#3 Penn State Nittany Lions

The Penn State Nittany Lions were 9-2 in 1981. They emerged victorious over the USC Trojans, 26 to 10, in the Fiesta Bowl on January 1, 1982.

DATE		OPP	SCORE
Fri 1/1	vs	USC	W 26-10
Sat 11/28	@	PITT	W 48-14
Sat 11/21	vs	ND	W 24-21
Sat 11/14	vs	ALA	L 16-31
Sat 11/7	@	NCST	W 22-15

1981 Stats

See stats

	GP	PTS	YDS	PLY	AVG	RUSH YDS	RUSH ATT	RUSH AVG	PASS YDS	PASS ATT	PASS AVG
Team	11	345	4,424	779	5.7	2,699	549	4.9	1,725	230	7.5
Team Rank		9th	19th	70th	10th	20th	47th	8th	61st	88th	22nd
Opponent	11	152	3,356		4.3	1,494	472	3.2	1,862	312	6.0
Opponent Rank		29th	48th		44th	46th	46th	46th	81st	104th	49th
Net		+193	+1,068	+779	+1.4	+1,205	+77	+1.8	-137	-82	+1.5
Net Rank		11th	21st	70th	10th	24th	44th	15th	76th	109th	21st

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CFB 2026 Leaders

Pass Yards Leaders

1,271

Mestemaker

1,222

Chambliss

1,213

Craig

Rush Yards Leaders

644

Sheppard

600

Baugh

592

Riley

Rec Yards Leaders

617

Smith

564

Toney

550

Duff

Pass TD Leaders

14

Mensah

13

Heintschel

12

Richter

Rush TD Leaders

11

Baugh

9

Hawkins

9

Knight

Rec TD Leaders

7

Duff

7

Dixon

7

Smith

QB Rating Leaders

228.2

Mensah

209.1

Stockton

204.6

Hoover

Sack Leaders

7.0

Simmons

6.0

Lewis

6.0

Umanmielen

CFB 2026 Rankings

PPG Rankings

54.8

53.5

51.8

49.7

47.7

47.0

Opp PPG Rankings

8.0

8.3

8.5

9.0

9.8

Total Yards Rankings

588.8

548.3

544.7

537.0

532.8

526.0

Rush Yards Rankings

355.7

333.7

319.0

294.5

281.5

281.3

Pass Yards Rankings

386.3

368.7

365.3

361.3

347.3

340.7

Sack Leaders

18.0

17.0

15.0

CFB 2026 Standings

	Southeastern	W	L	PCT
1	Alabama	3	0	1.000
2	Florida	4	0	1.000
3	Georgia	4	0	1.000
4	Mississippi State	3	0	1.000
5	Ole Miss	3	1	.750
6	Kentucky	3	1	.750
7	Missouri	3	0	1.000
8	Tennessee	3	1	.750
9	Texas	4	0	1.000
10	Vanderbilt	3	1	.750
11	Oklahoma	2	2	.500
12	Auburn	3	1	.750
13	LSU	2	1	.667
14	South Carolina	2	1	.667
15	Texas A&M	2	1	.667
16	Arkansas	1	2	.333

	Sun Belt	W	L	PCT
1	Appalachian State	3	0	1.000
2	James Madison	4	0	1.000
3	Louisiana	3	1	.750
4	Georgia State	3	1	.750
5	South Alabama	2	2	.500
6	Marshall	3	1	.750
7	Troy	2	1	.667
8	Arkansas State	2	2	.500
9	Georgia Southern	1	3	.250
10	Louisiana Tech	1	2	.333
11	Old Dominion	1	3	.250
12	Southern Miss	1	2	.333
13	Coastal Carolina	1	3	.250
14	Louisiana-Monroe	0	3	.000

	Pac-12	W	L	PCT
1	Boise State	3	1	.750
2	Colorado State	2	2	.500
3	Fresno State	2	1	.667
4	Oregon State	1	2	.333
5	San Diego State	1	3	.250
6	Texas State	2	2	.500
7	Washington State	1	2	.333
8	Utah State	0	3	.000

