1991 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

The 1991 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented the Pennsylvania State University as an independent during the 1991 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by 26th-year head coach Joe Paterno, the Nittany Lions compiled a record of 11–2. Penn State was invited to the Fiesta Bowl, where the Nittany Lions defeated Tennessee. The team played home games at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania.

1991 Penn State Nittany Lions football
Eastern champion Fiesta Bowl champion
Fiesta Bowl, W 42–17 vs. Tennessee
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 3
AP	No. 3
Record	11–2
Head coach	Joe Paterno (26th season)
Offensive coordinator	Fran Ganter (8th season)
Offensive scheme	Pro-style
Defensive coordinator	Jerry Sandusky (15th season)
Base defense	4–3
Captains	Mark D'Onofrio Sam Gash Keith Goganious Al Golden Darren Perry Terry Smith
Home stadium	Beaver Stadium
Seasons ← 1990 1992 →

1991 NCAA Division I-A independents football records

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 9 East Carolina			–					11	–	1	–	0
No. 4 Florida State			–					11	–	2	–	0
No. 3 Penn State			–					11	–	2	–	0
No. 21 Tulsa			–					10	–	2	–	0
Louisiana Tech			–					8	–	1	–	2
No. 13 Notre Dame			–					10	–	3	–	0
Akron			–					5	–	6	–	0
Memphis State			–					5	–	6	–	0
Army			–					4	–	7	–	0
Cincinnati			–					4	–	7	–	0
Southern Miss			–					4	–	7	–	0
South Carolina			–					3	–	6	–	2
Southwestern Louisiana			–					2	–	8	–	1
Louisville			–					2	–	9	–	0
Northern Illinois			–					2	–	9	–	0
Tulane			–					1	–	10	–	0
Navy			–					1	–	10	–	0
Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
August 28	9:00 p.m.	vs. No. 8 Georgia Tech	No. 7	Giants Stadium East Rutherford, NJ (Kickoff Classic)	Raycom	W 34–22	77,409	[1]
September 7	12:10 p.m.	Cincinnati	No. 5	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	Prime	W 81–0	94,000
September 14	9:00 p.m.	at USC	No. 5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	ABC	L 10–21	64,758
September 21	8:00 p.m.	BYU	No. 12	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ABC	W 33–7	96,304
September 28	1:00 p.m.	Boston College	No. 10	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA		W 28–21	95,927
October 5	9:00 p.m.	at Temple	No. 12	Veterans Stadium Philadelphia, PA		W 24–7	43,808
October 12	12:10 p.m.	at No. 2 Miami (FL)	No. 9	Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL	ABC	L 20–26	75,723
October 19	1:00 p.m.	Rutgers	No. 10	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA		W 37–17	95,729
October 26	4:00 p.m.	West Virginia	No. 8	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)	ESPN	W 51–6	96,445	[2]
November 9	1:30 p.m.	at Maryland	No. 9	Memorial Stadium Baltimore, MD (rivalry)		W 47–7	57,416	[3]
November 16	3:30 p.m.	No. 12 Notre Dame	No. 8	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)	ABC	W 35–13	96,672
November 28	11:15 a.m.	at Pittsburgh	No. 6	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA (rivalry)	ABC	W 32–20	52,219
January 1, 1992	4:30 p.m.	vs. No. 10 Tennessee	No. 6	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ (Fiesta Bowl)	NBC	W 42–17	71,133	[4]
Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Rankings

Further information: 1991 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
т = Tied with team above or below

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	7	5	5	12	10 т	12	9	10	8	8	9	8	7	6	6	3
Coaches	8	5	5	14	12	12	9	15	11	10	10	9	7	6	5	3

Game summaries

Vs. Georgia Tech

See also: 1991 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team and Kickoff Classic

At USC

See also: 1991 USC Trojans football team

BYU

See also: 1991 BYU Cougars football team

• Gerry Collins 27 Rush, 99 Yds
• Penn State's defense sacked Ty Detmer six times and held BYU to single digits for first time since 1986

