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Lehigh vs. Penn State

Lehigh and Penn State have 23 meetings on file, the first in 1888; Penn State leads the series 16–⁠6–⁠1 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s Penn State 9–⁠1, and Penn State has won the last 6.

Lehigh wins
6
Penn State wins
16
Ties
1
Earliest on file
1888
Longest streak
6 Penn State
Current streak
6 Penn State
Last 10 meetings
Penn State 9–⁠1
Most recent
1942

The series at a glance

’0’1’2’3’4’5’6’7’8’9W–L
1880s2–⁠0
1890s1–⁠0
1900s0–⁠1
1910s2–⁠4
1920s0–⁠1–⁠1
1930s1–⁠7
1940s0–⁠3
Average margin
24.8 points; 5 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
At Lehigh
4–⁠6–⁠1 Lehigh’s record at home
At Penn State
10–⁠2 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. Lehigh’s biggest win1889: Lehigh 106, Penn State 0by 106 points
  2. Penn State’s biggest win1938: Penn State 59, Lehigh 6by 53 points
  3. Upset1936: Lehigh 7, Penn State 6Lehigh had a 15% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  4. Upset1917: Lehigh 9, Penn State 0Lehigh had a 20% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  5. Upset1888: Lehigh 30, Penn State 0Lehigh had a 20% chance, by our ratings before kickoff

Coach against coach

YearsLehighSeriesPenn State
1915–⁠1917Tom Keady1–⁠2Dick Harlow
1918–⁠1920Tom Keady0–⁠2–⁠1Hugo Bezdek

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

Both programs through the years

End-of-season Elo ratings of Lehigh and Penn State, 1888 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 Harrisburg telegraph's story of the 1915 game: CLARK FACTOR IN PENN STATE GAME Lehigh Falls After Hardest Battle This Season; Berry man on Long Runs

    1915 · Harrisburg telegraph, Harrisburg, Pa., Nov 6, 1915

  • The New-York tribune's story of the 1916 game: PENN STATE DEFEATS LEHICH BY 10 TO ]

    1916 · New-York tribune, New York [N.Y.], Nov 12, 1916

  • The The Washington times's story of the 1917 game: PENN STATE TRIMMED BY LEHIGH ELEVEN

    1917 · The Washington times, District of Columbia, Nov 11, 1917

  • The Evening public ledger's story of the 1918 game

    1918 · Evening public ledger, Philadelphia [Pa.], Nov 18, 1918

  • The South Bend news-times's story of the 1919 game: FOOTBALL RESULTS

    1919 · South Bend news-times, South Bend, Ind., Nov 9, 1919

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

Oct 10, 1942Penn State 19, Lehigh 3at Lehigh
Oct 25, 1941Penn State 40, Lehigh 6at Penn State
Oct 19, 1940Penn State 34, Lehigh 0at Lehigh
Oct 14, 1939Penn State 49, Lehigh 7at Penn State
Oct 15, 1938Penn State 59, Lehigh 6at Lehigh
Oct 16, 1937Penn State 14, Lehigh 7at Penn State
Oct 17, 1936Lehigh 7, Penn State 6at Lehigh
Oct 19, 1935Penn State 26, Lehigh 0at Penn State
Oct 20, 1934Penn State 31, Lehigh 0at Lehigh
Oct 21, 1933Penn State 33, Lehigh 0at Penn State
Nov 28, 1931Penn State 31, Lehigh 0at Penn State
Oct 15, 1921Penn State 28, Lehigh 7at Penn State
Nov 13, 1920Lehigh 7, Penn State 7at Lehigh
Nov 8, 1919Penn State 20, Lehigh 7at Penn State
Nov 16, 1918Penn State 7, Lehigh 6at Lehigh
Nov 10, 1917Lehigh 9, Penn State 0at Penn State
Nov 11, 1916Penn State 10, Lehigh 7at Lehigh
Nov 5, 1915Penn State 7, Lehigh 0at Penn State
Nov 7, 1914Lehigh 20, Penn State 7at Lehigh
Nov 16, 1901Penn State 38, Lehigh 0at Penn State
Oct 3, 1891Lehigh 24, Penn State 2at Lehigh
Nov 11, 1889Lehigh 106, Penn State 0at Lehigh
Nov 3, 1888Lehigh 30, Penn State 0at Penn State

Every game is listed as played on the field.