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1986 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

American college football season

Field	Value
year	1986
team	Penn State Nittany Lions
sport	football
image	Penn State text logo.svg
image_size	250
conference	Independent
CoachRank	1
APRank	1
record	12–0
head_coach	Joe Paterno
hc_year	21st
off_coach	Fran Ganter
oc_year	3rd
off_scheme	Pro-style
def_coach	Jerry Sandusky
dc_year	10th
def_scheme	[4–3](4-3-defense)
captain	Shane Conlan
captain2	John Shaffer
captain3	Steve Smith
captain4	Bob White
stadium	Beaver Stadium • University Park, Pennsylvania
champion	Consensus national champion
Fiesta Bowl champion
Eastern champion
bowl	[Fiesta Bowl](1987-fiesta-bowl)
bowl_result	W 14–10 vs. [Miami (FL)](1986-miami-hurricanes-football-team)

Fiesta Bowl champion Eastern champion The 1986 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented the Pennsylvania State University as an independent during the 1986 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by 21st-year head coach Joe Paterno, the Nittany Lions compiled a record of 12–0. Penn State defeated the Miami Hurricanes, 14–10, in the 1987 Fiesta Bowl to win Paterno's second consensus national championship. The team was named national champion by AP, Billingsley, FB News, FW, Matthews, NCF, NFF, Sporting News, UPI, and USA/CNN, while named co-champion by FACT, Sagarin (ELO-Chess).

Schedule

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Rankings

AP poll

6	5	5	7	5	5	6	6	2	2	3	2	2	2	1

UPI Poll

5	5	6	6	5	4	5	5	3	2	3	2	2	2	1

Game summaries

Temple

At Boston College

East Carolina

Rutgers

Cincinnati

Syracuse

At No. 2 Alabama

;First Quarter

ALA – Van Tiffin 40-yard field goal. Crimson Tide 3–0. ;Second Quarter
PSU – D. J. Dozier 19-yard run (Massima Manca kick). Nittany Lions 7–3.
PSU – Blair Thomas 3-yard run (Massima Manca kick). Nittany Lions 14–3. ;Third Quarter
PSU – Massima Manca 37-yard field goal. Nittany Lions 17–3. ;Fourth Quarter
PSU – Massima Manca 29-yard field goal. Nittany Lions 20–3.
PSU – Massima Manca 42-yard field goal. Nittany Lions 23–3.

West Virginia

;First quarter

PSU – D. J. Dozier 23-yard pass from John Shaffer (Massima Manca kick), 10:55. Nittany Lions 7–0. ;Second quarter
PSU – Massima Manca 42-yard field goal, 12:08. Nittany Lions 10–0.
PSU – Manca, 37-yard field goal, 7:59 (PSU 13–0) ;Third quarter
PSU – Massima Manca 22-yard field goal, 6:04. Nittany Lions 16–0.
PSU – Massima Manca 27-yard field goal, 3:13. Nittany Lions 19–0. ;Fourth quarter No scoring plays

Maryland

;First quarter No scoring plays ;Second quarter

PSU – Dozier, 1-yard TD run, Manca kick good, (PSU 7–0) ;Third quarter
MD – Plocki, 18-yard field goal, (PSU 7–3) ;Fourth quarter
PSU – Dozier, 9-yard TD run, Manca kick good, (PSU 14–3)
MD – Joines, 16-yard TD pass from Henning, 2-point pass failed, (PSU 14–9)
PSU – Manca, 37-yard field goal, (PSU 17–9)
MD – Bonato, 27-yard TD pass from Henning, 2-point pass failed, (PSU 17–15)

At Notre Dame

Pittsburgh

Vs. No. 1 Miami (FL)—Fiesta Bowl

No. 1 Miami Hurricanes vs. No. 2 Penn State Nittany Lions – Game summary ;First quarter No scoring plays ;Second quarter

MIA – Bratton, 1-yard TD run, Seelig kick good, 6:38 (MIA 7–0)
PSU – Shaffer, 4-yard TD run, Manca kick good, 1:14 (TIE 7–7) ;Third quarter No scoring ;Fourth quarter
MIA – Seelig, 38-yard field goal, 11:49 (MIA 10–7)
PSU – Dozier, 6-yard TD run, Manca kick good, 8:13 (PSU 14–10)

