1987 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

The 1987 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented Penn State University during the 1987 NCAA Division I-A football season.

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
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

Schedule

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

Game summaries

edit

Notre Dame

edit
1 234Total
Notre Dame 7 076 20
• Penn St 7 707 21

[5]

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
  •   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. ^ "Alabama rolls over Penn State". The Philadelphia Inquirer. September 13, 1987. Retrieved February 20, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Penn State rallies for 25–21 victory". The Morning Call. November 1, 1987. Retrieved February 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Penn State holds off Maryland". The Baltimore Sun. November 8, 1987. Retrieved February 2, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Clemson destroys Penn State, 35–10". Pensacola News Journal. January 2, 1988. Retrieved February 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Gainesville Sun. 1987 Nov 22.