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2000 Penn State

5–⁠7 (4–⁠4 Big Ten), coached by Joe Paterno.

Schedule and results

Penn State in 2000, game by game: lost vs. No. 15 USC 5–29; lost vs. Toledo 6–24; won vs. Louisiana Tech 67–7; lost at Pittsburgh 0–12; lost at No. 14 Ohio State 6–45; won vs. No. 22 Purdue 22–20; lost at Minnesota 16–25; won vs. Illinois 39–25; won vs. Indiana 27–24; lost vs. Iowa 23–26; lost at No. 20 Michigan 11–33; won vs. Michigan State 42–23+60−39Lost 5–29 vs. No. 15 USC-24No. 15 USCLost 6–24 vs. Toledo-18ToledoWon 67–7 vs. Louisiana Tech+60Louisiana TechLost 0–12 at Pittsburgh-12PittsburghLost 6–45 at No. 14 Ohio State-39No. 14 Ohio StateWon 22–20 vs. No. 22 Purdue+2No. 22 PurdueLost 16–25 at Minnesota-9MinnesotaWon 39–25 vs. Illinois+14IllinoisWon 27–24 vs. Indiana+3IndianaLost 23–26 vs. Iowa-3IowaLost 11–33 at No. 20 Michigan-22No. 20 MichiganWon 42–23 vs. Michigan State+19Michigan State
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Aug 27vs15USCL 5–⁠2965%
Sep 2vsToledoL 6–⁠2472%
Sep 9vsLouisiana TechW 67–⁠761%
Sep 16atPittsburghL 0–⁠1256%
Sep 23at14Ohio StateL 6–⁠4535%
Sep 30vs22PurdueW 22–⁠2047%
Oct 7atMinnesotaL 16–⁠2539%
Oct 21vsIllinoisW 39–⁠2553%
Oct 28vsIndianaW 27–⁠2463%
Nov 4vsIowaL 23–⁠2685%
Nov 11at20MichiganL 11–⁠3324%
Nov 18vsMichigan StateW 42–⁠2350%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Michigan State 42–⁠23; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 5th in the Big Ten.

In program history: The 90th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 139 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 1: 22

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 2000.

Record
5–⁠7
Conference
4–⁠4 tied for 5th in Big Ten
AP final
Unranked peak No. 22
Points
264–⁠293
Coach
Joe Paterno
Elo
1559 −95 this season
SP+ rating
2.4 No. 58 of 116; offense No. 81, defense No. 45
SRS
0.9 No. 61 of 116 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
No. 5
Offensive coordinator
Fran Ganter
Defensive coordinator
Tom Bradley
Captains
James Boyd, Rashard Casey, Mike Cerimele and Justin Kurpeikis
Offense
Pro-style
Defense
4–⁠3

Top recruits in the 2000 class

Chris McKelvy OT★★★★No. 44
Sam Ruhe SDE★★★★No. 54
Tim Johnson ILB★★★★No. 60
Tony Johnson RB★★★★No. 84
Zac Wasserman PRO★★★★No. 85
Erik Noll OT★★★★No. 88
Sean McHugh TE★★★★No. 99
Cameron Wake WDE★★★★No. 113

247Sports composite rankings via CollegeFootballData.com; national rank in the class.

The 2000 class by position

SignedStarsRating
Quarterbacks14.00.971
Running backs14.00.971
Receivers14.00.966
Offensive line24.00.975
Defensive line24.00.970
Linebackers14.00.977
Whole class84.00.972

High-school signees by position group, with their average stars and 247Sports composite rating (out of 1), via CollegeFootballData.com. Athletes are signees with no set position.

Drafted in 2001

The 2001 draft
Rd 3Bhawoh Jue DBGreen Bay Packers
Rd 3Kareem McKenzie OTNew York Jets
Rd 3James Boyd DBJacksonville Jaguars
Rd 5Tony Stewart TEPhiladelphia Eagles

All-Big Ten

2 first team, 2 second team

First team

  • Justin KurpeikisDLCoaches-2; Media-1
  • James BoydDBCoaches-2; Media-1

Second team

From Wikipedia’s 2000 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

2000 Big Ten standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Michigan6–⁠29–⁠311
Purdue6–⁠28–⁠413
Northwestern6–⁠28–⁠4
Ohio State5–⁠38–⁠4
Wisconsin4–⁠49–⁠423
Minnesota4–⁠46–⁠6
Penn State4–⁠45–⁠7
Iowa3–⁠53–⁠9
Illinois2–⁠65–⁠6
Michigan State2–⁠65–⁠6
Indiana2–⁠63–⁠8

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.