Penn State vs. Texas

Penn State and Texas have 5 meetings on file, the first in 1971; Penn State leads the series 3–⁠2 in the games on file. Over the last 5 meetings it’s Penn State 3–⁠2.

Penn State wins
3
Texas wins
2
Ties
0
Earliest on file
1971
Longest streak
1 Penn State
Current streak
1 Penn State
Last 10 meetings
Penn State 3–⁠2
Most recent
1996

The series at a glance

Every meeting by decade, colored by the winner
’0’1’2’3’4’5’6’7’8’9W–L
1970s1–⁠0
1980s1–⁠1
1990s1–⁠1
Both ranked
3 meetings: Penn State 2, Texas 1; 1 both in the top 10
Average margin
16 points; 2 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
At Penn State
0–⁠1 Penn State’s record at home
At Texas
0–⁠1 Texas’s record at home
Neutral sites
2–⁠1 Penn State first

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

Games that tell the story

  1. Penn State’s biggest win1971: Penn State 30, Texas 6by 24 points
  2. Texas’s biggest win1984: Texas 28, Penn State 3by 25 points
  3. Upset1990: Texas 17, Penn State 13Texas had a 25% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  4. Ranked showdown1984: Texas 28, Penn State 3No. 4 Penn State at No. 2 Texas
  5. Ranked showdown1971: Penn State 30, Texas 6No. 12 Texas at No. 10 Penn State
  6. Ranked showdown1996: Penn State 38, Texas 15No. 20 Texas at No. 7 Penn State

Both programs through the years

End-of-season Elo ratings of Penn State and Texas, 1971 on13001500170019801990200020102020

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.

Stars of the series

Named most valuable

Bruce Bannon1971
Lydell Mitchell1971

Most valuable: as the games’ Wikipedia articles name them (CC BY-SA).

Every game

Jan 1, 19977Penn State 38, 20Texas 15Neutral siteFiesta Bowl
Sep 8, 1990Texas 17, 21Penn State 13at Penn State
Sep 30, 1989Penn State 16, Texas 12at Texas
Sep 29, 19842Texas 28, 4Penn State 3Neutral site
Jan 1, 197210Penn State 30, 12Texas 6Neutral siteCotton Bowl

Every game is listed as played on the field.