1976 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

	1976 NCAA Division I Independents football records
	Rankings from AP Poll

Penn State Nittany Lions football
	1976 Penn State Nittany Lions football
Gator Bowl, L 9–20 vs. Notre Dame
Conference	Independent
1976 record	7–5
Head coach	Joe Paterno (11th season)
Home stadium	Beaver Stadium; (Capacity: 60,203)
	Seasons ← 1975 1977 →

The 1976 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented the Pennsylvania State University in the 1976 NCAA Division I football season.^[1] The team was coached by Joe Paterno and played its home games in Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania.

Schedule[]

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 11	Stanford	No. 10	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA		W 15–12	61,645
September 18	No. 2 Ohio State	No. 7	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)	ABC	L 7–12	62,503
September 25	Iowa	No. 11	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA		L 6–7	61,268
October 2	at Kentucky	No. 20	Commonwealth Stadium Lexington, KY		L 6–22	57,723
October 9	Army		Beaver Stadium University Park, PA		W 38–16	60,436
October 16	Syracuse		Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)		W 27–3	61,474
October 23	at West Virginia		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV (rivalry)		W 33–0	37,762
October 30	at Temple		Veterans Stadium Philadelphia, PA		W 31–30	42,005
November 6	North Carolina State		Beaver Stadium University Park, PA		W 41–20	60,426
November 13	at Miami (FL)		Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL		W 21–7	19,627
November 26	at No. 1 Pittsburgh	No. 16	Three Rivers Stadium Pittsburgh, PA (rivalry)	ABC	L 7–24	50,360
December 27	vs. No. 15 Notre Dame	No. 20	Gator Bowl Stadium Jacksonville, FL (Gator Bowl)	ABC	L 9–20	67,827
Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

1976 Penn State Nittany Lions football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
T	`71`	Benson, BradBrad Benson	7.0 !Sr
WR	`44`	Cefalo, JimmyJimmy Cefalo	5.0 !Jr
T	`68`	Cummingham, EricEric Cummingham	3.0 !So
T	`71`	Dorney, KeithKeith Dorney	3.0 !So
WR	`46`	Fitzkee, ScottScott Fitzkee	3.0 !So
QB	`14`	Fusina, ChuckChuck Fusina	3.0 !So
T	`68`	Reihner, GeorgeGeorge Reihner	7.0 !Sr
TE	`82`	Shuler, MickeyMickey Shuler	5.0 !Jr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
LB	`53`	Allerman, KurtKurt Allerman	7.0 !Sr
DB	`25`	Bradley, TomTom Bradley	3.0 !So
DE	`64`	Crosby, RonRon Crosby	7.0 !Sr
DE	`28`	Milot, RichRich Milot	3.0 !So
DT	`78`	Sidler, RandyRandy Sidler	5.0 !Jr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class

Four Nittany Lions were drafted in the 1977 NFL Draft.

Round	Pick	Overall	Name	Position	Team
2nd	10	38	George Reihner	Offensive guard	Houston Oilers
3rd	22	78	Kurt Allerman	Linebacker	St. Louis Cardinals
5th	2	114	Ron Crosby	Linebacker	Detroit Lions
8th	24	219	Brad Benson	Offensive tackle	New England Patriots

This College football 1970s season article is a stub. You can help The American Football Database by expanding it.

This article about a sports team in Pennsylvania is a stub. You can help The American Football Database by expanding it.

v · d · e	Conf			Overall
1976 NCAA Division I Independents football records
Team	W	L	T	W		L		T
No. 1 Pittsburgh		–		12	–	0	–	0
No. 17 Rutgers		–		11	–	0	–	0
San Diego State		–		10	–	1	–	0
No. 12 Notre Dame		–		9	–	3	–	0
Colgate		–		8	–	2	–	0
Boston College		–		8	–	3	–	0
Cincinnati		–		8	–	3	–	0
Memphis State		–		7	–	4	–	0
North Texas State		–		7	–	4	–	0
Penn State		–		7	–	5	–	0
Villanova		–		6	–	4	–	1
South Carolina		–		6	–	5	–	0
Virginia Tech		–		6	–	5	–	0
Army		–		5	–	6	–	0
Florida State		–		5	–	6	–	0
Illinois State		–		5	–	6	–	0
Richmond		–		5	–	6	–	0
West Virginia		–		5	–	6	–	0
Georgia Tech		–		4	–	6	–	1
Temple		–		4	–	6	–	0
Air Force		–		4	–	7	–	0
Dayton		–		4	–	7	–	0
Louisville		–		4	–	7	–	0
Navy		–		4	–	7	–	0
Indiana State		–		3	–	7	–	0
Hawaii		–		3	–	8	–	0
Holy Cross		–		3	–	8	–	0
Miami (FL)		–		3	–	8	–	0
Syracuse		–		3	–	8	–	0
Utah State		–		3	–	8	–	0
Northeast Louisiana		–		2	–	9	–	0
Southern Miss		–		2	–	9	–	0
Tulane		–		2	–	9	–	0

Rankings from AP Poll