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Penn State vs. Syracuse

Penn State and Syracuse have 71 meetings on file, the first in 1922; Penn State leads the series 43–⁠23–⁠5 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s Penn State 8–⁠2, and Penn State has won the last 5.

Scheduled 2027 at Penn State Sept. 4; 2028 at Syracuse Sept. 9. As the programs’ Wikipedia articles list them (CC BY-SA).

Penn State wins
43
Syracuse wins
23
Ties
5
Earliest on file
1922
Longest streak
16 Penn State
Current streak
5 Penn State
Last 10 meetings
Penn State 8–⁠2
Most recent
2013

The series at a glance

’0’1’2’3’4’5’6’7’8’9W–L
1920s2–⁠4–⁠2
1930s2–⁠6–⁠2
1940s8–⁠0–⁠1
1950s5–⁠5
1960s5–⁠5
1970s9–⁠1
1980s8–⁠2
1990s1–⁠0
2000s2–⁠0
2010s1–⁠0
Both ranked
4 meetings: Penn State 0, Syracuse 4; 1 both in the top 10
Average margin
13.6 points; 26 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
At Penn State
23–⁠10–⁠2 Penn State’s record at home
At Syracuse
13–⁠18–⁠3 Syracuse’s record at home
Neutral sites
2–⁠0 Penn State first
Shutouts
15

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

Games that tell the story

  1. Penn State’s biggest win1973: Penn State 49, Syracuse 6by 43 points
  2. Syracuse’s biggest win1987: Syracuse 48, Penn State 21by 27 points
  3. Upset1970: Syracuse 24, Penn State 7Syracuse had a 17% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  4. Upset1957: Penn State 20, Syracuse 12Penn State had a 25% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  5. Upset1927: Penn State 9, Syracuse 6Penn State had a 30% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  6. Ranked showdown1959: Syracuse 20, Penn State 18No. 4 Syracuse at No. 7 Penn State
  7. Ranked showdown1987: Syracuse 48, Penn State 21No. 10 Penn State at No. 13 Syracuse
  8. Ranked showdown1960: Syracuse 21, Penn State 15No. 20 Penn State at No. 4 Syracuse

Coach against coach

YearsPenn StateSeriesSyracuse
1922–⁠1924Hugo Bezdek0–⁠2–⁠1Chick Meehan
1927–⁠1929Hugo Bezdek2–⁠0–⁠1Lew Andreas
1930–⁠1936Bob Higgins1–⁠5–⁠1Vic Hanson
1937–⁠1945Bob Higgins5–⁠1–⁠2Ossie Solem
1950–⁠1965Rip Engle7–⁠9Ben Schwartzwalder
1966–⁠1973Joe Paterno6–⁠2Ben Schwartzwalder
1974–⁠1980Joe Paterno7–⁠0Frank Maloney
1981–⁠1990Joe Paterno8–⁠2Dick MacPherson

Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Penn State’s side (Bezdek 0–⁠2–⁠1 against Meehan). A season split between coaches goes to the one credited with the game.

Both programs through the years

End-of-season Elo ratings of Penn State and Syracuse, 1922 on13001500170019401960198020002020

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 The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram's story of the 1922 game: Football Results

    1922 · The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram, Richmond, Ind., Oct 30, 1922

  • The Evening star's story of the 1923 game: PENN STATE DECISIVELY DEFEATED BY SYRACUSE

    1923 · Evening star, District of Columbia, Nov 4, 1923

  • The New Britain herald's story of the 1924 game

    1924 · New Britain herald, Connecticut, Oct 27, 1924

  • The Evening star's story of the 1925 game: SYRACUSE CONQUERS PENN STATE, 7 TO 0

    1925 · Evening star, Nov 1, 1925

  • The Evening star's story of the 1926 game: SYRACUSE CONQUERS PENN STATE, 10 TO 0

