1977 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

1977 Penn State Nittany Lions football
Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy
Fiesta Bowl, W 42-30 vs. Arizona State
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	#4
AP	#5
1977 record	11–1
Head coach	Joe Paterno (12th year)
Defensive coordinator	Jerry Sandusky
Captain	John Dunn
Captain	Steve Geise
Captain	Ron Hostetler
Captain	Randy Sidler
Home stadium	Beaver Stadium (Capacity: 60,203)

1977 Division I Independents football records
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#1 Notre Dame		–		–				11	–	1	–	0
#5 Penn State		–		–				11	–	1	–	0
Colgate		–		–				10	–	1	–	0
#16 San Diego State		–		–				10	–	1	–	0
Tennessee State		–		–				8	–	1	–	1
#14 Florida State		–		–				10	–	2	–	0
North Texas		–		–				10	–	1	–	0*
#8 Pittsburgh		–		–				9	–	2	–	1
East Carolina		–		–				8	–	3	–	0
Rutgers		–		–				8	–	3	–	0
Army		–		–				7	–	4	–	0
Louisville		–		–				7	–	4	–	1
Boston College		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Cincinnati		–		–				5	–	4	–	2
Georgia Tech		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Memphis		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Northwestern State		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Syracuse		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
William & Mary		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Southern Miss		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Temple		–		–				5	–	5	–	1
Hawaii		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Navy		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
West Virginia		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
South Carolina		–		–				5	–	7	–	0
Utah State		–		–				4	–	7	–	0
Villanova		–		–				4	–	7	–	0
Illinois State		–		–				3	–	7	–	1
Virginia Tech		–		–				3	–	7	–	1
Indiana State		–		–				3	–	7	–	0
Miami (FL)		–		–				3	–	8	–	0
Richmond		–		–				3	–	8	–	0
Tulane		–		–				3	–	8	–	0
Air Force		–		–				2	–	8	–	1
Holy Cross		–		–				2	–	8	–	0
Northeast Louisiana		–		–				2	–	9	–	0
North Texas (originally 9-2-0) awarded a forfeit win after UCLA was found to be using an ineligible player. Rankings from AP Poll

The 1977 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented the Pennsylvania State University in the 1977 college football season. The team was coached by Joe Paterno and played its home games in Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania.

Schedule

Date	Opponent#	Rank#	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	at Rutgers	#13	Giants Stadium • East Rutherford, NJ		W 45–7	64,790
September 17	Houston	#10	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA		W 31–14	62,554
September 24	Maryland	#5	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA (Rivalry)	ABC	W 27–9	62,079
October 1	Kentucky	#4	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA		L 20–24	62,196
October 8	Utah State	#10	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA		W 16–7	62,015
October 15	at Syracuse	#10	Archbold Stadium • Syracuse, NY (Rivalry)		W 31–24	27,029
October 22	West Virginia	#10	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA (Rivalry)		W 49–28	62,108
October 29	Miami (FL)	#9	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA		W 49–7	61,853
November 5	at North Carolina State	#9	Carter-Finley Stadium • Raleigh, NC		W 21–17	44,800
November 12	Temple	#9	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA		W 44–7	61,327
November 26	at #10 Pittsburgh	#9	Pitt Stadium • Pittsburgh, PA (Rivalry)	ABC	W 15–13	56,500
December 25	vs. #15 Arizona State	#9	Sun Devil Stadium • Tempe, AZ (Fiesta Bowl)	CBS	W 42–30	57,766
*Non-conference game. Homecoming. #Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Game summaries

Miami (FL)

1 2 3 4 Total Miami (FL) 0 0 0 7 7 • Penn St 7 28 14 0 49 Date: October 29 Location: Beaver Stadium • University Park, Pennsylvania Game attendance: 61,853

Scoring summary 1 PSU Guthrie 56-yard pass from Fusina (Bahr kick) Penn St 7-0 2 PSU Suhey 1-yard run (Bahr kick) Penn St 14-0 2 PSU Torrey 3-yard run (Bahr kick) Penn St 21-0 2 PSU Suhey 3-yard run (Bahr kick) Penn St 28-0 2 PSU Suhey 1-yard run (Bahr kick) Penn St 35-0 3 PSU Fitzkee 72-yard pass from Fusina (Bahr kick) Penn St 42-0 3 PSU LaPointe 17-yard pass from Capozzolli (Bahr kick) Penn St 49-0 4 MIA Hobbs 3-yard pass from McMillian (Dennis kick) Penn St 49-7

Fiesta Bowl

Fiesta Bowl
#15 Arizona State vs. #8 Penn State

1 2 3 4 Total Arizona St 0 14 0 16 30 • Penn St 14 3 7 18 42 Date: December 25 Location: Sun Devil Stadium • Tempe, AZ Game attendance: 57,727 Television network: CBS

Scoring summary 1 PSU Lally 21-yard blocked punt return (Bahr kick) Penn St 7-0 1 PSU Torrey 3-yard pass from Fusina (Bahr kick) Penn St 14-0 2 ASU Lane 11-yard pass from Sproul (Hicks kick) Penn St 14-7 2 PSU Bahr 23-yard field goal Penn St 17-7 2 ASU Washington 13-yard pass from Sproul (Hicks kick) Penn St 17-14 3 PSU Geise 18-yard run (Bahr kick) Penn St 24-14 4 PSU Suhey 3-yard run (Bahr kick) Penn St 31-14 4 ASU Washington 30-yard pass from Sproul (Hicks kick) Penn St 31-21 4 PSU Bahr 32-yard field goal Penn St 34-21 4 ASU Perry 1-yard run (Hicks kick) Penn St 34-28 4 PSU Suhey 2-yard run (Geise run) Penn St 42-28 4 ASU Safety, Fitzkee runs out of end zone Penn St 42-30

Post season

NFL Draft

Seven Nittany Lions were drafted in the 1978 NFL Draft.

Round	Pick	Overall	Name	Position	Team
3rd	5	61	Mickey Shuler	Tight end	New York Jets
3rd	25	81	Jimmy Cefalo	Wide receiver	Miami Dolphins
5th	4	113	Randy Sidler	–	New York Jets
6th	17	155	Steve Geise	–	Cincinnati Bengals
9th	5	227	Neil Hutton	–	New York Jets
10th	17	267	Tom DePaso	Linebacker	Cincinnati Bengals
11th	25	303	Ron Hostetler	–	Los Angeles Rams