With the end of Penn State’s 16-game season amid a 12-team College Football Playoff run, it’s a good time to look back and play with what might have been for Penn State if the 12-team playoff had been the norm in the modern post-World War II era of college football.
First let’s start with setting the record straight. Penn State can rightly claim five national titles that have been recognized by various national organizations. Those years are 1911, 1912, 1982, 1986 and 1994. The 1911 and 1912 teams were recognized by the National Championship Foundation (the NCAA recognizes these championships). The 1994 team was also recognized by the National Championship Foundation, but also by the New York Times poll as well as every computer poll that would later be used by the BCS Committee in their selection process.
It’s about time Penn State recognized these titles. But that is for another time and place.
There are some obvious teams that would’ve been top title contenders in a 12-team playoff run. Undefeated teams in 1968, 1969, 1973 and 1994 (if you’re still denying them a rightful title) would have been among the favorites to win the title. 1994 would have dominated that tournament with what may still be the best collection of offensive talent in college football history. (First team All-American quarterback, running back, tight end, wide receiver and offensive lineman).
But undefeated teams are easy to pick out as teams that would have done well. What are some other teams that you might not suspect at Penn State that could’ve grabbed the title if given a shot?
1947: The 1947 team finished 9-0-1 with the lone tie being a 13-13 deadlock in the Cotton Bowl with No. 3 SMU. Only a mixed extra point kept them from being 10-0. The defense set several NCAA records, some that still stand today: fewest rushing yards per game (17.0), fewest yards allowed per run (0.64), fewest yards allowed in a game (-47…60 yards passing and -107 rushing vs. Syracuse). That team posted six shutouts and yielded just 40 points all season and just 153 rushing yards in nine regular season games. Hell, Doak Walker himself only managed just 66 yards on 18 carries in that Cotton Bowl game. It would’ve been interesting to see how they would’ve stacked up against 10-0 Michigan or 9-0 Notre Dame.
1977: The 11-1 team won its last eight games including a win in snowy Pitt Stadium over the No. 10 Panthers and a Fiesta Bowl victory against No. 15 Arizona State on their home field. Other 11-1 teams that year were Alabama, Arkansas, Texas and Notre Dame (the eventual champion). Given Penn State’s dominant defensive front that shut down the split-back veer offense of No. 9 Houston, and given its pass attack behind QB Chuck Fusina, this was a team built for playoff success.
1981: This is a team that would’ve stolen the title. Penn State played the nation’s toughest schedule and finished 10-2. Penn State beat Nebraska (which finished the regular season at No. 3) in Lincoln with 238 yards from Curt Warner. At season’s end Penn State was the best team in the country, closing with wins over Notre Dame, at No. 1 Pitt (48-14) and over No. 8 USC. After yielding 14 first-quarter points to Pitt, Penn State did not give up an offensive TD through seven quarters against Pitt QB Dan Marino and USC Heisman Trophy-winning RB Marcus Allen. On offense G Sean Farrell, G Mike Munchak went in the first round while C Jim Romano went in the second round. QB Todd Blackledge, TB Curt Warner and WR Kenny Jackson went in the first round. It was a team built for the playoffs and would’ve fared well in a bracket with a home game against UNC, a Sugar Bowl Game vs. Georgia an Orange Bowl game against Nebraska and a title game against Clemson.
1990: The 1990 team started off with narrow losses to Texas and at USC and finished with nine straight wins, including a shutout at Alabama and a win at No. 1 Notre Dame. 1990 was a wide-open year when the No. 1 spot rotated among a whole bunch of teams. Miami started the season at No. 1, followed by Notre Dame for four weeks, then Michigan for a week, then Virginia for three weeks, then back to Notre Dame for two weeks, then to Colorado, which ended up 11-1-1 and split the title with Georgia Tech at 11-0-1.
1991: Penn State finished No. 3 in 1991 with losses at USC and at No. 2 Miami before winning six straight to end the season. Penn State beat defending national champion No. 8 Georgia Tech by 12 and routed No. 10 Notre Dame 35-13 and No. 10 Tennessee 42-17. They were peaking at the right time. Penn State finished No. 3 behind undefeated Miami and Washington, who split the title. The playoff run would’ve seen sixth-seeded PSU host Nebraska, then play Florida and Washington before a rematch with Miami (on a neutral field) for the title.
1996: The 11-2 Nittany Lions owned a season-opening rout of No. 7 USC and finished the season with a 34-9 win over No. 11 Northwestern, a 29-17 win at No. 16 Michigan and a 38-15 win over Big 12 champion Texas. Florida won the national title with an 11-1 record by winning a rematch against Florida State who’d beaten them in the regular season finale.
2005: Penn State finished with a 4-0 record against ranked teams, beating them by an average of 13 points. The Big Ten champions ended the regular season at No. 3. With a dominant defense, speed at WR and a bruising running game, this was a team that was built for a playoff run. And let’s not forget QB Michael Robinson, who could will his team to wins and never left the field without a lead. Among the match-ups that I would travel in a time machine to see, it would’ve been a playoff game between Michael Robinson and Penn State against Texas and QB Vince Young.
2016: The Big Ten champs lost to Pitt and got routed at Michigan in late September. Then they caught fire. An OT win over Minnesota started a nine-game run that included wins over No. 2 Ohio State and No. 6 Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game. This was a season where Penn State saw the emergence of QB Trace McSorley, RB Saquon Barkley and had a group of receivers that threatened you downfield at all times. As far as winning it all, the defense was probably a year away (see next paragraph) from being able to push and beat Alabama or Clemson, who squared off for the national title.
2017: Although they did not win the Big Ten, this team finished just six points in two games from being undefeated. It took an epic OSU comeback from a 21-3 deficit to beat Penn State and a fluky weather day at Michigan State. But as for the total team, this group was stronger on defense than the 2016 team, and McSorley and Barkley were a year better. The highlights were a 42-13 win over No. 19 Michigan and a 35-28 win over No. 12 Washington. Penn State rose as high as No. 2 in the country before that loss in Columbus.
These teams are by no means an exhaustive list. But it is fun to imagine what might have been. And based on one man’s opinion, albeit a man who has a pretty good grasp of college football history, it is safe to say Penn State’s already rich history would’ve benefitted from an expanded playoff. Particularly when one considers Joe Paterno’s 14-5 record in the bowls that make up the playoffs now.
Thankfully we have a playoff, a fact that makes generations of former players and coaches happy for the guys who get to settle it on the field.
It all breaks down this way in the post -WW II era:
National Champions: 1982, 1986 (undefeated), 1994 (undefeated)
Perfect Seasons Through Bowls: 1968, 1969, 1973
Perfect Regular Seasons: 1947, 1978, 1985
Other 12-Team Playoff Years: 1948, 1959, 1962, 1967, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2011*, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024
*2011 Penn State was 8-1 and had a two-game lead in the Big Ten before the Board of Trustees panicked and ruined that season.
