:00 p.m.TempleNo. 14
  • Beaver Stadium
  • University Park, PA
W 27–1384,000[5]
October 101:00 p.m.RutgersdaggerNo. 14
  • Beaver Stadium
  • University Park, PA
W 35–2185,376[6]
October 172:45 p.m.at No. 13 SyracuseNo. 10
CBSL 21–4850,011[7]
October 311:00 p.m.West VirginiaNo. 18
  • Beaver Stadium
  • University Park, PA (rivalry)
W 25–2185,108[8]
November 71:00 p.m.at MarylandNo. 16
W 21–1662,500[9]
November 147:45 p.m.at PittsburghNo. 15
ESPNL 0–1056,500[10]
November 2112:00 p.m.No. 7 Notre Dame
  • Beaver Stadium
  • University Park, PA (rivalry)
CBSW 21–2084,000[11]
January 1, 198812:00 p.m.vs. No. 14 ClemsonNo. 20
ABCL 10–3553,152[12]

Game summaries

[edit]

Notre Dame

[edit]
1 234Total
Notre Dame 7 076 20
• Penn St 7 707 21
Scoring summary
Q1PSUGreene 10 yard run (Taurasi kick)PSU 7–0
Q1NDRice 32 yard run (Gradel kick)Tie 7–7
Q2PSUThomas 1 yard run (Etze kick)PSU 14–7
Q3NDRice 11 yard run (Gradel kick)Tie 14–14
Q4PSUGreene 3 yard run (Taurasi kick)PSU 21–14
Q4NDJohnson 1 yard run (run failed)PSU 21–20

[13]

Roster

[edit]
1987 Penn State Nittany Lions football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos. # Name Class
WR 9 Mike Alexander Sr
QB 12 Tom Bill Fr
FB 27 Gary Brown Fr
OT 74 Stan Clayton Sr
WR 26 David Daniels Fr
C 78 Roger Duffy So
TE 89 Bob Mrosko Jr
TE 88 Paul Pomfret Sr
WR 6 Ray Roundtree Sr
G 79 Dave Szott So
RB 32 Blair Thomas So
WR 5 Michael Timpson Jr
G 66 Steve Wisniewski Jr
C 72 Mike Wolf Sr
Defense
Pos. # Name Class
LB 35 Trey Bauer Sr
NT 70 Darryl Bullock Jr
LB 31 Andre Collins So
DT 85 Frank Giannetti Fr
LB 90 Pete Giftopoulos Sr
S 3 Marques Henderson Sr
LB 84 Keith Karpinski Jr
LB 92 Quintus McDonald Jr
LB 33 John Sweenely Jr
CB 19 Gary Wilkerson Jr
Special teams
Pos. # Name Class
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured Injured
  • Redshirt Redshirt

Roster

NFL draft

[edit]

Four Nittany Lions were drafted in the 1988 NFL draft.

Round Pick Overall Name Position Team
3rd 3 58 Ray Roundtree Wide receiver Detroit Lions
8th 6 199 Mike Alexander Wide receiver Los Angeles Raiders
10th 1 250 Stan Clayton Offensive tackle Atlanta Falcons
11th 11 289 Pete Curkendall Defensive line Buffalo Bills

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Lions give Paterno 200th win". The Scrantonian. September 6, 1987. Retrieved May 10, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Alabama rolls over Penn State". The Philadelphia Inquirer. September 13, 1987. Retrieved February 20, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Lions take wrath out on Cincinnati". The Times Leader. September 20, 1987. Retrieved May 10, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Penn State tops Boston College". The Journal News. September 27, 1987. Retrieved May 10, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Penn St. puts cool 27–13 end to old tale". The Pittsburgh Press. October 4, 1987. Retrieved May 10, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Nittany Lions sing same winning tune". Staten Island Advance. October 11, 1987. Retrieved May 10, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Orange crush Lions, 48–21". Centre Daily Times. October 18, 1987. Retrieved May 10, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Penn State rallies for 25–21 victory". The Morning Call. November 1, 1987. Retrieved February 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Penn State holds off Maryland". The Baltimore Sun. November 8, 1987. Retrieved February 2, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "State's bowl plans go down the drain". Sunday News. November 15, 1987. Retrieved May 10, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Lions sack Irish in season finale, 21–20". York Daily Record. November 22, 1987. Retrieved May 10, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Clemson destroys Penn State, 35–10". Pensacola News Journal. January 2, 1988. Retrieved February 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Gainesville Sun. 1987 Nov 22.
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