1981 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

1981 Penn State Nittany Lions football
Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy
Fiesta Bowl, W 26–10 vs. USC
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 3
AP	No. 3
1981 record	10–2
Head coach	Joe Paterno (16th year)
Offensive coordinator	Dick Anderson
Defensive coordinator	Jerry Sandusky
Home stadium	Beaver Stadium (Capacity: 83,770)

1981 Division I-A independents football records
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#3 Penn State		–		–		10	–	2	–	0
#4 Pittsburgh		–		–		11	–	1	–	0
#8 Miami		–		–		9	–	2	–	0
Southern Miss		–		–		9	–	2	–	1
#17 West Virginia		–		–		9	–	3	–	0
Colgate		–		–		7	–	3	–	0
Virginia Tech		–		–		7	–	4	–	0
Navy		–		–		7	–	4	–	1
Cincinnati		–		–		6	–	5	–	0
Florida State		–		–		6	–	5	–	0
Holy Cross		–		–		6	–	5	–	0
Tulane		–		–		6	–	5	–	0
UNLV		–		–		6	–	6	–	0
South Carolina		–		–		6	–	6	–	0
Temple		–		–		5	–	5	–	0
Boston College		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
East Carolina		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
Northeast Louisiana		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
Louisville		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
Notre Dame		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
Rutgers		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
William & Mary		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
Syracuse		–		–		4	–	6	–	1
Richmond		–		–		4	–	7	–	0
Army		–		–		3	–	7	–	1
North Texas State		–		–		2	–	9	–	0
Georgia Tech		–		–		1	–	10	–	0
Memphis		–		–		1	–	10	–	0

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1981 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented Pennsylvania State University during the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season.^[1]

Schedule

Date	Opponent^#	Rank^#	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 12	Cincinnati	No. 9	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA	ESPN (tape delay)	W 52–0	84,342
September 26	at No. 15 Nebraska	No. 3	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE	ESPN (tape delay)	W 30–24	76,308
October 3	Temple	No. 2	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA		W 30–0	84,562
October 10	Boston College	No. 2	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA	ESPN (tape delay)	W 38–7	84,473
October 17	at Syracuse	No. 2	Carrier Dome • Syracuse, NY (Rivalry)		W 41–16	50,037
October 24	West Virginia	No. 1	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA (Rivalry)	ESPN (tape delay)	W 30–7	85,012
October 31	at Miami	No. 1	Miami Orange Bowl • Miami, FL	ABC National	L 14–17	32,117
November 7	at North Carolina State	No. 6	Carter–Finley Stadium • Raleigh, NC		W 22–15	48,800
November 14	No. 6 Alabama	No. 5	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA (Rivalry)	ABC Regional	L 16–31	85,133
November 21	Notre Dame	No. 13	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA	ESPN (tape delay)	W 24–21	84,175
November 28	at No. 1 Pittsburgh	No. 11	Pitt Stadium • Pittsburgh, PA (Rivalry)	ABC National	W 48–14	60,260
January 1, 1982	vs. No. 8 USC	No. 7	Sun Devil Stadium • Tempe, AZ (Fiesta Bowl)	NBC	W 26–10	71,053
*Non-conference game. Homecoming. ^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

	1	2	3	4	Total
Boston College	0	0	0	7	7
• Penn St	10	14	7	7	38

Scoring summary

Q1	PSU	Warner 7 yard run (Franco kick)	PSU 7–0

Q1	PSU	Franco 33 yard field goal	PSU 10–0

Q2	PSU	Meade 1 yard run (Franco kick)	PSU 17–0

Q2	PSU	Jackson 39 yard pass from Blackledge (Franco kick)	PSU 24–0

Q3	PSU	Warner 1 yard run (Franco kick)	PSU 31–0

Q4	PSU	Williams 36 yard run (Franco kick)	PSU 38–0

Q4	BC	Nizolek 23 yard pass from Flutie (Cooper kick)	PSU 38–7

Notre Dame at #13 Penn St

	1	2	3	4	Total
Notre Dame	7	7	7	0	21
• Penn St	14	3	0	7	24

Scoring summary

1		PSU	Williams 4-yard run (Franco kick)	PSU 7–0

1		ND	Carter 1-yard run (Oliver kick)	Tied 7–7

1		PSU	Blackledge 1-yard run (Franco kick)	PSU 14–7

2		PSU	Franco 27-yard field goal	PSU 17–7

2		ND	Hunter 17-yard pass from Kiel (Oliver kick)	PSU 17–14

3		ND	Sweeney 4-yard pass from Kiel (Oliver kick)	ND 21–17

4	3:48	PSU	Blackledge 1-yard run (Franco kick)	PSU 24–21

Following the game, Penn State accepted an invitation to the Fiesta Bowl.

Ten Nittany Lions were drafted in the 1982 NFL Draft.

Round	Pick	Overall	Name	Position	Team
1st	8	8	Mike Munchak	Offensive guard	Houston Oilers
1st	17	17	Sean Farrell	Offensive guard	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2nd	1	28	Leo Wisniewski	Nose tackle	Baltimore Colts
2nd	10	37	Jim Romano	Center	Los Angeles Raiders
3rd	23	78	Vyto Kab	Tight end	Philadelphia Eagles
3rd	25	80	Paul Lankford	Defensive back	Miami Dolphins
5th	15	126	Mike Meade	Running back	Green Bay Packers
6th	13	152	Chet Parlavecchio	Linebacker	Green Bay Packers
9th	11	234	Matt Bradley	–	Houston Oilers
10th	12	263	Rich D'Amico	–	Los Angeles Raiders

↑ "Penn State Yearly Results (1980-1984)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
↑ Eugene-Register Guard. 1981 Oct 11.

Penn State Nittany Lions football

Venues	Old Main lawn (until 1891) Beaver Field (1892–1908) New Beaver Field (1909–1959) Beaver Stadium (1960–present)

Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Alabama Maryland Michigan State Minnesota Ohio State Pittsburgh Syracuse West Virginia

Culture & lore	Nittany Lion "Fight On, State" Penn State Blue Band Uplifting Athletes Joe Paterno statue Something for Joey 1982 Nebraska game child sex abuse scandal

People	Head coaches All-Americans Statistical leaders NFL draftees

Seasons	1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

National championship seasons in bold

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