1987 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

The 1987 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented the Pennsylvania State University as an independent during the 1987 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by 22nd-year head coach Joe Paterno, the Nittany Lions compiled a record of 8–4. Penn State was invited to the Florida Citrus Bowl, where the Nittany Lions lost to Clemson. The team played home games at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania.

1987 Penn State Nittany Lions football
Florida Citrus Bowl, L 10–35 vs. Clemson
Conference	Independent
Record	8–4
Head coach	Joe Paterno (22nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Fran Ganter (4th season)
Offensive scheme	Pro-style
Defensive coordinator	Jerry Sandusky (11th season)
Base defense	4–3
Captains	Trey Bauer Marques Henderson Matt Knizner
Home stadium	Beaver Stadium
Seasons ← 1986 1988 →

1987 Major eastern college football independents records

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 4 Syracuse $	5	–	0	–	0			11	–	0	–	1
Penn State	4	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Pittsburgh	3	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
West Virginia	2	–	3	–	0			6	–	6	–	0
Rutgers	2	–	4	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Boston College	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Temple	1	–	3	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
$ – Lambert Trophy Winner Rankings from AP Poll

1987 NCAA Division I-A independents football records

v t e	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

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 5	1:00 p.m.	Bowling Green	No. 11	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA		W 45–19	84,574	[1]
September 12	8:10 p.m.	No. 19 Alabama	No. 11	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)	CBS	L 13–24	85,619	[2]
September 19	1:00 p.m.	Cincinnati	No. 20	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA		W 41–0	82,000	[3]
September 26	7:45 p.m.	at Boston College	No. 15	Sullivan Stadium Foxborough, MA	ESPN	W 27–17	50,267	[4]
October 3	1:00 p.m.	Temple	No. 14	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA		W 27–13	84,000	[5]
October 10	1:00 p.m.	Rutgers	No. 14	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA		W 35–21	85,376	[6]
October 17	2:45 p.m.	at No. 13 Syracuse	No. 10	Carrier Dome Syracuse, NY (rivalry)	CBS	L 21–48	50,011	[7]
October 31	1:00 p.m.	West Virginia	No. 18	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)		W 25–21	85,108	[8]
November 7	1:00 p.m.	at Maryland	No. 16	Memorial Stadium Baltimore, MD (rivalry)		W 21–16	62,500	[9]
November 14	7:45 p.m.	at Pittsburgh	No. 15	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA (rivalry)	ESPN	L 0–10	56,500	[10]
November 21	12:00 p.m.	No. 7 Notre Dame		Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)	CBS	W 21–20	84,000	[11]
January 1, 1988	12:00 p.m.	vs. No. 14 Clemson	No. 20	Florida Citrus Bowl Orlando, FL (Florida Citrus Bowl)	ABC	L 10–35	53,152	[12]
Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Game summaries

Notre Dame

1 2 3 4 Total Notre Dame 7 0 7 6 20 • Penn St 7 7 0 7 21 Date: November 21 Location: Beaver Stadium, University Park, Pennsylvania Game attendance: 84,000

Scoring summary Q1 PSU Greene 10 yard run (Taurasi kick) PSU 7–0 Q1 ND Rice 32 yard run (Gradel kick) Tie 7–7 Q2 PSU Thomas 1 yard run (Etze kick) PSU 14–7 Q3 ND Rice 11 yard run (Gradel kick) Tie 14–14 Q4 PSU Greene 3 yard run (Taurasi kick) PSU 21–14 Q4 ND Johnson 1 yard run (run failed) PSU 21–20

• Blair Thomas 35 Rush, 214 Yds

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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 FB 27 Gary Brown Fr OT 74 Stan Clayton Sr WR 26 David Daniels Fr C 78 Roger Duffy So TE 89 Bob Mrosko Jr TE 88 Paul Pomfret Sr WR 6 Ray Roundtree Sr G 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 NT 70 Darryl Bullock Jr 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 LB 33 John Sweenely Jr CB 19 Gary Wilkerson Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Joe Paterno Coordinators/assistant coaches Tom Bradley Jim Caldwell Craig Cirbus Chet Fuhrman Ron Dickerson Fran Ganter Nick Gasparato Joe Sarra Jerry Sandusky Paul Shaffner (GA) Jim Williams 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	Pete Curkendall	Defensive line	Buffalo Bills