1963 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

The 1963 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented Pennsylvania State University in the 1963 NCAA University Division football season. Led by fourteenth-year head coach Rip Engle, the Nittany Lions were 7–3 and were 16th in the final coaches' poll. Home games were played on campus at Beaver Stadium in University Park; Penn State was independent in football until 1993.

1963 Penn State Nittany Lions football
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 16
Record	7–3
Head coach	Rip Engle (14th season)
Captain	Ralph Baker
Home stadium	Beaver Stadium
Seasons ← 1962 1964 →

1963 NCAA University Division independents football records

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 14 Memphis State			–					9	–	0	–	1
No. 3 Pittsburgh			–					9	–	1	–	0
No. 2 Navy			–					9	–	2	–	0
No. 12 Syracuse			–					8	–	2	–	0
Utah State			–					8	–	2	–	0
Oregon			–					8	–	3	–	0
No. 16 Penn State			–					7	–	3	–	0
Army			–					7	–	3	–	0
Air Force			–					7	–	4	–	0
Boston College			–					6	–	3	–	0
Buffalo			–					5	–	3	–	1
Southern Miss			–					5	–	3	–	1
Villanova			–					5	–	4	–	0
Oregon State			–					5	–	5	–	0
San Jose State			–					5	–	5	–	0
Xavier			–					5	–	4	–	1
West Texas State			–					4	–	4	–	1
Florida State			–					4	–	5	–	1
Colgate			–					3	–	4	–	1
New Mexico State			–					3	–	6	–	1
Colorado State			–					3	–	7	–	0
Miami (FL)			–					3	–	7	–	0
Texas Western			–					3	–	7	–	0
Detroit			–					2	–	6	–	1
Holy Cross			–					2	–	6	–	1
Notre Dame			–					2	–	7	–	0
Pacific (CA)			–					2	–	8	–	0
Houston			–					2	–	8	–	0
Boston University			–					1	–	6	–	1
Dayton			–					1	–	7	–	2
Rankings from Coaches Poll

The Nittany Lions were led on the field in 1963 by fifth-year senior quarterback Pete Liske,^[1][2] who had been selected in the NFL and AFL drafts the previous December and went on to play a dozen seasons in pro football. The regular season finale against rival Pittsburgh was postponed two weeks following the assassination of President Kennedy.^[3][4][5]

Although scoring was off in the 1963 season, the team's defense, headed by 230-pound middle guard (nose tackle in a five man line) Glenn Ressler,^[6] was particularly stout, giving up just 92 points in the first 9 games of the season. The Nittany Lions came within a single point of an upset victory over Pitt in the season finale.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 21	at Oregon		Multnomah Stadium Portland, OR	W 17–7	30,355	[1][2]
September 28	UCLA		Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	W 17–14	34,800	[7][8]
October 5	Rice		Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	W 28–7	38,200	[9]
October 12	Army	No. 9	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	L 7–10	48,850	[10]
October 19	at Syracuse		Archbold Stadium Syracuse, NY (rivalry)	L 0–9	39,687	[11]
October 26	West Virginia		Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)	W 20–9	45,750	[12]
November 2	at Maryland		Byrd Stadium College Park, MD (rivalry)	W 17–15	35,500	[13]
November 9	at No. 10 Ohio State		Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH (rivalry)	W 10–7	83,519	[14]
November 16	Holy Cross		Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	W 28–14	24,200	[15]
December 7	at No. 4 Pittsburgh		Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA (rivalry)	L 21–22	52,349	[3][4][5]
Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game