Penn State Football Team: History, Coaches, Association, Awards and Championships

Penn State Football Team

Penn State Nittany Lions team is referred to as the Penn State Football Team. The team represents Pennsylvania State University in college football. The Penn State team joined Big Ten Conference in the year 1993. Now this team competes in the NCAA division, Football Subdivision being a member of the Big Ten Conference. The team played independently from 1892 to 1992. Penn State Football was has achieved numerous successes. It has won two consensuses National Championships, Big Ten Conference championships with Big Ten Conference Championships, 13 undefeated seasons, etc. Lions play their games at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania.

About Penn State Football 

This team was established in the year 1887, and since then, it is counting successes on the field. The athletic director of the team is Sandy Barbour whereas the head coach is James Franklin. The record of the team is 893-393-42, and the bowl record is 30-18-2. The team has 2 claimed national titles, five unclaimed national titles, five conference titles, and 2 division titles. The primary rivalries are Michigan State, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Maryland, Ohio State, and West Virginia.

It has won Heisman for one time, and 42 consensuses All Americans. The outfitter of the team is Nike.

Associated Conferences of Penn State Football

  • It worked independently from 1887 to 1890.
  • Then it was united by the Pennsylvania Intercollege Football Association in the year 1891.
  • Then again, it worked independently from 1892 to 1992.
  • In the year 1993, it was affiliated with Big Ten Conference, and this affiliation is existing presently.

Head Coaches Awards

  • Rip Engle and Joe Paterno have won Amos Alonzo Stagg Award in the year 1969 and 2002.
  • Bill-O-Brien won the At& T-ESPN Award in the year 2012.
  • Joe Paterno won Bobby Dodd Coach of the year in 1981 and 2005.
  • Joe Paterno won Eddie Robinson Coach of the year in the year 1978, 1982, and 1986.
  • Joe Paterno won the George Munger Award in the year 1990, 1994, and 2005.
  • Bill O’Brien won the Maxwell coach of the year award in the year 2012.
  • James Franklin won the Woody Hayes Coach of the year award in 2016.

National Championships

The Penn State Football team has won seven such championships from NCAA. The list is as follows:

  • It was in the year 1911 and 1912, the team won the national championship under the coach Bill Hollenback with a record of 8-0-1.
  • Under the guidance of Joe Paterno, the team won Rothman(FACT) Sagarin Ratings and also the national championship of selector Dunken System with record 11-0,10-2, and 11-1 in the year 1961, 1981, and 1982.
  • In the year 1982 and 1986, the team won the national championship by selectors Sporting News, UPI, USA/CNN, etc, and New York Times in the year 1986 and 1994 respectively with scores 12-0 and 12-0 respectively.

Conference Championships

As discussed above, the Penn State team was independent till the year 1891 then it got its association with the College of Pennsylvania. It goes affiliated to Big Ten Conferences and has won four conference championships which are referred to as co-championships.

  • In the year 1891, Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Football Association, the team has no coach and won with an overall record of 6-2 and a conference record of 4-1.
  • In years 1994, 2005, and 28, under coach Joe Paterno the team won the championship with an overall record of 11-1 and a conference record of 7-1.
  • In the year 2016, under the guidance of James Franklin, the team again won the co-championship of the Big Ten Conference with an overall record 11-3 and a conference record of 8-1.

Division Championships

If we come to division championships won by the team then there are two won championships.

  • In the year 2011, the division championship of Big Ten Leaders was won by Penn State Football Team under the guidance of Joe Paterno.
  • In the year 2016, the team won the championship of the Big Ten East division under coach James Franklin.

Penn State Football team is a competent team that has won many championships and awards. One more ward is Lambert Award that has been won by the team multiple times in years 1947, 191, 1962, 1964, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2016, 2017.