2001 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

2001 Big Ten Conference football standings
	$ – BCS representative as conference champion; Rankings from AP Poll

2001 Penn State Nittany Lions football
2001 Penn State Nittany Lions football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
2001 record	5–6 (4–4 Big Ten)
Head coach	Joe Paterno (36th season);
Offensive coordinator	Fran Ganter
Defensive coordinator	Tom Bradley
Home stadium	Beaver Stadium (c. 107,282; grass)
	Seasons ← 2000 2002 →

The 2001 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented the Pennsylvania State University in the 2001 NCAA Division I-A football season.^[1] The team's head coach was Joe Paterno. It played its home games at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania.

Schedule[]

Penn State did not play Big Ten teams Minnesota and Purdue this year. Also, due to the events of 9/11, the Virginia game was rescheduled from September 13, 2001, to December 1, 2001.

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	8:00 p.m.	No. 2 Miami*	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ABC	L 7–33	109,313
September 22	12:00 p.m.	Wisconsin	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ABC	L 6–18	107,253
September 29	12:00 p.m.	at Iowa	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA	ESPN	L 18–24	69,422
October 6	3:30 p.m.	No. 15 Michigan	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ABC	L 0–20	107,879
October 20	3:30 p.m.	at No. 22 Northwestern	Ryan Field Evanston, IL	ABC	W 38–35	42,512
October 27	12:00 p.m.	Ohio State	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)	ESPN	W 29–27	108,327
November 3	12:00 p.m.	Southern Miss*	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ESPN2	W 38–20	106,158
November 10	3:30 p.m.	at No. 15 Illinois	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	ABC	L 28–33	70,904
November 17	12:00 p.m.	Indiana	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ESPN+	W 28–14	106,527
November 24	3:30 p.m.	at Michigan State	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI (Land Grant Trophy)	ESPN	W 42–37	72,658
December 1	12:00 p.m.	at Virginia*	Scott Stadium Charlottesville, VA	ESPN	L 14–20	57,005
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Roster[]

2001 Penn State Nittany Lions football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
QB	`3`	Chris Ganter	Fr
QB	`4`	Matt Senneca	Jr
RB	`5`	Larry Johnson	Jr
TE	`6`	R. J. Luke	Jr
QB	`7`	Zack Mills	Fr
RB	`8`	Eric McCoo	Sr
WR	`11`	Tony Johnson	So
QB	`12`	Michael Robinson	Fr
WR	`13`	Kinta Palmer	Fr
WR	`17`	Terrance Phillips	Fr
WR	`19`	Gerald Smith	Fr
WR	`20`	Eddie Drummond	Sr
RB	`22`	Pete Gilmore	Fr
WR	`24`	Bryant Johnson	Jr
RB	`30`	Anthony Butler	Jr
WR	`28`	Anwar Phillips	Fr
WR	`31`	Ernie Terrell	Fr
FB	`31`	Terrence Glover	So
FB	`33`	Mike Lukac	So
RB	`34`	Omar Easy	Sr
RB	`35`	Aric Heffelfinger	Fr
WR	`36`	Mike Drenning	Fr
FB	`39`	Paul Jefferson	So
FB	`42`	Mick Blosser	Sr
RB	`44`	Ricky Upton	So
RB	`45`	Adam Senk	Fr
WR	`48`	Munya Maraire	Jr
G	`50`	Tyler Lenda	Jr
OL	`52`	Brian Fairchild	Fr
OL	`53`	Tommy McHugh	Fr
G	`54`	Scott Davis	Fr
G	`55`	Greg Ransom	Sr
C	`56`	Geoff Stryker	Sr
OL	`57`	Carl Hunt	Fr
C	`59`	Eric Rickenbach	Jr
C	`61`	David Costlow	So
OL	`62`	Nick Daise	Fr
C	`63`	Joe Iorio	Jr
T	`64`	Matt Schmitt	Sr
G	`66`	B. J. Evangelista	Fr
G	`67`	Jonathan Nabavi	So
T	`70`	Nick Marmo	Fr
G	`71`	Joe Hartings	Sr
T	`72`	Gus Felder	Sr
OL	`74`	Tyler Reed	Fr
T	`75`	Chris McKelvy	So
T	`76`	Damone Jones	So
OL	`77`	E.Z. Smith	Fr
WR	`80`	Scott Shirley	So
WR	`81`	Jason Stryker	Fr
FB	`82`	Sean McHugh	So
WR	`83`	Ryan Scott	Fr
WR	`84`	Steve Delich	Jr
TE	`85`	John Gilmore	Sr
WR	`88`	Matt Kranchick	So
TE	`89`	Andrew Richardson	Fr
TE	`90`	Isaac Smolko	Fr
TE	`91`	Mike Pawlikowski	Fr
TE	`93`	Casey Williams	So