Roster

Not on the bowl program roster but listed on the '86 Media Guide roster

Tom Bradley
Jim Caldwell
Ron Dickerson
Chet Fuhrman
Fran Ganter
Nick Gasparato
Bob Phillips
Joe Sarra
Jerry Sandusky
Paul Shaffner (GA)
Jim Williams

Awards

Joe Paterno

::Paul "Bear" Bryant Award ## NFL draft Thirteen Nittany Lions were drafted in the [1987 NFL draft](1987-nfl-draft). ::data[format=table] | Round | Pick | Overall | Name | Position | Team | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1st | 8 | 8 | Shane Conlan | Linebacker | Buffalo Bills | | 1st | 14 | 14 | D.J. Dozier | Running back | Minnesota Vikings | | 3rd | 24 | 80 | Tim Manoa | Running back | Cleveland Browns | | 3rd | 25 | 81 | Steve Smith | Running back | Los Angeles Raiders | | 4th | 1 | 84 | Don Graham | Linebacker | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | | 5th | 14 | 126 | John Bruno | Punter | St. Louis Cardinals | | 5th | 20 | 132 | Chris Conlin | Offensive guard | Miami Dolphins | | 6th | 1 | 141 | Tim Johnson | Defensive end | Pittsburgh Steelers | | 6th | 22 | 162 | Bob White | Defensive line | San Francisco 49ers | | 8th | 27 | 222 | Dan Morgan | Offensive guard | Denver Broncos | | 9th | 24 | 247 | Bob Ontko | Linebacker | Indianapolis Colts | | 10th | 17 | 268 | Sid Lewis | Defensive back | New York Jets | | 11th | 7 | 286 | Brian Siverling | Tight End | Detroit Lions | :: ## Media ### Radio ::data[format=table] | WMAJ AM 1450 | Gil Santos Lanny Frattare | | | | |---|---|---|---|---| :: ## References ## References 1. (August 2018). ["2018 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records"](http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2018/FBS.pdf). *National Collegiate Athletic Association*. 2. (September 7, 1986). ["Owls are a tasty feast for Nittany Lions"](https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-news-owls-are-a-tasty-feast-fo/170679569/). *The Daily News*. 3. (September 21, 1986). ["Dozier leads Nittany Lions past BC, 26–14"](https://www.newspapers.com/article/scrantonian-tribune-dozier-leads-nittany/170682302/). *The Scrantonian*. 4. (September 28, 1986). ["Paterno frets about easy win"](https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72734947/paterno-frets-about-easy-win/). *The Times-Tribune*. 5. (October 5, 1986). ["Lions' 'best effort' too much for Scarlet Knights"](https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-register-lions-best-effort/170678091/). *The Daily Register*. 6. (October 12, 1986). ["Penn St. beats Bearcats, but it's anything but easy"](https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-news-penn-st-beats-bearcats/170677649/). *The Daily News*. 7. (October 19, 1986). ["No. 6 Penn State throttles Syracuse"](https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-state-no-6-penn-state-throttles-syr/170675716/). *The State*. 8. (October 27, 1986). ["Move over Miami: State bombs Bama"](https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71561921/move-over-miami-state-bombs-bama/). *Sunday News*. 9. (November 2, 1986). ["Lions' defense stifles W. Virginia"](https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-news-lions-defense-stifles-w/139992324/). *The Daily News*. 10. (November 9, 1986). ["Terps wage battle but lose to Penn St."](https://www.newspapers.com/article/florence-morning-news-terps-wage-battle/140057392/). *Florence Morning News*. 11. (November 16, 1986). ["Not enough luck for Irish"](https://www.newspapers.com/article/detroit-free-press-not-enough-luck-for-i/170677025/). *Detroit Free Press*. 12. (November 9, 1986). ["No. 1 Miami romps past Pitt, 37–10"](https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-no-1-miami-romps-past/170679167/). *The Baltimore Sun*. 13. (January 3, 1987). ["Penn State's Fiesta"](https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-arizona-republic-penn-states-fiesta/170682983/). *The Arizona Republic*. 14. ["Home"](https://www.nittanyanthology.com/Home.html). 15. ["ArchivesSpace Public Interface | Archival Collections"](https://www.libraries.psu.edu/findingaids/491.htm). ::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_Penn_State_Nittany_Lions_football_team) and is available under the [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the [article history page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_Penn_State_Nittany_Lions_football_team?action=history). ::

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