    1926 · Evening star, Oct 24, 1926

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

Aug 31, 2013Penn State 23, Syracuse 17Neutral site
Sep 12, 20097Penn State 28, Syracuse 7at Penn State
Sep 13, 200817Penn State 55, Syracuse 13at Syracuse
Oct 13, 1990Penn State 27, Syracuse 21at Penn State
Oct 14, 198923Penn State 34, Syracuse 12at Syracuse
Oct 15, 1988Syracuse 24, Penn State 10at Penn State
Oct 17, 198713Syracuse 48, 10Penn State 21at Syracuse
Oct 18, 19866Penn State 42, Syracuse 3at Penn State
Oct 19, 19856Penn State 24, Syracuse 20at Syracuse
Oct 20, 198419Penn State 21, Syracuse 3at Penn State
Oct 15, 1983Penn State 17, Syracuse 6at Syracuse
Oct 16, 19828Penn State 28, Syracuse 7at Penn State
Oct 17, 19812Penn State 41, Syracuse 16at Syracuse
Oct 18, 198012Penn State 24, Syracuse 7at Penn State
Oct 20, 1979Penn State 35, Syracuse 7Neutral site
Oct 21, 19782Penn State 45, Syracuse 15at Penn State
Oct 15, 197710Penn State 31, Syracuse 24at Syracuse
Oct 16, 1976Penn State 27, Syracuse 3at Penn State
Oct 18, 19759Penn State 19, Syracuse 7at Syracuse
Oct 19, 197411Penn State 30, Syracuse 14at Penn State
Oct 20, 19735Penn State 49, Syracuse 6at Syracuse
Oct 21, 197212Penn State 17, Syracuse 0at Penn State
Oct 16, 19719Penn State 31, Syracuse 0at Syracuse
Oct 17, 1970Syracuse 24, Penn State 7at Penn State
Oct 18, 19695Penn State 15, Syracuse 14at Syracuse
Dec 7, 19683Penn State 30, Syracuse 12at Penn State
Oct 28, 1967Penn State 29, Syracuse 20at Syracuse
Nov 5, 1966Syracuse 12, Penn State 10at Penn State
Oct 16, 1965Syracuse 28, Penn State 21at Syracuse
Oct 17, 19647Syracuse 21, Penn State 14at Penn State
Oct 19, 1963Syracuse 9, Penn State 0at Syracuse
Oct 20, 1962Penn State 20, Syracuse 19at Penn State
Oct 21, 1961Penn State 14, Syracuse 0at Penn State
Oct 15, 19604Syracuse 21, 20Penn State 15at Syracuse
Nov 7, 19594Syracuse 20, 7Penn State 18at Penn State
Oct 25, 1958Syracuse 14, Penn State 6at Penn State
Oct 26, 1957Penn State 20, Syracuse 12at Syracuse
Nov 3, 195617Syracuse 13, 12Penn State 9at Syracuse
Nov 5, 1955Penn State 21, Syracuse 20at Penn State
Oct 2, 195410Penn State 13, Syracuse 0at Syracuse
Oct 17, 1953Penn State 20, Syracuse 14at Penn State
Nov 8, 1952Syracuse 25, 15Penn State 7at Syracuse
Nov 10, 1951Penn State 32, Syracuse 13at Penn State
Oct 14, 1950Syracuse 27, Penn State 7at Syracuse
Oct 29, 1949Penn State 33, Syracuse 21at Penn State
Oct 8, 194810Penn State 34, Syracuse 14at Syracuse
Oct 18, 19479Penn State 40, Syracuse 0at Penn State
Oct 12, 1946Penn State 9, Syracuse 0at Syracuse
Nov 3, 1945Penn State 26, Syracuse 0at Penn State
Nov 4, 1944Penn State 41, Syracuse 0at Syracuse
Nov 7, 1942Penn State 18, Syracuse 13at Penn State
Nov 8, 1941Penn State 34, 18Syracuse 19at Penn State
Nov 9, 1940Syracuse 13, 16Penn State 13at Syracuse
Oct 28, 1939Syracuse 6, Penn State 6at Syracuse
Oct 29, 1938Penn State 33, Syracuse 6at Penn State
Oct 30, 1937Syracuse 19, Penn State 13at Syracuse
Oct 31, 1936Penn State 18, Syracuse 0at Penn State
Nov 2, 1935Syracuse 7, Penn State 3at Syracuse
Nov 3, 1934Syracuse 16, Penn State 0at Penn State
Nov 4, 1933Syracuse 12, Penn State 6at Syracuse
Oct 22, 1932Syracuse 12, Penn State 6at Penn State
Oct 24, 1931Syracuse 7, Penn State 0at Syracuse
Nov 8, 1930Penn State 0, Syracuse 0at Penn State
Nov 2, 1929Penn State 6, Syracuse 4at Syracuse
Oct 26, 1928Penn State 6, Syracuse 6at Penn State
Oct 22, 1927Penn State 9, Syracuse 6at Syracuse
Oct 23, 1926Syracuse 10, Penn State 0at Penn State
Oct 31, 1925Syracuse 7, Penn State 0at Syracuse
Oct 25, 1924Syracuse 10, Penn State 6at Penn State
Nov 3, 1923Syracuse 10, Penn State 0at Syracuse
Oct 28, 1922Syracuse 0, Penn State 0at Syracuse

Every game is listed as played on the field.