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1954 Penn State

7–⁠2, coached by Rip Engle, finished No. 20 in the AP poll.

Schedule and results

Penn State in 1954, game by game: won at No. 6 Illinois 14–12; won at Syracuse 13–0; won vs. Virginia 34–7; lost vs. No. 14 West Virginia 14–19; lost at No. 20 TCU 7–20; won at Pennsylvania 35–13; won vs. Holy Cross 39–7; won vs. Rutgers 37–14; won at Pittsburgh 13–0+32−13Won 14–12 at No. 6 Illinois+2No. 6 IllinoisWon 13–0 at Syracuse+13SyracuseWon 34–7 vs. Virginia+27VirginiaLost 14–19 vs. No. 14 West Virginia-5No. 14 West VirginiaLost 7–20 at No. 20 TCU-13No. 20 TCUWon 35–13 at Pennsylvania+22PennsylvaniaWon 39–7 vs. Holy Cross+32Holy CrossWon 37–14 vs. Rutgers+23RutgersWon 13–0 at Pittsburgh+13Pittsburgh
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 25at6IllinoisW 14–⁠1241%
Oct 2atSyracuseW 13–⁠044%
Oct 9vsVirginiaW 34–⁠783%
Oct 16vs14West VirginiaL 14–⁠1962%
Oct 23at20TCUL 7–⁠2052%
Oct 30atPennsylvaniaW 35–⁠1373%
Nov 6vsHoly CrossW 39–⁠780%
Nov 13vsRutgersW 37–⁠1487%
Nov 20atPittsburghW 13–⁠060%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Pittsburgh 13–⁠0; No. 20 in the final AP poll.

In program history: The 56th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 139 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 3: 10
  2. Wk 4: 12
  3. Wk 5: 9
  4. Wk 11: 19
  5. Final: 20

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1954.

Record
7–⁠2
Conference
—
AP final
No. 20 peak No. 9
Points
206–⁠92
Coach
Rip Engle
Elo
1651 +59 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
10.9 No. 26 of 111 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captains
Don Balthaser and Jim Garrity

Drafted in 1955

The 1955 draft
Rd 3Rosey Grier DTNew York Giants