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Lafayette vs. Penn State

Lafayette and Penn State have 16 meetings on file, the first in 1889; Penn State leads the series 10–⁠5–⁠1 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s Penn State 6–⁠3.

Lafayette wins
5
Penn State wins
10
Ties
1
Earliest on file
1889
Longest streak
5 Penn State
Current streak
1 Lafayette
Last 10 meetings
Penn State 6–⁠3
Most recent
1938

The series at a glance

’0’1’2’3’4’5’6’7’8’9W–L
1880s1–⁠0
1890s1–⁠4
1910s0–⁠3
1920s1–⁠2
1930s2–⁠1–⁠1
Average margin
21.6 points; 4 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
At Lafayette
4–⁠4–⁠1 Lafayette’s record at home
At Penn State
6–⁠1 Penn State’s record at home
Shutouts
10

Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.

Games that tell the story

  1. Lafayette’s biggest win1931: Lafayette 33, Penn State 0by 33 points
  2. Penn State’s biggest win1894: Penn State 72, Lafayette 0by 72 points
  3. Upset1938: Lafayette 7, Penn State 0Lafayette had a 20% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  4. Upset1898: Penn State 5, Lafayette 0Penn State had a 30% chance, by our ratings before kickoff

Coach against coach

YearsLafayetteSeriesPenn State
1927–⁠1929Herb McCracken1–⁠2Hugo Bezdek
1930–⁠1934Herb McCracken1–⁠1–⁠1Bob Higgins

Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Lafayette’s side (McCracken 1–⁠2 against Bezdek). A season split between coaches goes to the one credited with the game.

Both programs through the years

End-of-season Elo ratings of Lafayette and Penn State, 1889 on1300150017001900192019401960198020002020

Our Elo rating at the end of each season, a measure of how strong a team was, not a forecast; 1500 is an average FBS team.

From the newspapers

  • The New-York tribune's story of the 1914 game: LAFAYETTE HOLDS. BUT TO NO AVAIL Penn State Romps to Easy Victory After Wearing Down Opposition.

    1914 · New-York tribune, New York [N.Y.], Nov 1, 1914

  • The New-York tribune's story of the 1915 game: PENN STATE IS AN EASY WINNER Defeats Lafayette by One Sided Score in Sensa- tiOnal Game.

    1915 · New-York tribune, New York [N.Y.], Nov 14, 1915

  • The Evening public ledger's story of the 1916 game: PENN STATE WINS FROM LAFAYETTE Coach Harlow's Eleven Wins Game in Celebration by 400 Score

    1916 · Evening public ledger, Philadelphia [Pa.], Nov 18, 1916

  • The The Washington times's story of the 1927 game

    1927 · The Washington times, District of Columbia, Oct 31, 1927

  • The The Daily Alaska empire's story of the 1930 game: GRID SCORES 0N SATURDAY

    1930 · The Daily Alaska empire, Alaska, Oct 20, 1930

Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The earliest meetings with a story on file; each game’s page has the full text.

Every game

Nov 5, 1938Lafayette 7, Penn State 0at Penn State
Nov 17, 1934Penn State 25, Lafayette 6at Penn State
Nov 14, 1931Lafayette 33, Penn State 0at Lafayette
Oct 18, 1930Lafayette 0, Penn State 0at Lafayette
Oct 26, 1929Penn State 6, Lafayette 3at Penn State
Nov 16, 1928Lafayette 7, Penn State 0at Lafayette
Oct 29, 1927Penn State 40, Lafayette 6at Penn State
Nov 17, 1916Penn State 40, Lafayette 0at Penn State
Nov 13, 1915Penn State 33, Lafayette 3at Lafayette
Oct 31, 1914Penn State 17, Lafayette 0at Lafayette
Oct 8, 1898Penn State 5, Lafayette 0at Lafayette
Oct 2, 1897Lafayette 24, Penn State 0at Lafayette
Oct 20, 1894Penn State 72, Lafayette 0at Penn State
Nov 23, 1892Penn State 18, Lafayette 0at Penn State
Oct 2, 1891Penn State 14, Lafayette 4at Lafayette
Nov 9, 1889Lafayette 26, Penn State 0at Lafayette

Every game is listed as played on the field.