	Big 12	W	L	PCT
1	BYU	3	0	1.000
2	Texas Tech	4	0	1.000
3	Arizona State	2	1	.667
4	Cincinnati	3	0	1.000
5	Kansas State	3	0	1.000
6	Utah	4	0	1.000
7	West Virginia	3	1	.750
8	Baylor	3	1	.750
9	Colorado	2	2	.500
10	Iowa State	2	2	.500
11	Oklahoma State	3	1	.750
12	TCU	2	2	.500
13	UCF	3	1	.750
14	Arizona	2	1	.667
15	Houston	3	1	.750
16	Kansas	1	2	.333

	Mid-American	W	L	PCT
1	Eastern Michigan	2	3	.400
2	UMass	3	0	1.000
3	Central Michigan	2	2	.500
4	Toledo	3	1	.750
5	Western Michigan	2	2	.500
6	Akron	1	3	.250
7	Ball State	1	3	.250
8	Buffalo	2	2	.500
9	Kent State	2	2	.500
10	Miami (OH)	2	2	.500
11	Ohio	2	2	.500
12	Bowling Green	0	4	.000
13	Sacramento State	1	3	.250

	Big 10	W	L	PCT
1	Indiana	4	0	1.000
2	USC	4	0	1.000
3	UCLA	4	0	1.000
4	Iowa	4	0	1.000
5	Michigan	3	1	.750
6	Nebraska	4	0	1.000
7	Penn State	3	1	.750
8	Washington	3	0	1.000
9	Illinois	2	2	.500
10	Maryland	2	2	.500
11	Michigan State	2	2	.500
12	Minnesota	2	1	.667
13	Ohio State	3	1	.750
14	Oregon	2	1	.667
15	Wisconsin	3	1	.750
16	Northwestern	2	1	.667
17	Purdue	1	3	.250
18	Rutgers	1	3	.250

	Conference USA	W	L	PCT
1	Liberty	3	1	.750
2	Delaware	2	2	.500
3	Middle Tennessee	2	2	.500
4	Jacksonville State	3	2	.600
5	Florida International	2	2	.500
6	Kennesaw State	1	3	.250
7	Missouri State	1	2	.333
8	New Mexico State	1	3	.250
9	Sam Houston	1	3	.250
10	Western Kentucky	1	3	.250

	Atlantic Coast	W	L	PCT
1	Miami	4	0	1.000
2	Clemson	3	1	.750
3	Duke	4	0	1.000
4	Pittsburgh	4	0	1.000
5	Louisville	2	2	.500
6	Virginia	3	1	.750
7	SMU	2	1	.667
8	California	2	2	.500
9	Virginia Tech	4	0	1.000
10	Boston College	2	2	.500
11	Georgia Tech	1	2	.333
12	North Carolina	2	1	.667
13	Wake Forest	3	1	.750
14	Florida State	2	2	.500
15	NC State	1	2	.333
16	Stanford	1	2	.333
17	Syracuse	1	2	.333

	Independent	W	L	PCT
1	Notre Dame	4	0	1.000
2	UConn	2	2	.500

	American Athletic	W	L	PCT
1	South Florida	4	0	1.000
2	Florida Atlantic	2	1	.667
3	UAB	2	2	.500
4	Army	2	1	.667
5	Tulsa	3	0	1.000
6	Memphis	3	1	.750
7	UTSA	3	1	.750
8	East Carolina	2	2	.500
9	North Texas	1	2	.333
10	Rice	1	2	.333
11	Temple	1	3	.250
12	Tulane	1	2	.333
13	Charlotte	0	4	.000
14	Navy	1	2	.333

	Mountain West	W	L	PCT
1	North Dakota State	4	0	1.000
2	UNLV	2	2	.500
3	New Mexico	3	1	.750
4	San Jose State	2	2	.500
5	Nevada	1	2	.333
6	UTEP	1	2	.333
7	Wyoming	2	2	.500
8	Northern Illinois	0	4	.000
9	Air Force	1	1	.500
10	Hawai'i	1	3	.250