1975 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

The 1975 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented the Pennsylvania State University in the 1975 NCAA Division I football season.^[1] The team was coached by Joe Paterno and played its home games in Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania.

1975 Penn State Nittany Lions football
Eastern champion
Sugar Bowl, L 6–13 vs. Alabama
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 10
AP	No. 10
Record	9–3
Head coach	Joe Paterno (10th season)
Captains	Greg Buttle John Quinn Tom Rafferty
Home stadium	Beaver Stadium (Capacity: 57,723)
Seasons ← 1974 1976 →

1975 NCAA Division I independents football records

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Rutgers			–					9	–	2	–	0
No. 10 Penn State			–					9	–	3	–	0
No. 20 West Virginia			–					9	–	3	–	0
Notre Dame			–					8	–	3	–	0
Virginia Tech			–					8	–	3	–	0
No. 15 Pittsburgh			–					8	–	4	–	0
Boston College			–					7	–	4	–	0
Georgia Tech			–					7	–	4	–	0
Memphis State			–					7	–	4	–	0
Navy			–					7	–	4	–	0
North Texas State			–					7	–	4	–	0
Southern Miss			–					7	–	4	–	0
South Carolina			–					7	–	5	–	0
Colgate			–					6	–	4	–	0
Cincinnati			–					6	–	5	–	0
Hawaii			–					6	–	5	–	0
Syracuse			–					6	–	5	–	0
Temple			–					6	–	5	–	0
Utah State			–					6	–	5	–	0
Indiana State			–					5	–	5	–	0
Dayton			–					5	–	6	–	0
Northeast Louisiana			–					4	–	6	–	1
Tulane			–					4	–	7	–	0
Villanova			–					4	–	7	–	0
Florida State			–					3	–	8	–	0
Air Force			–					2	–	8	–	1
Houston			–					2	–	8	–	0
Miami (FL)			–					2	–	8	–	0
Army			–					2	–	9	–	0
Marshall			–					2	–	9	–	0
Southern Illinois			–					1	–	9	–	1
Holy Cross			–					1	–	10	–	0
Louisville			–					1	–	10	–	0
Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 6	at Temple	No. 6	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA (rivalry)		W 26–25	57,112
September 13	Stanford	No. 10	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA		W 34–14	61,325
September 20	at No. 3 Ohio State	No. 7	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH (rivalry)		L 9–17	88,093
September 27	at Iowa	No. 12	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA		W 30–10	52,780
October 4	Kentucky	No. 10	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA		W 10–3	60,225
October 11	No. 10 West Virginia	No. 9	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)		W 39–0	59,658
October 18	at Syracuse	No. 9	Archbold Stadium Syracuse, NY (rivalry)		W 19–7	28,153
October 25	Army	No. 9	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA		W 31–0	59,381
November 1	at No. 14 Maryland	No. 9	Byrd Stadium College Park, MD (rivalry)		W 15–13	59,973
November 8	North Carolina State	No. 8	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA		L 14–15	59,536
November 22	at No. 17 Pittsburgh	No. 10	Three Rivers Stadium Pittsburgh, PA (rivalry)	ABC	W 7–6	46,846
December 31	vs. No. 4 Alabama	No. 8	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, LA (Sugar Bowl / rivalry)	ABC	L 6–13	75,212
Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster

1975 Penn State Nittany Lions football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 18 John Andress Jr OT 71 Brad Benson Jr WR 44 Jimmy Cefalo So OT 71 Keith Dorney Fr WR 46 Scott Fitzkee Fr QB 14 Chuck Fusina Fr G 72 Tom Rafferty Sr OT 68 George Reihner Jr TE 82 Mickey Shuler So	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 53 Kurt Allerman Jr DB 25 Tom Bradley Fr LB 67 Greg Buttle Sr DT 65 Ron Coder Sr DE 64 Ron Crosby Jr DT 93 Eric Cummingham So LB 33 Jim Rosecrans Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 99 Chris Bahr Sr	Head coach Joe Paterno Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible   Injured   Redshirt Roster

Post season

NFL Draft

Four Nittany Lions were drafted in the 1976 NFL Draft.

Round	Pick	Overall	Name	Position	Team
2nd	23	51	Chris Bahr	Kicker	Cincinnati Bengals
3rd	7	67	Greg Buttle	Linebacker	New York Jets
3rd	10	70	Ron Coder	Defensive tackle	Pittsburgh Steelers
4th	27	119	Tom Rafferty	Center	Dallas Cowboys

References

1. . College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on August 5, 2015. Retrieved July 26, 2015.