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
CB	`1`	Bruce Branch	Sr
LB	`2`	Deryck Toles	So
DE	`3`	Ron Graham	Sr
S	`9`	Sam Crenshaw	Sr
LB	`10`	Jesse Neumeyer	Fr
CB	`13`	Scott Sanden	Fr
S	`15`	Yaacov Yisrael	So
LB	`16`	Andy Ryland	So
DB	`18`	Andrew Guman	Fr
LB	`21`	Shamar Finney	Sr
S	`23`	Shawn Mayer	Jr
CB	`25`	Rich Gardner	So
DB	`26`	Nolan McCready	Fr
DB	`27`	Chris Harrell	Fr
LB	`28`	Erik Holt	Jr
S	`28`	James Millon	Jr
DB	`29`	Paul Cronin	Fr
LB	`29`	Ryan Pinckney	Jr
DL	`70`	Michael Butler	Fr
CB	`32`	Bryan Scott	Jr
LB	`35`	Dave Benfatti	Sr
DB	`36`	Alan Zemaitis	Fr
LB	`37`	LaMar Stewart	Fr
S	`38`	Jimi Mitchell	Fr
LB	`40`	T.C. Cosby	Fr
LB	`41`	Tom Williams	Sr
DB	`43`	Adam Taliaferro	Fr
DB	`44`	Marcus Mills	Fr
CB	`45`	Tom Humphrey	Sr
DB	`46`	Geo Vendemia	Fr
LB	`47`	Gino Capone	So
DB	`48`	Ben Lago	So
LB	`49`	Dave Jens	So
LB	`51`	Tim Johnson	Fr
DE	`53`	Jason Crosby	Fr
LB	`58`	Dethrell Garcia	Fr
DL	`59`	Charles Rush	Fr
DT	`60`	Tyler Valoczki	Jr
LB	`94`	Israel Paniagua	Jr
DT	`62`	Randy Buck	Jr
LB	`65`	Sam Ruhe	So
DT	`69`	Jason Robinson	Fr
DT	`73`	Jimmy Kennedy	Jr
DT	`78`	Erik Noll	Fr
DE	`80`	Scott Paxson	Fr
DE	`81`	Michael Haynes	Jr
DE	`84`	Matthew Rice	Fr
DE	`86`	Jeremiah Davis	Fr
DE	`87`	John Bronson	Fr
DE	`92`	Lavon Chisley	Fr
DE	`92`	T. J. Gholston	Jr
LB	`94`	Derek Wake	So
DE	`96`	Bob Jones	Sr
DL	`97`	Greg Bauer	Fr
DT	`98`	Anthony Adams	Jr
DT	`99`	Tim Falls	Jr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
P	`14`	David Royer	Jr
K	`16`	Robbie Gould	Fr
K	`19`	Mike Savage	So
K	`33`	Matt Huet	Fr
P	`39`	Woody Schmidt	Fr
K	`95`	David Kimball	So

Head coach

Joe Paterno

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend

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

Injured
Redshirt

Roster
Last update: December 11, 2001

Post season[]

NFL draft[]

Two Nittany Lions were drafted in the 2002 NFL Draft.

Round	Pick	Overall	Name	Position	Team
4th	9	107	Omar Easy	Fullback	Kansas City Chiefs
6th	24	196	John Gilmore	Tight end	New Orleans Saints

References[]

^ "Penn State Yearly Results (2000-2004)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Retrieved July 26, 2015.

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[1] "Penn State Yearly Results (2000-2004)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Retrieved July 26, 2015.

[1]

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

2001 Big Ten Conference football standings
v t	Conf				Overall
Team		W		L		W		L
No. 12 Illinois $		7	–	1		10	–	2
No. 20 Michigan		6	–	2		8	–	4
Ohio State		5	–	3		7	–	5
Iowa		4	–	4		7	–	5
Purdue		4	–	4		6	–	6
Penn State		4	–	4		5	–	6
Indiana		4	–	4		5	–	6
Michigan State		3	–	5		7	–	5
Wisconsin		3	–	5		5	–	7
Minnesota		2	–	6		4	–	7
Northwestern		2	–	6		4	–	7

$ – BCS representative as conference champion Rankings from AP Poll