^[5]

At Miami (FL)

#9 Penn State at #2 Miami (FL)

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Nittany Lions	3	3	7	7	20
• Hurricanes	3	3	14	6	26

• Date: October 12
• Location: Miami Orange Bowl
• Game attendance: 75,723
• TV announcers (ABC): Keith Jackson, Bob Griese, Jack Arute

Scoring summary

Q1	8:36	MIA	Huerta 24-yard field goal	MIA 3–0
Q1	0:44	PSU	Fayak 20-yard field goal	Tie 3–3
Q2	5:20	PSU	Fayak 46-yard field goal	PSU 6–3
Q2	1:31	MIA	Huerta 45-yard field goal	Tie 6–6
Q3	6:34	MIA	Copeland 80-yard pass from Torretta (Huerta kick)	MIA 13–6
Q3		MIA	K. Williams 91-yard punt return (Huerta kick)	MIA 20–6
Q3		PSU	T. Smith 2-yard pass from Sacca (Fayak kick)	MIA 20–13
Q4	14:43	MIA	Thomas 42-yard pass from Torretta (kick failed)	MIA 26–13
Q4	9:35	PSU	T. Smith 9-yard pass from Sacca (Fayak kick)	MIA 26–20

See also: 1991 Miami Hurricanes football team

• Fans watching on television outside of Florida missed two scores when the network switched to United States Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee

Notre Dame

See also: 1991 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

Vs. Tennessee (Fiesta Bowl)

#6 Penn State vs. #10 Tennessee

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• Nittany Lions	7	0	14	21	42
Volunteers	10	0	7	0	17

• Date: January 1
• Location: Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Arizona
• Game attendance: 71,133
• TV announcers (NBC): Charlie Jones and Todd Christensen

Main article: 1992 Fiesta Bowl

See also: 1991 Tennessee Volunteers football team

Roster

1991 Penn State Nittany Lions football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB 20 Richie Anderson Jr OT 67 Todd Burger Jr RB 23 Gerry Collins Sr QB 12 Kerry Collins Fr TE 18 Troy Drayton Jr RB 11 Sam Gash Sr G 57 John Gerak Jr C 66 Greg Huntington Jr WR 24 O. J. McDuffie Jr OT 71 Todd Rucci Jr C E. J. Sandusky Sr QB 17 John Sacca Fr QB 19 Tony Sacca Sr OT 76 Paul Siever Sr WR 30 Dan Skrip Sr WR 8 Terry Smith Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class S 13 Matt Baggett Sr DT 55 Lou Benfatti So CB 3 Jeff Davis Fr LB 38 Mark D'Onofrio Sr LB 42 Keith Goganious Sr LB 58 Reggie Givens Jr CB 6 Leonard Humphries Sr DT 97 Tyoka Jackson So LB 99 Rich McKenzie Jr S 9 Darren Perry Sr DT 94 Eric Ravotti Jr CB 15 Frank Yeboah-Kodie So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 4 Doug Helkowski Sr	Head coach Joe Paterno Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster

NFL draft

Nine Nittany Lions were drafted in the 1992 NFL draft.

Round	Pick	Overall	Name	Position	Team
2nd	6	34	Mark D'Onofrio	Linebacker	Green Bay Packers
2nd	18	46	Tony Sacca	Quarterback	Phoenix Cardinals
3rd	18	74	Paul Siever	Offensive guard	Washington Redskins
3rd	27	83	Keith Goganious	Linebacker	Buffalo Bills
8th	7	203	Darren Perry	Free safety	Pittsburgh Steelers
8th	9	205	Sam Gash	Running back	New England Patriots
8th	13	209	Andre Powell	Linebacker	Miami Dolphins
8th	27	223	Leonard Humphries	Cornerback	Buffalo Bills
11th	28	308	Terry Smith	Wide receiver	Washington Redskins