1987 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

1987 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
	Rankings from AP Poll

1987 Penn State Nittany Lions football
1987 Penn State Nittany Lions football
Florida Citrus Bowl, L 10–35 vs. Clemson
Conference	Independent
1987 record	8–4
Head coach	Joe Paterno (22nd season);
Offensive coordinator	Fran Ganter
Defensive coordinator	Jerry Sandusky
Home stadium	Beaver Stadium; (Capacity: 83,370)
	Seasons ← 1986 1988 →

The 1987 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented Penn State University during the 1987 NCAA Division I-A football season.^[1]

Schedule[]

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 5	Bowling Green	No. 11	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA		W 45–19	84,574
September 12	No. 19 Alabama	No. 11	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)	CBS	L 13–24	85,619
September 19	Cincinnati	No. 20	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA		W 41–0	82,000
September 26	at Boston College	No. 15	Sullivan Stadium Foxborough, MA	ESPN	W 27–17	50,267
October 3	Temple	No. 14	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)		W 27–13	84,000
October 10	Rutgers	No. 14	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA		W 35–21	85,376
October 17	at No. 13 Syracuse	No. 10	Carrier Dome Syracuse, NY (rivalry)	CBS	L 21–48	50,011
October 31	West Virginia	No. 18	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)		W 25–21	85,108
November 7	at Maryland	No. 16	Memorial Stadium Baltimore, MD (rivalry)		W 21–16	62,500
November 14	at Pittsburgh	No. 15	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA (rivalry)	ESPN	L 0–10	56,500
November 21	No. 7 Notre Dame		Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	CBS	W 21–20	84,000
January 1, 1988	vs. No. 14 Clemson	No. 20	Citrus Bowl Orlando, FL (Florida Citrus Bowl)	ABC National	L 10–35	53,152
Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Game summaries[]

Notre Dame[]

Blair Thomas 35 Rush, 214 Yds

^[2]

Roster[]

1987 Penn State Nittany Lions football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
WR	`9`	Mike Alexander	Sr
QB	`12`	Tom Bill	Fr
T	`74`	Stan Clayton	Sr
WR	`26`	David Daniels	Fr
C	`78`	Roger Duffy	So
TE	`89`	Bob Mrosko	Jr
WR	`6`	Ray Roundtree	Sr
OG	`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
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

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class

Head coach

Joe Paterno

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Roster

NFL Draft[]

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		–	Buffalo Bills

References[]

^ "Penn State Yearly Results (1985-1989)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on August 5, 2015. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
^ Gainesville Sun. 1987 Nov 22.

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[1] "Penn State Yearly Results (1985-1989)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on August 5, 2015. Retrieved July 26, 2015.

[2] Gainesville Sun. 1987 Nov 22.

[1]

[2]

v t 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 Temple West Virginia
Culture & lore	Nittany Lion "Fight On, State" Penn State Blue Band Uplifting Athletes Joe Paterno statue Something for Joey 1982 Nebraska game Penn State child sex abuse scandal 2016 Ohio State game Paterno White Out 2021 Illinois game
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 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
National championship seasons in bold

1987 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
v t	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