From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

1979 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

American college football season

Field	Value
year	1979
team	Penn State Nittany Lions
sport	football
conference	Independent
CoachRank	18
APRank	20
record	8–4
head_coach	Joe Paterno
hc_year	14th
off_scheme	I formation
def_coach	Jerry Sandusky
dc_year	3rd
def_scheme	[4–3](4-3-defense)
captain	Lance Mehl
captain2	Matt Millen
captain3	Irv Pankey
stadium	Beaver Stadium
champion	Liberty Bowl champion
bowl	[Liberty Bowl](1979-liberty-bowl)
bowl_result	W 9–6 vs. [Tulane](1979-tulane-green-wave-football-team)

The 1979 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented Pennsylvania State University as an independent during the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by 14th-year head coach Joe Paterno, the Nittany Lions compiled a record of 8–4 with a win over Tulane in the Liberty Bowl. Penn State played home games at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania.

Schedule

|{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = l |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = l |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = l |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = l |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w

Game summaries

Rutgers

Texas A&M

At Nebraska

At Maryland

Army

First quarter

PSU – Booker Moore 1-yard run (Herb Menhardt kick). ''Penn State 7–0. '''Drive: 6 plays, 38 yards.''''' Second quarter
PSU – Matt Suhey 17-yard run (Herb Menhardt kick), 7:06. ''Penn State 14–0. '''Drive: 4 plays, 57 yards.'''''
PSU – Herb Menhardt 24-yard field goal, 2:36. ''Penn State 17–0. '''Drive:''''' Third quarter
ARMY – Dave Aucoin 44-yard field goal. ''Penn State 17–3. '''Drive:''''' Fourth quarter
PSU – Matt Suhey 61-yard run (Herb Menhardt kick). ''Penn State 24–3. '''Drive:''''' ;Top passers
ARMY – Jerryl Bennett – 7/26, 120 yards, INT
PSU – Dayle Tate – 6/14, 51 yards, 3 INT ;Top rushers
ARMY – Jimmy Hill – 23 rushes, 43 yards
PSU – Matt Suhey – 23 carries, 225 yards, 2 TD ;Top receivers
ARMY – Kevin Kullander – 3 receptions, 89 yards
PSU – Booker Moore – 3 receptions, 28 yards
Homecoming
Matt Suhey – 4th highest single game rushing total in school history, broke school record for career rushing attempts, moved into 4th place on all-time school rushing list
Booker Moore – 24 rushes, 103 yards

Vs. Syracuse

West Virginia

Miami (FL)

At NC State

Temple

Pittsburgh

Liberty Bowl (vs. Tulane)

Roster

Dick Anderson
John Bove
Booker Brooks
Fran Ganter
Bob Phillips
John Rosenberg
Jerry Sandusky
J. T. White
Jim Williams

NFL draft

Seven Nittany Lions were drafted in the 1980 NFL draft.

Round	Pick	Overall	Name	Position	Team
1st	4	4	Bruce Clark	Defensive tackle	Green Bay Packers
2nd	15	43	Matt Millen	Linebacker	Oakland Raiders
2nd	18	46	Matt Suhey	Running back	Chicago Bears
2nd	22	50	Irv Pankey	Offensive tackle	Los Angeles Rams
3rd	13	69	Lance Mehl	Linebacker	New York Jets
6th	16	154	Mike Guman	Running back	Los Angeles Rams
9th	9	230	Tom Donovan	Wide receiver	Kansas City Chiefs

References

(September 16, 1979). "Freshman paces Lions". The Sunday Times.
(September 23, 1979). "Texas A&M upsets 6th-ranked Penn State 27–14". Sunday Call-Chronicle.
(September 30, 1979). "Cornhuskers shuck Penn State, 42–17". Asbury Park Press.
(October 7, 1979). "Penn State's defense throttles Terps". Courier-Post.
(October 14, 1979). "Penn State rips Army". Wisconsin State Journal.
(October 21, 1979). "Orangemen no match for Penn St.". The Miami Herald.
(October 28, 1979). "West Virginia beaten, 31–6, by Penn State". The Des Moines Register.
(November 4, 1979). "Hurricanes blow away Penn State". Sunday News.
(November 11, 1979). "Menhardt's late field goal lifts Penn State by 'Pack". Daily Press.
(November 18, 1979). "Suhey's 2 TDs key Penn State". Star-Gazette.
(December 2, 1979). "McMillan leads Pitt to victory over Penn State". Lincoln Journal Star.
(December 23, 1979). "Lions dip into magic bag, pull out a Liberty Bowl win". Sunday News.
"1979 Penn State Nittany Lions Schedule and Results". Sports Reference LLC.
"Penn State unleashes infantry on Army." Eugene Register-Guard. 1979 Oct 14. Pg. 8B. Retrieved 2020-Dec-15.
"The story behind the Bruce Clark bombshell".
"1979 Penn State Nittany Lions Roster".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1979-ncaa-division-i-a-independents-football-season penn-state-nittany-lions-football-seasons liberty-bowl-champion-seasons 1979-in-sports-in-pennsylvania

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about 1979 Penn State Nittany Lions football team — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report